Facing Organizational Challenges

Ronald Wastyn, Ph.D., Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Leadership Consultant
Wastyn & Associates, Inc.

It would be nice if everything in our organizations stayed smooth sailing and everyone got along as if they existed in a utopia. But eutopia doesn’t exist. If the pandemic taught us anything, we learned that our organizations will always face challenges. Even when things start smoothly, we need to figure out how to stay there for as long as possible or to return there as quickly as possible.

How do we make sure we do not become complacent and productively face organizational challenges? These three strategies will help.

1.       Embrace the challenge. Understand that challenges exist as a natural part of life and do not signal weakness. Strong organizations actively try to understand their environment, searching for challenges before they become a crisis. As such, challenges emerge as the natural by-product of a healthy organization. So, embrace them not as a weakness but as an opportunity for growth.

2.       Promote Conversation and Transparency. When challenges emerge, promote open conversation between and among people. The last thing you want is silence. Silence gets filled with rumors and conspiracy theories. Instead, encourage people to ask questions and give them an honest perspective about events inside and outside the organization.

3.       View conflict as a source of strength. Ignoring conflict often becomes people’s natural reaction. When our fight or flight response gets triggered, too often people choose to flee out of fear of the unknown and our discomfort with the disruption that conflict brings. Instead, confront conflicts with an attitude of discovery. Conflicts reveal different perspectives that people have about other people and situations. Really listen to what people say and stay open to their perspective. Use your empathy to gain a greater understanding. In this period of discovery, we can begin a search for, what my colleague of many years Randy Richards says, integrative space: the space that exists between us where people come to better understand each other and our organization.

What will you do to help yourself and your organization better plan for and productively confront the challenges that will inevitably emerge?