The biggest internal threat to many 2022 plans is an unfounded assumption that employees will execute plans while modeling exceptional human qualities.
Most of us want to demonstrate our greater character. The reality, however, is that collaboration and trust are not the default behaviors of most employees – especially when operating in a culture that doesn’t bring out the best in people.
Yet, leaders often make plans as if everyone will be operating at their best.
Leaders don’t announce that they’ve built an extra 6 months into their plan to compensate for the lack of quality human connections among team members. One could lose their job for such a confession. It is the expectation that each of us are equipped to optimize the collective talents of our teams.
Sadly, though, efforts to build the interpersonal capabilities required for a plan to succeed are rare or ineffective. Too often investments are made in patches or faux fixes: reorganizing employees or insisting they use a digital, “collaboration” platform to accomplish what they couldn’t do when they did work in person.
In the end we finish with the same truth: The execution of plans remains a human process.
If your 2022 plan requires team members to be aligned and connected, what is your plan to make that so?
