John Hersey Leadership Blog

We have an epidemic of people beginning a conversation with “why they cannot” do or accomplish whatever it is they are being asked to do or accomplish. Contagious Leaders focus conversations on “How We Will” not :Why They Can’t”.  “Why We Can’t” is a deadly attitude that kills creativity, innovation and contribution from the best employees while driving the weakest for cover behind the noble claims “proving it (the task) is impossible is my job and it’s for the good of the company”.

As Leaders our most important job is to stamp our WWC wherever we find it and not allow the WWC conversation. Here are some tips for stamping out the deadly “Why We Can’t” conversation:

• When someone begins a conversation with “Well, why we can’t is ….” we must stop that conversation in its tracks. Tell your team “we are not going down that road. Today, we are going to focus our attention on “HOW WE WILL”, not “Why We Can’t.”

• Watch your own conversations and your tendency to focus on “Why We Can’t”

• Acknowledge that a particular project may be a challenge while encouraging your team to focus its energy on “How We Will”.

• Practice Involved Recognition — acknowledge those on your team who focus on “How We Will”, particularly when they are surrounded with “Why We Can’t.

• We have to believe in our How We Will focus. We worked with one company that so believed in this approach that they rose from a ranking of 22 of 28 regions in their company to #2 in 12 months, just by shifting their conversation from WWC to “How We Will”.

• As for our leaders they must also root out the proponents of WWC and mentor them. If they wont let go of the WWC conversation we must help them find a new home, someplace more suitable for a WWC attitude.

Nothing stops an organizations forward movement faster or more solidly than a “Why We Can’t” attitude. Allowing the conversation to take place is the same as agreeing with it– agreeing with it will ruin your company, your organization — even your town.

Be Well & Be Contagious,

John

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Coaching, Culture, Focus, Leadership, Personal Leadership.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.