In this episode, Rachel identifies the parallels between traffic jams and typical workplace issues. Key points discussed include 'expecting the outlandish', where leaders have high, often unrealistic expectations; 'whim tossing', which addresses the confusion caused by leaders' unclear ideas; 'bystanding', where stakeholder involvement is lacking; and 'unclear expectations', which affect goal clarity and achievement. She suggests proactive planning, clarity-seeking, and strategic negotiation to alleviate these challenges.
In this episode, Rachel Cooke compares traffic jams to workplace issues, working through four key areas: unrealistic expectations, unclear directives, lack of stakeholder involvement, and ambiguous goals. Cooke's solution involves strategic negotiations, role clarity, active stakeholder participation, and formation of SMART goals.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—a firm specializing in helping leaders and organizations crack their activation codes – finding the simple tweaks to enhance both performance and engagement.
Years ago, I listened to an interview with a researcher who had just written a book on traffic. Like, literal traffic – cars, highways, you know. And to write this, he had done a deep dive into thousands of traffic reports over the years to better understand what causes these mysterious jams that – at least here in the US – we seem to encounter constantly.
In the interview, he told the host (and I’m paraphrasing from memory here) that while his publisher made him title the book Traffic, Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us” what he really wanted to title it after doing all of his research, was Idiots. Because ultimately over 90% of the time, according to him, that’s what causes traffic. One person does something careless and literally everyone else on the road suffers the consequences.
It always stayed with me. It was funny and honest and pretty revealing.
But I’m no traffic reporter. My jam is team activation. So where am I going with this?
I see a clear parallel in a lot of workplaces where I hang out.
As in – I step into a workplace where I’m seeing chaos or overwhelm or lack of collaboration or pick your pain point…and when I look under the hood of what’s causing it, much of the pain can be traced back to a small handful of senior leaders who don’t realize how much chaos they’re inadvertently creating. It’s like they’re causing traffic jams at work.
I’m not calling anyone an idiot. It’s not great for business. So perhaps I’d call my book “Difficult Stakeholders.”
Like with bad drivers, we can’t control them so we need to learn to navigate safely around them.
Let’s talk today about some of the tough stakeholder behaviors we tend to experience at work, and how we might navigate to avoid an accident.
1. Expecting the outlandish
Truth is, a lot of leaders who get to the top are the ones who are willing or able to get extraordinary amounts of things done. Often they don’t mind burning the candle at both ends. It’s likely what they did to get to where they are.
So as a result, now they expect the same of the teams around them. They want everything done, and done tomorrow.
If this is your reality, what can you do to tame a leader’s expectations without feeling like you’ve failed them?
Don’t panic, and don’t apologize. This is your opportunity to show some strategic thinking.
To not say yes and to not say no, but to be thoughtful about what’s realistic and to present that in a compelling way.
Brian, a client, leads a team of recruiters within an organization. His team currently has about 32 open roles. And his boss recently told him he wants every one of those roles filled by the end of the quarter.
Now Brian could make this happen. But it would come at a cost. Either the quality of hire would be lower, or his team might burn out, or they’d end up having to spend more on this talent than they’d budgeted for.
So Brian could either apologetically say no, or he could sit down with his boss, discuss the tradeoffs, and land on a plan that meets everyone’s goals realistically.
He did the latter. And armed with all the intelligence Brian provided, his boss opted to push the goal out by one full quarter, ensuring better talent, on budget, with zero burnout.
So where do you have an opportunity to educate and negotiate with outlandish expectations?
2. Whim tossing
This is another stakeholder issue I see a lot. It’s when a leader has lots of ideas (awesome) but they don’t recognize that as soon as they speak one out loud, someone will take it as a directive.
It’s that leader who says “I wonder what would happen if…” or “I wish we could see…”
Leaders should muse. But they also need to be explicit about what’s an idea, what’s an ask, what’s a new goal, etc.
I’ve seen this play out countless times. In a meeting a leader will wonder “what would happen if we added X feature to our product?” and the next thing you know, Product, Marketing, and Sales are meeting to make it happen.
By the following meeting they’re ready to present and the leader is puzzled. Did I ask for this?
With these stakeholders, we need to coach them to be more specific about what they’re asking for, and from whom. Just pause and say “To be clear, is that something you’d like us to work on? Or is it just a thought you’re having?” Because they are inadvertently exhausting and confusing people. And it’s unproductive.
3. Bystanding
These are the stakeholders that want the thing done but aren’t playing their role in making it happen.
Like, they need to show up to the meeting to weigh in on the plan.
Or they need to make the decision that must be made to go forward.
Or they need to deliver the resource – the money, the staff, the technology required to get the thing delivered.
These stakeholders too often have high expectations. But they lack the understanding of what their accountability is to the outcome.
And here’s where you come in.
Your job is to plan, upfront, as much as possible. To anticipate where you might hit roadblocks, to articulate clearly what you know you’ll need, and to state what the impacts of any holdups will be.
At a project’s kickoff, communicate the resources you need – as well as what the impacts will be if they’re held up. Will it affect the quality? The timeline? Make it known early.
Prepare your stakeholder for decision points that will arise. Put meetings on the calendar as early as possible to plan for those. But also state what will happen to the timeline if a decision isn’t made quickly.
Plan for what you know you’ll need, and state these needs explicitly. This is the best way to manage a bystanding stakeholder.
4. Unclear expectations
And finally. We come to the stakeholder who knows exactly what they want. But sadly, they’re the only one who does.
They speak in vague terms. They’re envisioning a product update or a revamp of the patient experience – and they’re really excited about it. But what “it” looks and feels like? It’s squishy. And you have no idea how you’ll know when you’ve achieved it.
Here’s your chance to make this stakeholder SMART. As in – ask clarifying questions that help you turn their conceptual thinking into tangible goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound.
By asking a stakeholder vague questions like “what exactly do you want this new product feature to achieve?” or “what part of the overall patient experience are we looking to repair?” or “what questions will we ask our customers to determine whether we’ve achieved our goal?” will help you to pull the specificity you need from this stakeholder.
Which sets everyone up for success.
So if your workplace has some metaphorical reckless drivers, I hope you’ve found a strategy in here you’re ready to pick up and use.
Join me next week for another great episode. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com if your organization is looking to crack its activation code- dialing up performance and engagement. You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.