I look for and inevitably meet at least one elephant in the room whenever I deliver an EOS 90 Minute Meeting® (90MM) to a Leadership Team. “Mr. Elephant, I presume. We meet at last.” Typically, by the end of the 90MM, the leader is enthusiastic and even hopeful about implementing EOS, because he/she can SEE how EOS will help.
Sometimes, in the days following the 90MM, that leader’s team talks him/her out of implementing EOS. The leader’s hopes for meaningful change are crushed. It’s hard to watch.
Typical rationale from the team:
- ‘We don’t have time,’ or
- ‘We don’t need outside help,’ or
- ‘We can address the elephant ourselves.’
Let’s be honest: It’s UNFAIR for a Leadership Team to place the whole burden of getting rid of the elephant on their leader’s back. Leadership Teams can stand up and take a bow for every good thing that’s happening in a company. But they also need to take responsibility for Mr. Elephant.
Assuming we’re still being honest, the leader’s answers to the three objections listed above might sound something like this:
- “We’re stuck. We have to make time or we’re going to stay stuck.”
- “I do!”
- “But we haven’t.”
Leadership Teams: Have your lonely leader’s back. Be fair. Ease your leader’s heavy burden. Your Implementer (me or one of my 799 friends) will give you a multiple of return on your precious investment in time.
