Modest Proposal

With the nation days away from what President Obama called ‘Economic Armageddon,’ the sides negotiating a solution seem destined to raise the debt ceiling and ‘kick the can down the road’ until after the 2012 election. It appears his request that we ‘eat our peas’ might not happen. (Of course, as the NFL proved yesterday, hard deadlines tend to inspire quick resolutions to challenging disagreements… so stay tuned.)

During a coaching session this morning, a client asked for my thoughts on the deadlock among House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House. “It’s sad we’ve come to this point,” I said. “You would think there would be a sense of statesmanship for finding common ground, giving on some positions and resolving differences.” His reply made me think.

“It’s the fable of the scorpion and the frog playing out,” he said. “Our elected leaders are willing to stand on ideological ground – even if it means catastrophe – then shrug their shoulders and say, ‘What did you expect? You knew we were politicians when you elected us.'”

I believe there is a solution to change that attitude: term limits. Six years for the president, eight years for a senator, four years for a representative. No reelection campaigns. No additional fundraising. Work everyday you’re in office to make things better… and go get a job afterward. That’s how it works for Boards in the charitable world; do your time and move on for fresh ideas and new energy. (Key: Stagger the first few years so everyone doesn’t leave at once, then keep it in place for, say, a few centuries.)

While I’m not a Constitutional Law expert, I’m guessing Congress would have to pass this bill and the president would need to sign it. There’s probably a better chance of them agreeing to tax hikes and deficit reduction in the next seven days than that happening. Of course, every sweeping change throughout history started with someone asking, “Why does it have to be this way?”

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Revised Planning

Last week I facilitated the executive leadership team retreat of a client for the second year in a row. As the CEO concluded his opening remarks, he turned to me and said, “David, you should feel really proud we invited you back, since we accomplished very little coming off of last year’s meeting. That may be a first in the history of facilitating.”

Obviously, this created an immediate opportunity to discuss what didn’t happen… and to identify how the team – which has several new members – will change its approach this time around. Through this opening discussion the team identified 26 ‘traps’ that had them end up hitting a nice ground rule double instead of a home run. Listed among these disruptions were: too many things to focus on at once; operating in silos instead of joining together; allowing ‘fires’ to displace working the plan; and, poor communication across the organization.

This was a wonderful dialogue that moved us through what didn’t happen and got everyone’s cards on the table right off the bat. In fact, when we broke for lunch that first morning, I asked them to come back prepared to answer that they had ‘left the past behind’ and are ‘all-in’ going forward.

Ultimately, we ended day two with a clear path for what the new plan is, what steps they will each take to complete their part and how they intend to hold each other accountable. We put in place ‘check-in’ dates where they will meet regularly to provide updates on progress, so they don’t wait until the last minute to do things. Most importantly, I met individually with the CEO and coached him on how to stay ‘on top of the pyramid’ thinking big picture while engaging his leaders at the ‘ground level’ to keep them focused on achieving desired outcomes.

This time I think we got it right, and they’re going to soar. Perhaps they might invite me back again next year.

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