Knowing what’s behind the curtain
Aside from what you see on during the day to day operations of an organization, meetings, presentation and company sponsored activities gives a fairly general view of the organizations people, culture, systems, procedures and health. However, if you really want to get a good grasp of the real situation, take a peek behind the curtain.
Every organization has their own culture and politics, it even goes down to specific divisions and teams. It is therefore now unthinkable for an organization to have a behind the curtain situation, behind this curtain which cannot be seen or felt during working hours or in the premises. This curtain can be seen outside the hours and confines of the organization and by getting low.
To have a glimpse or see what is behind the curtain, one has to play golf(my colleagues’ term), or as I would call it, participate in after office gatherings. I even think that to get a good evaluation of yourself, your team and team leaders, a out of the office session has to be included, with alcohol if applicable. To have everyone drunk(again if applicable) is one of the best ways to get a grasp of what is making the organization run, what everyones motives are and how each person really is behind the mask. Aside from being drunk and wasted, some people do prefer coffee, or food trips, what is important is it is outside the confines and reach of the organization.
Knowing what is behind the curtain is comparable to knowing how the organization really works and through this, a person in a strategic position can have a proper grasp of all the information needed to steer everyone to the right course, guide everyone to one direction and achieve more as a whole. Once you get a glimpse of what is behind the curtain, you must not stop there, think deeply and analyze, for as I have already posted, there are three versions of the truth, so, put yourself in the middle and weigh everything and turn it all into the positive and productive.
If you are in a strategic positions to do something about it, then use what you have learned and move everyone to one direction, celebrate quick wins, open all communication lines (vertical and horizontal), manage through true collaboration, don’t shoot down any idea or suggestion, be open, listen, be decisive, lead by example and the most important part is to be emphatic !