Meridian Magazine : : Ideas and Society : : Leadership and Self-Deception, Chapter 15

Leadership and Self-Deception
Chapter 15: Box Focus

All of a sudden, the answer hit me. "You can’t focus on results because in the box you’re focused on yourself."

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"Well it has everything to do with it," I said, surprised by the strength of my opinion.

"How?" Bud asked.

"How?" I replied.

"Yes, how?" Bud said with a slight smile.

"Well, to begin with," I said, "nearly everyone at work is in the box, as near as I can tell. At least nearly everyone at Tetrix was."

"So what?"

"So what?" I repeated.

"Yeah, so what?" he said.

"Well, if we’re in the box, we’ll be inviting others to be in the box as well, and we’ll end up with all kinds of conflict that gets in the way of what we’re trying to do."

"Which is what?" Bud asked.

"What do you mean, ‘Which is what?’"

"You just said that all of that conflict would get in the way of what we’re trying to do. So my question is, What is it we’re trying to do?"

"Oh. Well, I guess we’re trying to be productive."

"But why?"

"Why?" I was surprised by the question.

"Yes. Why are you trying to be productive? What’s the purpose of productivity?"

"Oh…um…we’re trying to be productive so that we can achieve the company’s goals."

"Ah," Bud said, as though he had finally found something he had been looking for for a long time. "So you can achieve results."

"Yes, that’s what I mean," I said, happy for the help.

"Let me ask you another question then."

"Okay," I said, by now feeling a bit like a baseball catcher who was having a difficult time with a knuckleballer.

"If the point of all our efforts at work is to achieve results, what’s the effect of the box on our collective ability to do that?

"Well, that’s my point," I said. "We can’t really achieve results like we otherwise could if we’re in the box."

"Why not?" Bud asked.

This was starting to get ridiculous. "What do you mean, ‘Why not?’" I asked, failing to conceal my irritation.

"That’s what I mean," he responded, undaunted. "Why can’t we achieve results like we otherwise could if we’re in the box? Why does the box matter?"

"Well…it just…I mean…I mean, come on, doesn’t it matter?" I said, finally.

"I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking."

I was entirely confused. I knew it mattered, but for the life of me I couldn’t find an appropriate way to explain why.

"Think about it this way, Tom. When I’m in the box, who or what am I focused on?"

"On yourself, I guess," I answered.

"Exactly. Then let me ask again: What is it about the box that keeps me from focusing on results?"

All of a sudden, the answer hit me. "You can’t focus on results because in the box you’re focused on yourself."

"Exactly, Tom. Exactly. When we’re in the box, we can’t focus on results. We’re too busy focusing on ourselves instead. Even most of the people you’ve encountered in your career who you think are results-focused really aren’t. They value results primarily for the purpose of creating or sustaining their own stellar reputations. And you can tell because they generally don’t feel that other people’s results are as important as their own. Think about it–most people aren’t nearly so happy when other people in the organization succeed as they are when they themselves do. So they run all over people trying to get only their own results–with devastating effects. They might beat their chests and preach focusing on results, but it’s a lie. In the box, they, like everyone else, are just focused on themselves. But in the box, they, like everyone else, can’t see it."

"And it’s even worse than that," Kate added. "Because, remember, in the box we provoke others to get in the box. We withhold information, for example, which gives others reason to do the same. We try to control others, which provokes the very resistance that we feel the need to control all the more. We withhold resources from others, who then feel the need to protect resources from us. We blame others for dragging their feet and in so doing give them reason to feel justified in dragging their feet all the more. And so on.

"And through it all we think that all our problems would be solved if Jack wouldn’t do this or if Linda wouldn’t do that or if XYZ department would just straighten up or if the company would get a clue. But it’s a lie. It’s a lie even if Jack, Linda, XZY department, and the company need to improve, which they surely do. Because when I’m blaming them, I’m not doing it because they need to improve, I’m blaming them because their shortcomings justify my failure to improve.

"So," she continued, "one person in an organization, by being in the box and failing to focus on results, provokes his or her co-workers to fail to focus on results as well. Collusion spreads far and wide, and the end result is that co-workers position themselves against co-workers, workgroups against workgroups, departments against departments. People who came together to help an organization succeed actually end up delighting in each other’s failures and resenting each other’s successes."

"That’s really crazy," I said in amazement. "But I see just what you’re talking about all the time. Tetrix was full of those kinds of situations."

"Yes. Think about it," Bud said. "When were you most happy–when Chuck Staehli succeeded or when he failed?"

The question caught me off guard. I had meant that I’d seen this in others all the time. Staehli really was a problem. I wasn’t just making that up. And he created all kinds of trouble–conflict, poor teamwork, and so on. "I, uh, I…I don’t know," I offered weakly.

"Well you might think about it a little. When dealing with germs, one person’s being sick doesn’t mean that I’m not sick. In fact, when I’m surrounded by sick people, chances are greater that I will get sick myself."

He paused and looked at me for a moment. "Remember Semmelweis?"

"The doctor who discovered the cause of the high mortality rate in the maternity ward?"

"Yes. In his case, even the doctors spread the disease. And once they passed it on, others became carriers too–including the patients they came in contact with. Childbed fever, with its various symptoms, spread unchecked, claiming victim after victim. All because of a single germ no one knew about–most especially those who carried it. What happens in organizations is analogous."

Bud stood up and moved to the board. "Let me show you what I mean."

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