One of the hardest things for senior leaders to solicit is bad news from the ranks. Mike Ullman, one-time CEO of JCPenney, made it a point at that company to listen to “the most independent, disrespectful people I could think of.”
As Ullman explained in a talk at the Greenwich Leadership Forum about this experience, he said, “You’re on your best behavior the first day. ‘Yes, sir, no, sir.’ Whatever. The second day, you start telling me what’s really going on.” That kind of input, as Ullman realized, was the frank talk senior management needed to hear.
No whitewashing. Just the truth as employees saw it. What makes this anecdote telling is that Ullman—who passed away recently and whose obituary appeared in the Wall Street Journal—was looking for trouble, or as he put it, “independent, disrespectful people.”
Getting more hands on deck
At first glance, with all senior leaders facing problems, they want to avoid hearing about them and search for them. Yet the best CEOs I know are those who do precisely that. When Alan Mulally was CEO of Ford Motor Company, he held weekly business review meetings with all senior leaders. Such meetings aimed to identify where things were going well and where they weren’t. And if things were problematic, he would ask fellow team members for ideas and solicit their help for one another. Doing this ensured that everyone had a shared stake in the outcome.
It’s easier said than done. Leaders need to make it safe for employees to speak up, especially when things are not going according to plan. If employees feel their voices will be heard and there will be no repercussions from speaking out, they will be motivated to tell the truth. If they fear for their jobs, they will remain silent, and problems will worsen and often increase.
Getting out of the bubble
Sometimes aides shield their boss from unwelcome news. Lt. General H.R. McMaster recounts this exact situation in his new book, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House. In April 2017, as McMaster was being interviewed to become National Security advisor, he said, “Lyndon Johnson’s advisors told him what he wanted to hear instead of what he needed to know to make wise decisions. As a result, the United States went to war in Vietnam without a sound strategy.”
McMaster added, “Many Johnson administration advisors knew better, but they went along because they were afraid of losing influence with the president.” (McMaster based this anecdote on the themes of his book, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam.)
No excuses
Just because aides are not forthcoming does not excuse the person in charge from seeking out the real story. Relying too much and too often on the same inner circle is a recipe for groupthink, which leads to myopic decision-making.
One key aspect of leaders who make it safe for their employees is their sense of humility. As Howard Schultz, the founding CEO of Starbucks, told the Wall Street Journal, Ullman was “steeped in humility” and served as a mentor to Schultz.
“Treat failure as a learning opportunity and encourage your team to do the same,” says Alan Mulally. When a leader includes themselves in the learning, then it makes it easier to learn from mistakes and find ways to improve. Doing so makes it possible in as Mulally says, to “create a culture of accountability and responsibility.”
It is never easy to get people to open up, but when managers make the effort—by being honest, humble and caring themselves—the truth will come out.
Note: Biographical details about Mike Ullman come from his Wall Street Journal obituary written by James R. Haggerty.