We were walking around the neighborhood near our VIM Executive Coaching Denver office this morning, when we noticed that seemingly overnight, the cherry, crab apple and pear trees had gone into full-bloom mode.
“Impressive,” we said.
“Yes,” was the joke, “my hay fever is impressed.”
But seriously, if we stopped and looked around, the snowy and rainy winter had suddenly yielded to spring. We made ourselves stop and look; really look. For the flowers last a day or two and then they are gone and the trees start to develop leaves and, in some cases, bear fruit.
Not a gardening show
There is no end to media programming on gardening this time of year. We can’t compete! We will leave the begonia planting instructions to the experts. However, we do know a thing or two about executive leadership and that’s where we’re headed with this post.
Many executive leaders are content to go through their careers “not noticing,” they put in the time, do what they feel they must, don’t make too many waves and then move on or retire. For the most part, they are unremarkable in their leadership impact and are remembered as decent.
Of course, not noticing can also lead to negative (even tragic) consequences, including bribery, fraud, scandal, gender bias, racism, workplace bullying, polluting…the list can potentially be exhausting. This is especially true in this time of closer scrutiny of companies in light of diversity, equity and inclusion and numerous ESG issues. It not noticing is serious in a privately-held or family business, it is twice as serious in a publicly-traded organization or any healthcare facility.
Start noticing
The sharpening of awareness can also be construed as a call to making an effort to be more mindful. It is easy to “not notice.” It is easy to say, “No one told me,” or simply, “I didn’t know.” We don’t know if ostriches bury their heads in the sand (another nature analogy for another day), but we do know that some executive leaders have spent their entire careers not wanting to know what they don’t know.
However, as an executive leader, being oblivious is just another way of being disengaged and biding time. Not seeing, is refusing to be mindful and in the moment. It is “putting in time,” and trading any attempt for authenticity to take a secondary role to active engagement and active listening.
To that end, there are executive leaders who form opinions about employees (good and bad) without ever trying to nurture or admonish those employees; there are leaders who see things and never want to comment; there are executive leaders who hear gossip or hate speech or terrible judgments, who don’t care enough to care.
But you should.
It is not that the blossoms we saw today were anything profound. It is that they are beautiful and fleeting and mark change even if on a “micro-level.” When taken from the realm of trees on a walk to the workplace, the wiser executive leader must reflect on that or similar observations and ask:
“How many good people left our organization who might have been helped?”
“How many times did we see warning signs of (fill-in the blank) and we did nothing?”
“How did a collective disregard for a problem wind up as a lawsuit, negative press, scandal or some type of abuse?”
“How might a bias have led to an unwanted situation?”
There are, in fact, blossoms all around us. We can choose to not notice or we can choose to hold fast and act on what we have seen.