VIM Executive Coaching does not claim to be experts on the nuances of ancient history, but allegedly, the expression “Leaving no stone unturned,” is quite an olden sentiment going back to biblical times. The expression has endured, and its meaning is widely regarded as a situation where every effort is made to discover an object, or the truth or important facts leading to solving a problem.
Unfortunately, we have come to accept that in the modern day, “stone turning” often stops at the point of doing just enough. Sometimes, the search for “the truth” or an equitable solution is bounded by time constraints. Sometimes it is limited by money or efficiency of scale.
We cannot tell you the number of times we have heard, “We will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of this!” We have come to understand that truth seeking or solution finding often ends when executive leaders determine their search has revealed what they were seeking, or merely verified what they wanted to learn in the first place.
A few years ago, we heard the story of an executive vice president of sales who believed the petty cash box in the sales office had been pilfered by a sales assistant.
The “EVP,” went to a sales manager and expressed a wholly biased opinion that the assistant should be terminated after several scenarios for the alleged theft had been explored. Though the sales manager stood up to the executive leader and defended the assistant as being a trustworthy person, it made no difference.
An excuse for dismissing the employee was fabricated and the sales assistant was eventually terminated for attitude problems stemming from earlier resume fabrication complications. The “stone turning” was limited as best. The executive leader needed an excuse, the excuse was found and the earlier circumstances were molded to fit a desired outcome.
Being mindful of the scenario
It is frightfully easy for executive leadership to shape desired scenarios as truth. Indeed, in the example cited above, it was never proven that the sales assistant ever stole anything. It was denied, of course, however the atmosphere of the newly-opened, post-pandemic office had been so toxic the sales assistant was ready to leave in any case.
Where did the sales assistant go? To the competition, of course, where many tidbits of general information about the old company were shared. The sales assistant wasn’t being vindictive per se, rather sharing what was known and bringing a different perspective gained by experience. More than that, friends of the sales assistant who felt and saw the injustice of the dismissal, grew increasingly uncooperative and lost respect for the executive leader. In time, they all left the organization. In time the executive leader was “requested” to submit a resignation.
This example, one of many that occurred in post-pandemic organizations, no longer supported the old status quo of overbearing executive leaders who answered to no one save for themselves. That old system no longer works – indeed, if it ever did.
Mindfulness calls for an awareness of a situation, weighing and measuring and responding, rather than reacting in the moment. The entire concept of “turning over all stones,” is one that calls upon anyone in executive leadership to be authentic. The truest truth of authenticity is to be open to all possibilities, not just to those that might fit a certain scenario.
There is no more noxious environment in an organization than one refusing to hear all sides, to consider all possibilities and to come to find common ground.