Live from World Business Forum: Emotionally Buck Naked in Boardroom?

If your co-workers, boss, and company's executives were "emotionally buck naked" what do you think you would hear from them?  That's the question that comes to mind from speaker, writer, and business consultant Patrick Lencioni at the World Business Forum. 

Lencioni is passionate about the need for trust in corporate environments, and that trust, he says, hinges on the willingness of those you work with—and especially your company's leaders—to be vulnerable. That means admitting when they're wrong, but also being open to hearing hard truths from others. So, those meetings where the un-offensive attempt to outdo themselves praising and saying "yes, I agree" to the boss?  Not only unproductive, but damaging. If they feel the need to act that way, there's a problem. They know the big guy or gal isn't comfortable with honest feedback. 

I once heard from a friend that in a high-potentials meeting at her company several years ago, she was told the new philosophy of her executives was: "If you don't like it, leave."  So, in other words, "we're not interested in hearing your criticism. If you don't like it, find another job."

So, what was that all about?  Lencioni obviously wasn't that company's consultant, and beyond that, I guess the company was run by insecure people. Is that a safe assumption?  What are the reasons behind the unwillingness to be vulnerable in front of co-workers and subordinates by accepting feedback that could help the company become more profitable?  

What if you were an executive with a subordinate who performed well but was disliked by his manager? The manager asked the executive to keep quiet about the true reason for the lack of liking, and the executive, to keep the peace, agrees. Would it be better to force the complaining manager to directly confront the disliked one in a meeting facilitated by the executive?  Of course. But first that manager will have to be taught to be vulnerable enough to be honest. 

Since those exercises with people falling out of trees onto petite co-workers have mostly become a joke, what are some better strategies to enhancing the ability to be vulnerable enough to be honest?  What about "off the record" sessions in which anything (even what would usually be considered inappropriate) can be said for a half-hour?  It's a boardroom version of the old rule about "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."  Maybe what you need is to offer workers a session in which they can say whatever they like to whomever they like at your company with a promise that they absolutely won't experience any repercussions. It's impossible to promise they won't be hurt down the line by the executive remembering they called him or her "the most dog-like boss I ever had," but the promise to provide protection in exchange for honesty might help free up employees enough for honest feedback. 

What are some of your ideas for teaching employees, and more importantly, executives, to be vulnerable?  Maybe it comes down to empirical evidence that they'll get something valuable in return for making themselves vulnerable. Storytelling may work. Research corporate success and turnaround stories (any number of them available, no doubt, at your local book store), and find a few great anecdotes from respected companies that turned themselves around following honest feedback from their workforce. 

Another interesting question Lencioni brought to my mind is what you think your co-workers would say about YOU?  Maybe they think you're a slacker; maybe your earnest hard work is resented; maybe you're too passive in your work style; maybe you're that CEO employees value mostly as a vehicle for jokes because your emperor-wearing-no-clothes attitude is more laughable than respectable. 

Is your executive board confident they're wearing designer suits, but the truth is a little more, shall we say, stark?

Becoming vulnerable enough to hear the truth from co-workers and employees means accepting a view of yourself that may be as bad as trying on bathing suits under florescent lighting.