Manage Like There Will Be A Tomorrow”

This is the third part in a four-part series designed to give managers and leaders constructive insights to navigate these difficult times. Come back to the blog next Monday for the final installment in the series, as well as archives of stimulating content. As always, if the writing supports and inspires you – please share it with friends and colleagues.

Part two described the ways in which managers and leaders can inspire employees to work differently within this period of rapid change and intense competition. Part three will identify some important barriers that can be addressed to improve continuous learning and performance.

Part Three of Four:

We left Part Two of this series making the strong case that the managers, leaders and organizations that understand and promote continuous workplace learning and performance have the best chance at turning the current economic downturn into an opportunity for improved performance and long-term success. Of course, there are many obstacles to continuous learning and performance so now we turn our attention to identifying some of the most common barriers.

It is a very strange thing in life. Often the more ubiquitous something is, the less we seem to notice it. Barriers to workplace learning and performance are everywhere, all the time - yet; these barriers are often hidden in plain sight. The big, ugly ones usually get our attention fast. However, even with these our focus on them is usually reactionary and short-lived. The subtler barriers that quietly disrupt our productivity, diminish our working relationships and make it difficult for us to learn and grow are surprisingly concealed and largely left alone. These are the barriers that managers and leaders need to see right now in order to limit the reach and impact of the current business crisis.

The following list of barriers captures some of the most relevant obstacles that many organizations and their leaders face right now:

- Lack of reflection and learning from past successes and failures
- Too much complacency and not enough urgency
- Learning and change efforts that address only symptoms but not underlying causes of problems
- Inability to let go of past ways of thinking or acting
- Change fatigue and resignation to fail
- Absence of dialogue and fear of raising concerns
- Inability or unwillingness to adapt to fast changing, complex or uncertain environmental conditions
- Clinging to a fixed organizational identity from the past
- Limited expectations about what is possible leading to limited results
- Delaying decision-making and action by getting bogged down with research, information, and analysis
- Not raising questions or exposing uncertainties for fear of being seen as incompetent
- Doing lesser tasks well at the expense of more important priorities

In my forthcoming book, Breaking Barriers: A Survival Guide to Work in the 21st Century, I describe the interrelationships between these barriers and the underlying patterns that often suspend them in place. It is too complicated to delve into on the blog, but suffice it to say there are some very important shifts we must make in order to begin untangling the web of barriers that hold us back. Check back next week for the new post. Part Four will describe some important action steps you can take right now to move past your barriers!