Take Off Your Rose Colored Glasses To Embrace Change

To effectuate change, boards and management have to be able to take off their rose colored glasses and admit to themselves the truths that they often don’t want to say out loud.

• Our mission has drifted or is no longer relevant.
• We are too dependent on a few donors or sources of financial support.
• Our numbers are artificial.
• We are losing market share and can’t seem to regain momentum.
• We are not attracting strong leadership or are not developing our leaders.
• Our brand is irreparably damaged.
• We don’t have the right professionals in place.

Not being able to, or maybe more appropriately stated, not wanting to see the truth  gets in the way of organizations being able to make the necessary changes and to overcome the challenges they face and to innovate.

Board meetings are not the time for rubber-stamping, puffing, job protecting, sugar-coating or self-congratulating. If boards aren’t able to have honest conversations and identify and face their challenges head on, the organizations are wasting valuable  time that could be spent addressing the real issues that stand in the way of operating in a healthy, efficient, effective and sustainable way.

On the contrary, if the board room encourages and is open to honest and self-critical assessments, the organization will be stronger for it and able to make tough decisions and embrace the changes necessary to survive in a competitive environment. The key is to reward the truth and don’t shoot the messengers.

If you want to have a resilient, sustainable, growth-orientated organization, there needs to be  a sanctuary of truth in the boardroom. Don’t be afraid to insist that board members and staff take off their rose colored glasses.