4 Ways Leaders Can Avoid Seeing Dead People

Currently, it seems that we are more fascinated by dead people than by the living. Take into account all of the latest television hits: Ghost Hunters, Ghost Whisperer, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries. I am personally addicted to Ghost Hunters, and stand in judgment of absolutely no one who loves these shows.

In this time of recession, I think we’ve transferred our fascination to the un-living because they’re easier to deal with than the living. Leaders in corporations who have spent the last twenty years trying to learn how to build teams and help people through change are suddenly regressing to a command and control approach. Employees have ceased to be living, breathing entities and are seen as troops to be thrown to the battle, not treasures to be nurtured.

Leading change is all about understanding how to move the heart and mind of those that do the job. I’m tired of hearing about the process of change. I’m tired of pyramids that show vision, setting goals, delivering training, communicating – as if these process components will magically make change happen.

We are dealing with people who have families to feed, children to send to college, and medical debts to pay. We can’t simply kick them in the butt with a spicy vision or five days of training. Leaders have to take into account their spirits and what will move them.

Maybe we can learn from those who deal with the undead. T.A.P.S. founders and lead investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson on Ghost Hunters teach us to do the following:

• Declare a safety zone. On entering a room, Jason and Grant start most interactions by ensuring the inhabiting spirit that they’re not there to harm them. How many employees feel safe in their companies? When was the last time a leader said, Folks, we need to change so we can survive. This is not a personal attack on you, and we’re not doing this to harm you. We just need to figure out a way to make this happen.”
• Listen.  As Grant says, “The best way to connect with a spirit is to get quiet and just get a feel for the room.” Leaders need to talk less and get a sense of where their people are emotionally. Are they scared? Frantic? Ready to change?
• Seek first to understand. Most investigators begin the interaction with questions such as,  What is your name? Why are you here? Did something happen to you? Are there other people here with you? Simple questions, but a great way to assess the situation. What do most leaders really know about their employees? Some don’t even know the names of those who work for them, much less why they are working and what is going on in their lives. Ask questions, and you can find answers about your environment that will help you set a strategy.
• Work at communication. After they deliver their “report” to clients, Jason and Grant always debrief, discussing how the meeting went, and how the person received the information they shared. This is critical to understanding how to hone future communications. As leaders, we must do the same. We need to ask ourselves: How did the employees receive that new information? Did they seem frightened? Did they seem motivated? What could I have said differently?

There’s more I could say about this, and I’ll address it in another post. For now, recognize that sometimes we work harder at seeing dead people than we do leading the living. Think about your leadership style. Then learn from the Ghost Hunters.