Business Casual: Your Image on the Inside
October 20, 2009We all seem to forever be focused on what external actors think about our enterprise (media, customers, bloggers, opinion leaders, etc) and often forget that our image is really created (as Dorothy said) in our own backyards. The thoughts and voices of those with whom we work, to whom we report and report to us are what determine our positive (or not) forward momentum.
I write today as both an organizational and communications expert — and as one who lived the organizational life for over 20 years. My story is one in which you too have played a part. We each have our slots and designations in organizational life and are well aware of accepted behavioral norms. Each of us understands the risk of total honesty regarding our superiors’ behavior, so we often remain quiet as we observe destructive actions.
In this fable, there is an executive who truly is a decent human being — one for whom we all might like to work. H/She is active in the community and makes occasional contact with the wider universe of employees across the organization. H/She is forward thinking and has ensured that this large group of employees are rewarded for their hard work and have a welcome environment in which to prevail. H/She has built (or so h/she believes) a group of forthright senior executives around him/her. H/She is living in the days when the blue suit has made way to business casual and has slowly become an executive who focuses upon the big picture, rather than day-to-day operations.
H/She has morphed from a more serious individual, to one who behaves in a more casual manner. H/She has taken to ensuring that top executives know of a personal desires to spend days ruminating the big challenges while the team runs the shop. Most of the team welcomed this “promotion.” But some saw this leadership behavior as disengagement. The executive’s image, which had been one of involvement, slowly became one of detachment. Add to this, those few of his/her direct reports whom believed that they are “more than qualified” for the top position.
So, what happened to this earnest and forthright human? Things did get in the way. H/She did enjoy deep thinking more than doing. Those reports who sought the top job began to openly converse about lack of engagement. (think of episodes of “The Office.”) The organization became economically challenged and not because of the casual approach (but note it could have played a part), but because of the larger global financial markets…
The convergence of casual + economy = poor business performance. One executive (one who believed himself overqualified for his current station) chose this opportune time to report this leadership behavior to superiors. The result — decent exec was removed, but bad subordinate did not receive that suddenly available job….by the way, always give the superiors some credit for knowing the truth.
So the moral of our fable. Image inside matters — good executive could have continued to lead had h/she not become so transparently casual. Bad narc created his own image problems. Net result — remember that just because we now can shed the blue suit, does not mean we can relax our image. The inside image does ultimately impact results.
Count on it.
In a safe navy blue suit
Jennifer
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