Stephen Billing’s Blog

Do you suffer from the same problems social researchers do – being an outsider in your own business?

Much of what we "know" about leadership is based on research conducted according to social research methodology. The movement towards qualitative research has often been the basis of leadership research, which often involves participants responding to the questions of social researchers. The social researchers are by definition, outsiders.

The respondents therefore have to couch their replies in the general, staying away from the detail and specifics of situations. This is because the researchers’ unfamiliarity with these situations is clear from the uninformed nature of the questions being asked by the researcher.

In other words, the respondents can’t really give detailed specific answers because the researchers come from a completely different world, or they wouldn’t have to ask the questions they are asking.

Managers, who are seen as outsiders also risk receiving general answers from their staff if they are not familiar enough with their work.

This is one of the reasons that I find myself constantly urging managers and project teams I am part of to spend more time with their people noticing what is going on and seeking to understand the world of those they working with.

Project teams, contractors and consultants are particularly prone to attempting to involve managers and workers in what they are doing.

What could be wrong with that?

Well, they could instead become involved in what the managers and staff are doing. There is a subtle but very important difference.

In the first, the project teams are trying to get people from the business involved in the project. In the second, they are getting involved with the business and generating a much more nuanced understanding of the business, and therefore how the direction of the project and how their project should be conducted in order to best meet business needs.

A common objection is that it will take too long for the project to get its needs met if project team members spent time in the business getting to understand it, rather than just sitting in the project "war room" with a representative of the business.

I am reminded of the old quality management adage that even if there is not enough time to do it right the first time, then there is always enough time to redo the errors. In other words, time taken at the front end to understand the business significantly reduces the amount of time taken to implement. And as we know, it is in implementation that change projects lag behind schedule and ultimately fail.