{"id":1741,"date":"2018-08-22T13:52:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T13:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2021-08-12T09:43:41","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:43:41","slug":"6-questions-new-leaders-ask-joining-established-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/6-questions-new-leaders-ask-joining-established-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Questions New Leaders Should Ask When Joining Established Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBecause that\u2019s the way we\u2019ve always done it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Business magazines. \u00a0YouTube videos. \u00a0Seminars. \u00a0They all present this response to the question \u201cWhy do you do things this way?\u201d as the bleeding fish that a shark of a business leader must viciously attack and eviscerate.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0kind of agree and I kind of disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause that\u2019s the way we\u2019ve always done it\u201d implies that the person performing a task has no freakin\u2019 clue why they are brainlessly doing what they are doing. \u00a0And, if that\u2019s the case, then the task is fair game for analysis and improvement by an incoming leader.<\/p>\n

But, I\u2019ve seen enough new leaders set their organizations back years by reacting to this question by making change for the sake of change. \u00a0They simply assume that there could be no reason whatsoever why processes are the way they are instead of being the way the new leader thinks they should be.<\/p>\n

While \u201cBecause that\u2019s the way we\u2019ve always done it\u201d is pretty much the wrong answer to the question, I personally feel that \u201cWhy do you do things this way?\u201d is the wrong question!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s lazy. \u00a0It\u2019s surface-level. \u00a0It shows no creativity and no intelligence.<\/p>\n

If a new leader really wants deep insights, here are better questions to ask:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What\u00a0results are we getting from this process?<\/li>\n
  2. What are the characteristics \u2013 especially the non-obvious characteristics \u2013\u00a0of this process that you feel make it successful at getting results?<\/li>\n
  3. What other processes were tried before the current process and what makes the current process better than those?<\/li>\n
  4. There are certain aspects of this process that, if changed, could ruin the results the process is getting. \u00a0What are those aspects that we should be careful not to change?<\/li>\n
  5. What aspects of the process do you feel could be changed to achieve better results?<\/li>\n
  6. Is there any reason that those aspects were not already changed?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Can you envision how much more helpful the answers will be to these questions compared to \u201cWhy do you do things this way?\u201d \u00a0When asking deeper questions, a new leader will a more thorough understanding of processes so that changes will be made intelligently and not haphazardly.<\/p>\n

    Re-engineering processes that were \u201calways done this way\u201d is an almost an irresistible knee-jerk reaction that amateurish leaders have. \u00a0They change things that may not need to be changed and often cause a veritable landslide of problems.<\/p>\n

    Good, confident leaders make intelligent changes. \u00a0And good, confident leaders also know what to leave alone.<\/p>\n

    Just like employees shouldn\u2019t do things because they were always done that way, new leaders shouldn\u2019t change things just because they can.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    Become a member of one of the world\u2019s largest procurement associations today.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n