One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a senior leader is not receiving bad news. Not because there isn\u2019t any, but because people have stopped telling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have seen this dynamic develop in organisations more than once. Rarely does it happen overnight. A CEO doesn\u2019t announce one morning that disagreement is no longer welcome. Instead, an organisation gradually learns what gets rewarded, what gets dismissed and which conversations are better avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A difficult message is met with irritation. A challenge is interpreted as a lack of support. Someone raises a concern and is immediately asked to come back with a solution. Another person watches what happens and decides not to raise the next concern. And so the organisation learns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Culture is often discussed in terms of values, behaviours and purpose. Those things matter. But culture is also created in dozens of much smaller interactions. What happens when somebody disagrees with the CEO? What happens when a project is going badly? What happens when somebody questions an assumption everyone else appears to support? What happens to the person who says, \u201cI don’t think this is working\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those moments tell people much more about the real culture of an organisation than the values written on the wall. If leaders consistently respond with curiosity, people learn that challenge is safe. If they respond defensively, people learn something else. Eventually, the bad news does not disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It simply stops travelling upwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The higher you move in an organisation, the more difficult it can become to get an unfiltered view of what is really happening. People prepare before speaking to you. Messages get polished. Problems get solved before they reach the executive table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And most people naturally become more cautious when the person sitting opposite them has significant influence over their career. That means senior leaders have to work deliberately to create an environment in which people are willing to tell them things they may not want to hear. Asking\u00a0\u201cWhat am I missing?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0is a start. But asking the question is not enough. The real test is what happens when someone answers it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout my career in HR, I have always believed that being a trusted advisor to a CEO means more than supporting their agenda. Sometimes support means challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A strong HR leader should be able to bring a different perspective into the room, surface what is not being discussed and help a CEO understand how their own behaviour may be influencing the organisation around them. Sometimes that means saying: There is something you need to hear.<\/em> That isn’t always comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also isn’t HR’s job to become the spokesperson for every complaint in the organisation. Nor should HR automatically position itself against management. The value comes from judgement: understanding what is noise, what is a symptom and what senior leadership genuinely needs to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have become increasingly convinced that this is one of the most important contributions HR can make. Keeping reality in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is another side to this. HR itself can filter information. An HR team that becomes too focused on maintaining harmony, protecting relationships or presenting everything perfectly can unintentionally contribute to the very problem it should help prevent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We sometimes talk about having a \u201cseat at the table\u201d. But having a seat at the table only matters if you are willing to use your voice once you are there. Being a trusted advisor does not mean agreeing with the CEO. And credibility is not built by making every conversation comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is built by being thoughtful, fair and courageous enough to say what needs to be said while understanding the business context in which decisions have to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I now see a similar dynamic in my coaching conversations with leaders. The further someone progresses in their career, the fewer people they may have around them who have no agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their team wants something from them. Their peers have their own interests. Their Board has expectations. Even friends and family may see only part of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having someone who can listen, challenge assumptions and ask the question others are reluctant to ask becomes increasingly valuable. Not because a coach has all the answers. Quite the opposite. Good coaching creates the space to see what you may no longer be seeing yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No leader enjoys hearing bad news. But the best leaders I have worked with understood that disagreement was not disloyalty. They wanted people around them who were prepared to challenge them. Because the alternative is much more dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If everyone around the table agrees with you, there are two possibilities. You are always right. Or people have learned that disagreeing with you isn’t worth it. Strong leaders know which possibility is more likely.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a senior leader is not receiving bad news. Not because there isn\u2019t any, but because people have stopped telling them. I have seen this dynamic develop in organisations more than once. Rarely does it happen overnight. A CEO doesn\u2019t announce one morning that disagreement is…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":676,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondhorizonscoaching.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}HR has a particular responsibility<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
HR can also become part of the proble<\/strong>M<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The same is true in coaching<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Strong leaders invite disagreement<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n