Rodney Johnson - Without Warning

Denial is a powerful word that connotates  a multitude of emotions. Its also a word that tends to get people and organizations into trouble. Unfortunately the transformation from Denial to Acceptance comes with much baggage, and commonly occurs too late. Too late to make a decision. Too late to pursue an alternative path. Too late to make an impact. Too late to survive its rath. Yes, denial too often becomes a, Too Little, Too Late” scenario. 

It’s no surprise that denial is at the heart of the Silent Problem phenomenon impacting many organizations today as I have written about repeatedly, which is why I found an article that delves into Denial over at Harvard Business, titled, Four Tools for Defeating Denial intriguing. Here are a couple of the excerpts.

Arrogance of power fuels denial. Executives flush with memories of past successes sometimes think that they are above the facts, that the facts don’t apply to them. Deniers prevent change when they give lip service to problems but reject solutions that would require sacrifice or wrenching turns… Deniers gain followers because the “no change; carry on as usual” message is comforting. Doing nothing different or nothing at all — is easy. Everyone has silent veto power. Deniers can simply sit on their hands, miss meetings, lose reports, or let timetables slip. Presto! No change.

Whatever a change agent’s cause — global warming, ending risky financial speculation, reforming pay to reward performance, corporate culture change, or innovation in an established institution — confronting denial is essential

Denial is simply stated, “Trust me, we don’t have a problem.” And without a problem, there is nothing to solve, nothing to discuss and no next steps. In effect, it has been silenced and that’s why its so dangerous! If you’re not looking, you will either adapt to the scenario (which makes the situation normal over time) or it will suddenly hit with great force, which I refer to as a Without Warning Event.  If you want to counter denial, you must follow these four steps (which are in my book Without Warning.

1. Make the Problem Visible and Memorable: You must turn denial into a problem and then make it visible and memorable for everyone to see. Once this has occurred, its difficult to state that a problem doesn’t exist.
2. Create a Sense of Urgency: Once the problem is visible, its important to create a sense of urgency. If you don’t, the problem can easily fall back into a state of denial. The easiest means to creating a sense of urgency is to ask this simple question. “What is the risk of doing nothing?” This question will get the problem on track.
3. Allow Anger, Avoid Fear: If you attack denial, you may have many reasons to be angry, such as why didn’t we deal with this earlier. The challenge is to leverage anger for the positive (i.e. getting your team energized), but avoid fear, which can debilitate your team and your effort.
4. Influence: When you attack denial, you’re ability to influence will be essential. It’s how you help make the problem visible, but also obtain the resources to get the problem solved.

Bottom Line: The premise of silent problems inside organizations and their impact on performance is gaining acceptance. How companies deal with denial is critically important to the future viability of every organization. Make it happen.