Recently, I witnessed a very popular employee marginalized and largely ignored by those in leadership. He was abrasive and unpolished. There was some maturing which needed to take place. However, this individual was extremely popular with the customers. He was responsive to their needs and provided incredible service to all he was responsible for. But the leadership never knew this because they were never amongst the customers. They lead from their corner office, a place of separation and isolation. When the employee left, there was a significant loss of trust in the leadership. The Iceberg of Ignorance was in play.
The Iceberg of Ignorance
We are all familiar the the structure of an iceberg. Only about 10% of its mass is above water. Therefore, the remaining 90% is concealed below the water’s surface. This reality has great significance for leaders of organizations.
Leaders need to think of the 10% above the surface as the leader and inner-circle. This could be the executive team, select Board members, or just those trusted by the leader.
What Is Below The Surface
What is below the surface are all those in the organization being led by the leader. This 90% is where all the action takes place. It is where the people are. This is what happens below the surface:
- Your culture is lived out
- Discipleship and development takes place
- New ideas are birthed
- All the water cooler talk takes place
- The customers are engaged
- Day-to-day activities happen
- Collaboration is a reality
- Success or failure takes place
But leaders are ignorant to these realities if they only stay above the surface.
Ignorance
I have often said you cannot lead from the green room or corner office. If the leader only stays within the confines of their executive team or inner-circle, if they are only receiving information from their fellow 10% above the surface, they are at a critical strategic disadvantage.
The leader is not receiving 90% of the information available to them. At best, they are getting limited information. At worst, they are hearing from the wrong voices about what is going on in the organization. This is because their inner-circle is also ignorant about what is happening in the organization so what type of advice are they actually able to give?
When this happens the leaders are firmly entrenched in the Iceberg of Ignorance.
Often associated with the Iceberg of Ignorance is arrogance. The 10% can become cliquish and isolated. They think they are set apart when in actuality they are tragically ignorant of what is truly going on in their organization. Just like the story I told at the beginning of this article.
The Solution
The solution to the Iceberg of Ignorance is to make the decision to come out of the green room or corner office and intentionally spend vast amounts of time amongst the 90% of the organization below the surface. Walk slowly through the crowd. Eat meals in the cafeteria. Go to the job site. Ask questions. Listen to your customers. Shake hands. Hear the stories of those in your organization. Talk to front-line leaders and those just above them. Walk a mile in their shoes. Find out the issues those in your organization are dealing with and provide quality solutions.
Otherwise, the leader will continue to have limited information and make poor decisions. Good people will continue to leave. Trust will be lost. The organization will struggle and never reach its full potential.
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