How Leaders Nurture Their No-Men to Avoid CEO Disease

Photo by Rob Gallop via FlickrMany leaders find themselves isolated at the top. Sheltered from negative information, they struggle to gain the perspective necessary to make informed decisions because employees keep them in the dark about negative or contrary information.

Daniel Goleman and his co-authors mention this "CEO Disease" in Primal Leadership: that vacuum around leaders that buffers them from key information can lead to disasters. We've seen some examples of such faulty and uninformed decisions displayed in recent stories about the financial crisis.

Leaders must ensure that the 'bad' information flows up freely and is not filtered out by various 'Yes-Men'. While it's a natural tendency to shun or rebut those who don't agree with us or give us contrary information, leaders must be extra careful to nurture their 'No-Men'. Those are people who can help leaders stay in the loop and avoid making disastrous decisions.

In my experience, most leaders are not the evil commander type. They have the intention to be open; most say they have an 'open-door policy'. Yet, many find themselves feeding their info 'bubble' unintentionally with their own actions. They say and do things that squelch openness and nay saying even if they do not consciously intend to.

Leadership expert Bret Simmons recently described two tell-tale signs you are failing to nurture your 'No-Men': First, if your people never see you say no then you are teaching by example that "no" is not an acceptable answer. Second, if people notice that every time someone says no, they don't stick around much longer, they get the message loud and clear about the consequences of doing so. Simmons offers sage advice: "Wake up. You are deep in self-deception. If no one ever comes to you with bad news, that’s bad news."

Tips for Nurturing 'No-Men':

So what should you do to avoid this CEO Disease, you ask? Here are some suggestions to get you started:

1. Raise your own self-awareness by soliciting uncensored information. Often the first step for changing behavior is awareness of the problem's nature and prevalence. A common tool that allows your staff, peers, and bosses to anonymously speak up about your strengths and limitations is a 360 degree feedback instrument.
2. Verbally and visibly create space for raising concerns. During important decision processes, insert a step where contrariness is encouraged and nurtured. Ask everyone to think of possible reasons why a course-of-action might fail or possible obstacles that might arise.
3. Ruthlessly self-monitorto avoid shooting messengers or naysayers. Practice extra self-restraint when you hear contrary information so as not to unintentionally shut out future instances of employees speaking up. Strategize ways to notice, then overcome, your natural negative response.
4. Create feedback loops for improvement because change is incremental and what gets measured gets managed. By monitoring your development and its effects (such as through a second and third round of 360 degree assessment down the road), you can apply course-corrections and praise positive progress. Another idea is to solicit one-on-one feedback from trusted collaborators who can help you stick to your goals and assess your success in achieving them.

How are you nurturing your "No-Men"? What practices do you have in place to ward off CEO Disease?