The Layer Cake

People tend to look down not Up! This is true when we are invited to examine the dynamics of a team or a department that is showing signs of travelling poorly. Poor communication, Poor behaviours, Conflict, People not working as a team... These are scenarios that are familiar to us. Before undertaking a project we do our preliminary analysis and discuss the scope. It’s common to be asked by a Board or a CEO to look into leadership behaviours as well because these may be a contributor to the current maladies. Yes, we generally agree with that. It’s interesting how when we are asked to look at certain layers in an organisation without fail the inference is that the layers we need to focus on are the ones below. Look down not up we are told. Yet in my experience it’s often the layers above that need more understanding. It’s at these layers of the organisational cake that we find the interesting drivers which reveal, if not the cause of the problems at the lower layers, the 'full story' of why things are the way they are.