Collusion Is in the Driver’s Seat

Consider a scenario. “Somebody is really good at their job, but they create all sorts of problems for people around here,” posed the Arbinger Institute’s Mitch Warner at the beginning of his ATD25 session on accountability.

“Stop and think about that for a second,” Warner continued. “How does that statement even make sense? It doesn’t. But is that kind of a fundamental reality of operating in our corporate environment? Yeah! It makes sense to all of us that a person could be simultaneously good at their job, but the way they go about doing their job makes it harder for everybody else to do their job. And we think that’s OK.”

The session’s premise is that such behavior is not OK. It creates a concept called collusion.

“Typically, when we think of collusion, we think of two people or two parties that are nefariously working together,” he said. “That’s what this is. We make this unspoken agreement. I’m going to mistreat you so that you can blame your bad behavior on me, and you’ll mistreat me so I can blame my bad behavior on you.”

It’s a behavior that’s easy to fall into when you have an inward mindset, which makes you see people as objects, as opposed to an outward mindset, where you see people as people. An inward mindset can hinder accountability.

In addition, other individuals can see through any mask you put on because humans respond to mindsets more than they respond to behaviors.

“Wake up call: None of us are that good of an actor,” Warner noted. Individuals’ mindsets are apparent “in everything that we do.”

Instead, Warner implored people to think outwardly using the SAM method: See Others; Adjust Efforts; and Measure Impact.

“It’s not enough to just talk about mindset,” he said. “You actually have to create an experience where people fundamentally see the people around them differently.”

Read more about ATD25 at conferencedaily.td.org.