MANAGEMENT/ LEADERSHIP SPECIAL ............. Killing the Ego

Killing the Ego   Every leader talks of wanting an open organisation. But it's tough having employees question every decision you make Jim Whitehurst's first brush with an open organisation was when he  interviewed with Red Hat for the CEO post. “I had separate meetings  with both the CEO and  our general counsel and those conversations showed me that working at Red Hat  would be different than anything I had done before.There wasn't a traditional hierarchy, no special treatment  for leaders at least not the kind that you might find at most other companies.  They just wanted to meet and get to know me rather  than try to impress or court me,“ says Whitehurst, president and CEO, Red Hat.  This also made him realise that at Red Hat, the world's leading provider  of open  source software solutions, meritocracy was key. This was eight  years ago. Whitehurst has now put down his observations and learnings over the  years into  a book, The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance.  In addition  to Red Hat, the book also goes inside companies like Zappos, Pixar and Starbucks,  to understand how to successfully create and navigate  an open organisation. Whitehurst's early days at Red Hat were focused on  unlearning most things he  knew about managing, and learning to listen and  making himself accountable  to everyone in the company. “Just because I  had the title of CEO didn't mean I had earned everyone's trust and respect, “ he says. This came down to little  things like realizing how being dressed  differently from everyone else (in a  button down shirt and pressed khakis)  was creating an invisible barrier around him. The very next day he switched  to jeans and a casual shirt. “It was a lesson in how formality and visual cues can become significant  Barriers  to collaboration because they can make you seem unapproachable.  That doesn't work in an open organisation,“ he says. According to Whitehurst, because open organisations require far fewer  top down  controls, they tend to act quicker and breed employee engagement.  “If you no longer rely on conventional top-down management hierarchies  To  solve problems, you need to encourage and empower the members of  your organisation to solve their own issues.“ This is similar to open source communities where there is no leader who  Is  officially in charge. Instead, people are charged with making decisions  based on the input they receive from the group. The more accountable you are to your peers, the more aware you'd be about  The  impact of your decisions and actions. As a result, people often end up  Working  out issues among themselves rather than bumping them up the hierarchy. “An open organisation is focused on driving innovation and keeping ahead  Of  the trends in the market ­ not devoting scarce people-power to missteps  better left for peers to solve. Too many organisations tend to get sucked down  into  creating policies and procedures aimed at quelling misbehavior, which  is truly a waste of a talented person's time and energy,“ he says. Given the economic environment most businesses operate in today,  Whitehurst points out that an open framework can go a long way in boosting  innovation and creativity. Decision making though, can be a tedious process.  When decisions are handed down from above, a lack of commitment and follow through often result. That's why an open organisation strives for change  management to happen during the decision process, not during execution.  We've learned that to bring about changes in our organisation, it's not enough to simply try and sell our associates on a decision after it has been made,“ he says. The focus instead is bringing on ownership in the changes needed by  involving people in the decision making process. He admits it can be a frustrating and time consumer process, at times even  infuriating. “As a leader, it challenges your ego ­ it is not fun to have people question, question, and question every decision you make. So why do it? The simple answer is because it leads to better decisions, better engagement,  better execution, and ultimately better results,“ says Whitehurst. The other challenge for Whitehurst was to get used to the constant debates  that took place. This was something he had rarely encountered in his earlier  jobs with Delta and BCG, and he was used to not being confronted if  someone  disagreed with him. Not so at Red Hat. “I quickly learned that  you can't get the  best creativity, initiative or effort from the members of an  open organisation by saying, “Go do this.“ The best ideas happen when  teams hash things out. I've had engineers at Red Hat publicly challenge my decisions. These challenges  are typically quite respectful and well thought out, and  rarely cross the line. But publicly and openly disagreeing is part of how Red Hat works,  and I'm convinced that we get better answers as a result,“ he says.  Over time, he's come to enjoy this style of debating and arguing with people to solve hard and complex issues. “I love to argue -not maliciously  -but in a healthy way where both sides  are heard. I love to stir up a good debate, and sometimes think of myself as Red Hat's head debater,“ says Whitehurst. His advice to leaders looking to build an open organisation is simple.  Proactively  invite feedback and thank those who give you constructive or negative feedback.  “It is a gift, and particularly as a leader or manager, if you react defensively, You are unlikely to get it again,“ he cautions. The other  important thing is to  spark the organisation to action. It's important to be clear when outlining goals and targets. If you are too precise, you may turn people off or end up giving them too  Much  direction. At the same time, if you make the goals too broad,  you might not  inspire any action whatsoever --or be left with utter chaos with people running off in multiple directions at the same time. The trick lies in creating enough structure around the organisation's  actions without creating too much. “The art lies in finding the balance,“  he signs off. By Priyanka Sangani CDET 4sep15