5 Techniques for Breaking Through the Executive Wall
At one point in my career I worked for a small high tech company that was acquired by a very large corporate conglomerate. Shortly after the acquisition, I was assigned to a team project, developing training for a cost-cutting initiative. The team was invited to corporate HQ to meet with the project’s Executive Sponsor. When we arrived, his assistant gave us a tour of Executive Parking, where we were never to park, the Executive Floor, which we could not enter unescorted, the Executive Washrooms, which we were not to use, and wrapping up with the Executive Lunchroom – where just this once we would be allowed to eat because we had a 1:00 PM meeting with The Executive Sponsor who, unfortunately, could not join us for lunch.
What is The Executive Wall?
Coming from an organization with very egalitarian leadership, this was a bit of a culture shock. What I had just experienced, was part of what I later heard Jack Zenger refer to as The Executive Wall. He said, “As leaders move up in an organization, the emotional connection with co-workers is often diluted and easily lost as the span of control increases and the frequency of interaction is cut back. Work changes from being meaningful interactions with customers and colleagues and becomes represented as numbers on a spreadsheet.”
“Senior leaders can become alarmingly disconnected from what’s happening in the frontlines of their organization and lose touch with the way employees interact on a daily basis with customers and each other. This isolation forms a barrier we refer to as The Executive Wall. The natural human response to power and authority only serves to intensify the isolation. It takes an extremely active effort on the part of executives to breach the wall and stay emotionally connected to their own workforce.”
Why is it a Problem?
Zenger Folkman research has identified Making the Emotional Connection as the most highly correlated behavior associated with the leadership competency, Inspires and Motivates Others to High Performance. Inspiring and motivating others has been shown to be a key component of employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and increased employee retention.* Clearly, breaking through The Executive Wall has fiscal and interpersonal benefits that justify the time and effort required. Here are five techniques that you can use to help bring the wall down.
- Mingle, rub shoulders, hang out – spend time in close proximity to the general workforce. In the 1980’s Waterman and Peters described this as “management by walking around.” While the term may no longer be trendy, the concept is timeless. Park your car on the opposite side of the building from your office and take varied paths to and from. When you attend general company meetings or social functions, circulate freely rather than cloistering in a corner with the same small group of associates each time. Drop by work locations on evenings or weekends and chat with those who wouldn’t otherwise see you.
- Take a break or eat lunch in the general lunchroom or other common eating areas. Go alone and ask if you can sit with others or invite others who are looking for a seat to sit with you. If your company has a kitchen area, carry in a lunch occasionally and spend some time in the kitchen assembling a sandwich or using the microwave. Communal eating situations make you approachable
- Create opportunities to chat informally in a relatively private setting with a wide variety of employees and ask questions that give them permission to tell you what’s on their mind. For example, “Tell me some things you think I don’t know and that I don’t want to hear.” It may take a while to get going, but once word gets around that the boss is sincerely interested and willing to listen, people will open up.
- During a conversation, share a challenge you’re facing and ask for input, advice, or support. This can help others see the bigger picture and view issues from a different perspective.
- Do something with what you learn. Some input will require discretion, some will be discarded after further investigation or consideration, and some will provide an opportunity for coaching or education, but whenever possible, find a way to visibly respond to expressed concerns. Even when the concern seems trivial, if you can do something reasonable to help, do it. This responsiveness builds trust and keeps communication flowing.
Happily, I’m now back in a work situation with more egalitarian leadership, and today I’m much more aware of the continuous effort and active planning required to keep The Executive Wall from encroaching.
Camille Price—Director of Product Development
* John H. Zenger, Joseph R. Folkman and Scott K. Edinger, The Inspiring Leader: Unlocking the Secrets of How Extraordinary Leaders Motivate (New York: McGraw Hill, 2009).
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