The following is excerpted from the real, true and notarized diary of an anonymous and insightful non-profit manager from a fictional mid-sized organization.

photo credit: peteoshea

Dearest diary:

As I sit here, I’m still trying to figure out what happened at our management team meeting this afternoon. Next year’s anticipated budget shortfall was well known by many of us but this was the first time it made the agenda for management team. I don’t know what I expected when we received the agenda and it simply said 2012 Budget, but I certainly didn’t expect the meeting to be such a train wreck.

As Jim [Executive Director] started to talk, the vibe in the room changed dramatically. Anxiety levels were high and it was unusually quiet. How did he think we’d respond to hearing an unexpected proposal that would significantly impact all of our work?

It’s clear from the handout we received today that Jim has been working on this idea for some time. It was well laid out and started with a few paragraphs stating his analysis of the current state of the organization. From there, he presented a series of changes that would solve key problems in the organization moving forward.

An awkward pause filled the room as Jim requested feedback from all of us. Ultimately, Jim called on me to get the discussion started. I was still trying to digest what had just happened and kept my comments relatively safe. The same pattern continued around the room until it was Mary’s turn.

She started by questioning the very beginning of his handout – his assessment of the current state of the organization. As Finance Director, she didn’t think his interpretation of financial trends was accurate and it was pretty clear that Jim didn’t expect or maybe want to hear these comments from her. Their conversation lasted for another 15 minutes before it was brought to an abrupt end because we ran out of time.

Jim closed the meeting by thanking all of us for our time and said that he’d get back to us on next steps regarding his proposal. I’m not sure what Jim thought would happen today, but I suspect the result wasn’t what he had in mind.

Even though Jim gave a polished presentation, I keep thinking back to Mary’s point. What concerns me now isn’t so much the solutions he proposed, it’s that the information he used as his rationale for change appears to be faulty. To his credit maybe it’s not, but his reaction to Mary’s questions do raise concerns.

Dearest diary…I respect Jim in many ways but I don’t think today was his finest moment. There are so many lessons to be learned from this story, but I think I know what is the key point that inspired me to write.

Get clear on the problem before you jump to solutions. Collect facts, test assumptions and create alignment with your team. You’ll always need to enlist others to make any change a success. And take the time to prioritize – what problems, if tackled, will have the greatest impact on our organization?

Who knows, Jim may ultimately find out that he invested a lot of time and damaged relationships with his team creating a solution for a problem that didn’t exist OR in the end wasn’t a high priority.

Oh Diary… what do you think? What lessons can I learn from my experiences managing groups of people through change?