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Key Takeaways
- Perception misalignment is the leading cause of failed organizational transformation initiatives. The solution is to design a new system that focuses on creating clarity.
- Stop solving problems from within. Finding the optimal solution requires an outside perspective: a facilitator who can ask the basic questions that internal teams are too conditioned to see.
- Breakthrough ideas are useless without a path to execution, and execution is impossible without clear ownership.
There is one well-known allegory which tells the story of several blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time: one touches the tusk and says it is a spear, another touches the leg and calls it a tree, while a third grabs the tail and insists it is a rope. And while everyone draws a reasonable conclusion based on the data they have, they are all completely wrong about the nature of the animal.
This dynamic is exactly why 70% of all organizational transformation initiatives fail. As leaders, it’s easy to blame this failure rate on external factors, such as a flawed strategy, an inadequate budget, or poor market timing. But these excuses mask a deeper problem, as most transformations are already dead for reasons that have little to do with these external factors. Instead, the fault is almost always internal.
A sales leader touches the customer-facing part of a project and sees one reality, while an operations leader touches the internal process and sees a different reality. So even though they are nodding in agreement at the same meeting, in reality they are each trying to drive a different beast, which creates the fundamental disconnect – or, if you prefer, the elephant in the meeting room.
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Stop solving problems from within
Once you see the elephant, you can’t unsee it. And that realization immediately makes it clear why the conventional playbook of more PowerPoint decks and status meetings is so ineffective. It’s a playbook designed to report on a problem, not to solve a deep-seated misalignment of perception. It’s painfully clear that to break this cycle, you need to design a new system focused entirely on creating clarity.
This is why the foundation of my approach is built on a methodology I call Collective Clarity – a disciplined approach to creating true alignment that relies on these non-negotiable first steps: you clearly define the problem and then work from the outside in to define the optimal solution.
After all, an organization that uses the same group of carpenters swinging the same hammers will only achieve the same results. Therefore, getting a different outcome requires an outside perspective, because your internal experts are, by definition, already one of the blind men: they are too close to the problem to see the whole animal. This calls for a facilitator: someone who has the authority to operate outside the designated swim lane and ask the basic, naive questions that internal teams are often too conditioned to do.
A shared reality system
As a leader who specializes in parachuting into these complex, often failing transformations, this is where my work begins. Once that outside perspective is established, I design a single, intensive all-in session to finally show stakeholders the whole elephant through a clear four-step process:
- The rules of engagement: First, I enforce absolute presence. This means a strict environment without computers and telephones in which everyone is required to participate. I also consciously call on people for input outside their wheelhouse, capturing the fresh perspectives needed to break through expert groupthink.
The collective brain dump: We then get all the possible input, ideas and frustrations out in the open, usually on hundreds of Post-it notes, so that everyone in the room can finally see all the pieces of the puzzle. This usually brings to light some “Ah-ha” moments among cross-functional teams.
The percolation: This is what the process is imbued with Six Sigma rigor – a systematic, data-driven discipline used to eliminate defects and noise. Here my role is to ‘percolate’ the raw data by looking for patterns and grouping similar themes.
The simplification: Finally, as a facilitator, my main job is to remove those anecdotal rabbit hole comments that can distort the issue. My whole goal is to distill the complexity into a few simple, summary statements that get everyone on the same page.
Through this structured process, the ‘elephant’ finally comes into focus and for the first time the entire team sees the same animal. Yet this newfound clarity is fragile because a great meeting is simply useless if the alignment evaporates the moment people leave the room. And this is why the facilitation system that creates clarity must be immediately reinforced by an accountability system that ensures it sticks.
Related: The three-step framework for leading with clarity and confidence
From a “RACI on paper” to a living system
I saw the power of this all-in session during a recent transformation I led, when an HR person, with a fresh perspective on a complex operational problem, asked a simple question that revealed an elegant solution that the experts had completely missed. But there is a danger in these breakthrough moments. The most elegant solution in the world is still just an idea, and great ideas die in conference rooms every day for a simple reason: an idea is useless without a path to execution, and execution is impossible without clear ownership.
This is exactly where a tool like a RACI matrix – a simple diagram that makes it clear who is responsible, responsible, consulted and informed — becomes essential. The problem is that a RACI doesn’t do much on paper. It must become a living way of working, a principle I saw in action during my most formative career experience at WL Gore.
There we were managed by what was called “situational leadership.” For example, while developing fuel cell technology, the scientists and engineers leading the project eventually stopped a meeting and said, “We don’t know anything about marketing. Melissa, you need to take this over. You need to lead the project now.”
That’s a clear passing of the baton: a living accountability system that creates real, empowering ownership.
Related: Ambiguity isn’t leadership – it’s avoidance. Why modern teams are hungry for decisiveness
Your mandate as leader
This inside-out thinking is most dangerous in technology implementations where, as the old saying goes, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
This is because when an IT team is in charge, the technical solution is often seen as the completion of the project itself, while stakeholder adoption is overlooked. Therefore, it is crucial to bring in different perspectives to ensure that all the basic areas are covered. Complicated problems do not always require complicated solutions. What they do need are fresh eyes and a disciplined, guided approach to see the whole picture.
Ultimately, as a leader, it is not your job to have all the answers. Your job is to stop swinging the hammer and instead create the conditions that allow your team to finally see the whole elephant.