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Why Red Zone Thinking Blocks Progress in Organizations and Politics


In yesterday's New York Times (July 26, 2017) there was a startling article by Kevin Quealy “Trump Is on Track to Insult 650 People, Places and Things on Twitter by the End of His First Term”.  For a leader to be in a place where he feels that he constantly has to attack, and is under attack, means that he is constantly under stress, and we all know that elevated cortisol and norepinephrine levels have a negative effect on bodily functions like the immune system, the metabolism as well as the mental health of the individual, such as memory and mental illness.  High levels of norepinephrine, means that the President is constantly in a state of fight or flight response. 

It is no wonder then that there are so many reports of leaks, blame, hostility and silo’d thinking coming from the White House, let alone the competitive and short-term behaviors that are defining the Trump administration’s rule.  This is classic Red Zone behavior (in Radical Collaboration language). Over and over leaders and businesses who operate in this manner have damaged their companies.  Negative corporate cultures invariably allow bad behavior and poor discipline to cloud ethical decisions and to encourage an unhealthy level of competition, where trust, teamwork and collaboration are destroyed.  The result is that time, resources and productivity are compromised.  And over time, employees, clients, and suppliers are alienated.

This reminds me of an HBR article from the July-August 1999 issue, “Why Good Companies Go Bad”, by Donald Sull.  In the article, Sull puts forward the premise that an active inerita in the face of failure, sets into the leadership mindset, and all the leadership team beome capable of doing is to ‘follow established patterns of behavior…Stuck in the modes of thinking and working that brought success in the past”.  For the Republican Party, what worked in the past was to make or repeat loud and often untrue accusations (eg. The Birther Movement), refuse compromise, step away from collaboration, and to roundly condemn any progress or policy put forward by the Democrats.   This brought great success to the Republican Party who nervously celebrated their Presidential win (I say nervously, as there were many bruised egos, battered reputations and tight-lipped smiles in the Party at the time). But it was these very behaviors, that I believe are bringing them down, and placing them in this state of active inertia, and where they are ignoring that it is now time to change strategy.

For an organization to move from Red Zone to Green Zone thinking and behavior, requires a change in leadership behavior.  Without this, there is a tacit allowance for bad behaviors to continue.  Thus the first step is to admit that a  new focus and approach is required, admitting that what worked in the past is stale and not working. The second step, is to start taking responsibility for what is not working, and to be brave enough to go first, to set the tone in reaching out to make change happen, but - and this is crucial - from a genuine place of intent.  To bring that back to politics in the US, this is exactly what the public is now demanding of their leaders, both Democratic and Republican.  If our leadership can hear this, the desire to start with a change, will start with the need to change the tone of leadership, and for our leadership to show a true desire to start working collaboratively.  In the Radical Collaboration community, we call this "Having Collaborative Intent."

But having a Collaborative Intent is only the start of a long journey in which effort, thought and self-reflection have to play a role before success and change can be realized.  This journey would require our leadership to go through several steps, such as:

  • Requiring a new level of truthfulness, where they are truly open to listening, empathizing and attempting to understand, before taking a position.  
  • Taking accountability for the intended and unintended consequences of what has been said, and the actions that have been taken. 
  • Developing greater self-awareness of each other's concerns, intentions and motivations, and learning how to behave in a less defensive and needy manner, and be more flexible to different priorities and interactions.  
  • Learning how to come at problems from an Interest-Based perspective, with representatives who can truly facilitate alternative problem solving and solution seeking.  

But first, it all has to START with a STOP .  Stop the insults, stop the blame, stop the aggression. Recognize it is no longer working.  START with a genuine intent to create something positive and new, reach out, and see what happens.

 Find out more about Radical Collaboration Training for Organizations and how we can help you change the culture in your organization on our website.  at https://www.namaquaconsulting.com/events/
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