There’s a famous story that’s often talked about the Tanzanian army when it attacked the State Research Bureau offices in Uganda in 1979. The Tanzanian army was shocked to find full Ugandan intelligence reports detailing everything they’d discussed in the build-up to this attack. Ugandan Intelligence was even aware of all the operational details that would be deployed by the Tanzanians. But they were unable to act on this intelligence. They lacked the ability to translate this into action.
Another phenomenon often witnessed by most consultants is that they often don’t tell the business anything new. Usually, consultants come in and tell the business leaders the same issues that their employees and customers had always told them. Thus, businesses tend to only listen to consultants and often by the time they do, it’s too late to make a difference.
How then do organizations in Uganda unlock the ability to listen? How do the people in the C-Suite building listening capabilities into the organization? Of course, organizations will usually confirm that they share feedback forms or carry out surveys. But again, that’s always too late. By the time a survey is carried out, damage is beyond control. Organizations must gain the ability of listening in real-time. It must be an ability that’s embedded in the organization DNA.
The quickest way to build it is by delegating more control and authority back to the places where the action happens. If you have a production manager and a critical decision arises during her shift, such a manager should be in position to move fast and make that decision. For such a manager usually has also developed an intuition about the right decision to make in their context. Decision making speaks to high abilities to listen. You listen for information, and you listen to the future, in between, one decides. Thus, the first ability of listening is the ability for organizations to make decisions.
Numerous organizations suffer from decision fatigue as most decisions are escalated upwards leaving the bottom echelons without any decision-making ability. Of course, this also results in frustration. Organizations must be seeking more open and collaborative cultures, empowering staff with all the tools that should enable them to make decisions about their work. There’s opportunity with automation and more measurement. In the sense of how the speed dashboard enables the driver to make value decisions concerning their driving, organizations should think of dashboard equivalents for every employee. For a secretary, what’s the dashboard equivalent? What about the procurement specialist?
Because listening must convert into a decision. Organizations that listen well, also make better decisions. Without the ability to listen, organizations risk getting onto the fast road to extinction. Organizations must listen to their employees, their customers, and their stakeholders. It’s not to underwrite the importance of consultants, but organizations must develop the culture of internal consultants. Employees must each be upskilled to the level of consultant in their fields of operation.
For Ortega Group, we listened and realized that there was a big operational deficiency when it comes to consultancy in Uganda. And thus, we moved beyond being a strategic consulting firm, to being more than strategy, to building the operational management arm, the project management arm. We listened to our first client, and we responded. Organizations that do not listen end up reaction. You want to design organizations that respond, not react. Reactive organizations will sooner than later crash.
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Email us: Consult@ortegagroupug.com
Phone: + 256 781 754358