Last week, during a team meeting, my colleagues and I engaged in a conversation focusing on “What We Are Learning from our Clients.”
Each of us expressed the way in which our current economic climate fosters fear, frustration and uncertainty. It also magnifies the challenges that occur with long held established invisible agreements in the workplace.
What is an invisible agreement?
An invisible agreement occurs when a behavior is repeated three or more times without conversation or negotiation.
For example: Tom, a manager in an architectural firm, decides to arrive at the office a half an hour before the official start of the work day in order to enjoy a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, reflect on the previous day and determine priorities. His boss gets wind that Tom is in early and calls to make a request. Tom responds. This scenario is repeated with other leaders making requests of him during his intended preparation time over the course of the next several days. Tom complies. Tom and the leaders have together instituted an invisible agreement. The invisible agreement is: Tom will be in early and he will respond to leader requests prior to the official start of the day.
On the surface, this invisible agreement does not appear to create a negative impact in the workplace. And yet, if the manager needs the time to “settle in” and plan for the day in order for him to do his best work, there are negative implications for the business.
We have learned in recent conversations with client leaders that many organizations have tolerated invisible agreements that negatively impact their business culture and ultimately their success. We have surfaced a number of invisible agreements with our clients that you may recognize in your own workplace.
Examples of invisible agreements:
- It is acceptable to arrive late and unprepared for a meeting.
- It is acceptable for managers to postpone performance reviews.
- It is acceptable to blame others for mistakes that are made.
- It is acceptable to miss required dates for reports.
- It is acceptable to submit unrealistic business plans.
- It is acceptable to provide inaccurate financial reports.
- It is acceptable to conduct personal business at work.
- It is acceptable to withhold information.
- It is acceptable to create triangulation in communication.
No one would suggest that these behaviors have been consciously accepted as agreements within the workplace, and yet repeated behavior and corresponding tolerance create the invisible agreements that become the cultural norm. In today’s business climate, we must surface invisible agreements and determine their impact on our business success.
Recipe for change
Invisible agreements can be changed. It requires courageous leaders to:
- Identify the invisible agreement.
- Provide the case for its cost to the business.
- Communicate what the expectation is instead and the business case for the expectation.
- Determine consequences if the change is not made.
Communication is critical
Engaging in open dialogue is critical to the success of changing invisible agreements.
One of the questions we recommend that a leader asks once new expectations have been articulated is: “In the event that you are not meeting agreed upon expectations, how shall I deal with you?”
If we return to the early example of Tom, he will need to have a conversation with his boss and other leaders in the organization to reset expectations. He will need to communicate what his need and intention is about arriving early, and perhaps make the business case regarding the importance of preparing for the day. Assuming Tom’s boss and other firm leaders agree to Tom’s expectations, he will also need to clarify with them how they want him to hold them accountable for this new, articulated agreement.
Are there positive invisible agreements?
There are, in fact, positive invisible agreements that evolve over time. For example:
- A college president sends hand written notes, thanking internal and external stakeholders for their contributions of time, talent, and dollars.
- The president of an NFL football team answers his own telephone.
- The president of a Fortune 100 company reaches out to internal and external stakeholders who experience loss.
It is true that even with positive invisible agreements, any change in the agreement requires communication and articulated rationale.
The invitation for each of us is to surface invisible agreements, determine whether or not they are still working, and courageously invite the conversations that are necessary to reset expectations.
We would like to hear from you. Does this notion of invisible agreements resonate with your experience? If so, how? What are your thoughts about the strategies that we have offered to reset expectations? (Send your responses to Karen Vernal at kvernal@vernalmgmt.com.)
