Learning from the fairies of the magic hill – A leadership challenge
The magic spoken of, lies in the hill itself. It is an innocuous enough looking hill, seemingly no different from the many that precede it and not distinguished in any remarkable manner from the many that would follow. It lies silently in wait for the unsuspecting traveller revealing its magic only to those who, having summated the hill, are then willing to stop and apply the handbrake on the decline. Do that and you will experience the magic, and what magic it is!
They said it was caused by the fairies that lived under the road. I don’t know about you but I for one don’t buy that explanation at all. I mean anybody knows that fairies don’t live under roads! Caused by the fairies‌ indeed!
It is known by the locals as the ‚magic hill‛ and is tucked away in the postcard-like countryside of Ireland, a short drive from the town of Dundalk. And believe me, it is magic of an extraordinary kind. Trying to find the magic hill without local navigation is practically impossible and has even led to some sceptics proclaiming that the location is a myth, likely conjured from having consumed too much of the local brew of Guinness.
But they are wrong. It does exist, I myself have been there and I have the picture to prove it.
The magic spoken of, lies in the hill itself. It is an innocuous enough looking hill, seemingly no different from the many that precede it and not distinguished in any remarkable manner from the many that would follow. It lies silently in wait for the unsuspectingtraveller revealing its magic only to those who, having summited the hill, are then willing to stop and apply the handbrake on the decline. Do that and you will experience the magic, and what magic it is!
For, instead of rolling downhill, as dictated to by the laws of physics, one rolls uphill instead! ‚Rolls uphill? ‌Impossible!‛ you say. And were I not to have experienced it myself, I would be the first to wholeheartedly agree with you. But there you have it. Just when you expect to begin gently rolling downhill, you in fact start rolling uphill in a complete assault on your senses. It is a very strange experience and one based on an optical illusion that would have David Copperfield green with envy. I was told that the explanation, for those who don’t have it in them to take on the ‘real’ explanation of the fairies, is to be found in the slope of the surrounding banks on either side of the hill which combine to create the optical illusion. Armed with that information, the fairy explanation only seems to gain plausibility to my physics-challenged mind!
As we drove away, bemused by the experience of rolling uphill (‌only in Ireland I thought to myself) my thoughts turned to a possible lesson in this for those entrusted with leadership.
Optical illusions are not limited to the Irish countryside. Leaders often suffer such illusions themselves, believing that they are due to roll downhill when in fact they are rolling uphill. Leaders who become cut-off from reliable feedback are prone to such illusions. Very often their perception of current reality differs markedly from that of the general staff. Hearing both sides of the story can lead one to thinking that they come from different planets rather than inhabit the same building or factory. How does this situation happen and what can be done to avoid it?
Leaders who remain insecure or feel under siege will often surround themselves with those who are always quick to agree with them at every turn. Such agreement might be motivated by fear or the desire to appease the leader’s ego, but both lead to the same result: a leader who begins to operate in a vacuum, divorced from reality and accustomed to only hearing ‘fair weather’ reports. This situation seldom happens overnight and is more often than not the accumulation of years of behaviour in this direction. It is often the result of leaders who have become too comfortable, situations that have become too predictable and therefore change resistant, or egos that have grown out of all proportion and become insatiable in their need for affirmation and servitude. The real killer is the lack of awareness of this status, after all which leader reading this will readily acknowledge this to be true of their context? Yet show this to those with whom they work and there might well be instant recognition and some consenting, but fugitive nods of the head.
This fatal situation is often the result of leaders who fail to grasp the principle of synergy or that the, ‘minds of many are betterthan the mind of one’. They often emerge from the school that promotes the ‘lonely leader’ picture, the leader out ahead of the pack, deciding what is best for those that follow. These industrial age images of leadership are relics of the past and cannot fit in the ever changing present and future as it unfolds before us. Yet, frustratingly they refuse to die and persist in spite of the evidence surrounding them, magic hills that deceive and entrap the unsuspecting traveller. What is needed are new mindsets, new styles, new analogies and new stories of leadership. Ones that can replace the old before it is too late. It is a tough ask and I’m not sure it is within the majority of leaders’ capacity to undertake such daring change. It requires an entirely new game plan but even more importantly, a new belief that this is how the game needs to be played.
There are however things that can be done to test whether or not this malaise is the case and certainly there are things that can be done to create an alternative. The test is simple. Create an opportunity for some open discussion and listen, really listen to what is said. To be truthful, that process is not as simple as it sounds but it is doable. Care needs to be taken to create the right environment for such discussion and often outside facilitation is helpful. There are also discussion tools that can be used to generate healthy and authentic discussion, two of which are the ‘Soft Shoe Shuffle’ and ‘Concept Caf�’. What then is done with the information is as important as the information itself. The process that follows such excavation needs to be intentional and open. It is in the process that follows that the real work and sweat will start.
There can be no formula or 21 easy steps to navigate what will follow. Each situation, each context will differ but, trusting those present to find what will work and know how best to implement whatever needs to be done, are the best two navigation beacons one can offer. There are basically three phases to such a journey: Firstly the real desire to test for authentic voices and generate open discussion; secondly, the deliberate creation of an environment for this to take place; and thirdly, a commitment to the process and changes that will follow such discussion. This then becomes the star-gate to deep change, buy-in, ownership, innovation and resilience � characteristics that any leader dreams about being found in the DNA of the company or organisation they are entrusted to lead.
The stuff of fairies? Maybe not, but you’ll have to be willing to stop on the magic hill to find out which way you roll.
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