Harnessing Embarrassment

A coaching client asked me today how to ensure that managers below him stay on track and don’t wander off to work on lower-priority items. (He’s already using briefing and back-briefing, and was looking for further ideas.)

My answer was “harness embarrassment”.

To see why, imagine standing up in front of your whole organisation and explaining you didn’t get a task done, and you have no good reason. That is, you’re not disappointing them helpfully, just letting them down.

Are you squirming a little in your seat? Feeling uncomfortable and worried? That’s a good sign.

If not delivering what you promised leads naturally to public exposure of the failure to get it done, the anticipation of having your shortcomings on display makes you want to avoid the embarrassing event. So you clear obstacles, ask for help, and define your delivery so you can succeed rather than fall flat.

If you, as a leader, set up processes and rituals for high visibility, so there’s nowhere to hide from a failure to perform, then you’re creating a situation where embarrassment might happen—but where it can also be avoided. The positive social pressure to get results is a very powerful engine for delivery.

A very important distinction to make is that being embarrassed by someone’s public criticism is the opposite of what I’m recommending. Ridicule and humiliation demotivates of course, rather than improving outcomes. But if you know that the demo is coming and you’re not ready, it’s your own actions (or failure to act) that led to the negative experience—and create the conditions for better outcomes next time.

What do you think?