Hawaiian Electric Light Co. asking for supportOne way to tell when there is a communication breakdown between employees and management is when the absence of alignment between them becomes obvious to its customers. I’m referring to the periodic request HELCO’s CEO sends customers, asking us to not post permanent signs on their utility poles.
* and, the fact that HELCO’s employees don’t support the policy. It’s not just that hundreds of HELCO employees drive past ad-laden poles daily it’s that they communicate their lack of support to their CEO non-verbally. This is called irresponsible thwarting. It breeds disrespect, especially with customers who have been trained to know HELCO doesn’t really mean what it says.
Given the increasing number of utility pole-ads of late we see that HELCO’s “No signs” communication has been very effective, it reveals an unconscious intention by their CEO for the public to post even more signs. When stated intentions are not met it reveals that there is either a communication problem or an
out-integrity.
What’s the source of this unconsciousness? Why would a CEO publish an intention and then not follow through and manifest it? The answer has to do with enrolling and personal responsibility. The CEO has been ineffective at enrolling his employees in supporting a policy, and, there is a misunderstanding about the word responsibility as used within HELCO. The CEO has bought into all the reasons and excuses as to why it can't be done.
It could be said that the CEO is unconsciously asking for support with his leadership-communication skills. The premise being that when a leader says, "No pole-ads" that's what happens.
For example: As an analogy we say the CEO is the quarterback of HELCO. He calls “Play #128. No ads on poles” yet no employee has made it his/her responsibility to create a “No pole-ads project” —the date by which all ads will be removed from all poles.
Hundreds of HELCO employees drive past ad-laden poles daily yet few do anything about it, at least not effectively (effectively meaning—following through to ensure the sign is removed). What employees do do effectively is non-verbally condone the practice. Outside a school building this sends mixed messages to students.
In responsible support of the frequent "no pole-ads" communication in its Consumer Lines publication dozens of customers have called HELCO to report pole-ads in their neighborhood yet the ads remain, many for years, as though the violators have express permission from HELCO. There's been an average of 20 permanent signs on Kahakai Blvd for over 3 years. This disregard of a policy by both HELCO employees and the community has undesirable consequences.
This acknowledgment presents three questions: 1) Are there consequences for covertly thwarting ones CEO? In this case, HELCO’s employees cause many customers to not respect their CEO. At some level we lose our respect for someone who doesn’t mean what they say. The policy is either unsupportable and unrealistic or it’s not. I know that a Communication Skills Workshop for HELCO’s CEO and management would result in no ads on poles. It’s simply a matter of intention. A policy stated but not meant is a lie.
2) Are there consequences for the violators who plaster their pole–ads throughout the island thereby thwarting the intentions of HELCO’s CEO, a fellow entrepreneur? Just what are the consequences for these violators who choose to financially survive by thwarting another?
2) Are there consequences for writing policy and not enforcing it? In other words, is HELCO’s CEO supporting the bad karma of the “pole-ad” entrepreneurs by allowing these violators to reap the consequences of such disregard for another’s property.
I write because HELCO is a company with a mandate to provide reliable power; this requires impeccable integrity. One significant problem with the CEO’s present leadership model, how he communicates, is that he doesn’t inspire a commitment to doing complete work at the level of excellence. Presently he can’t be certain if certain “happenings,” “accidents,” late payments, employee perpetrations, and equipment breakdowns are a result of the lie, “No pole ads.” The premise being that all lies and all truths have consequences, even the lies of which we are unaware.
Unbeknownst to HELCO’s CEO his employees are communicating something. Most all of them have noticed this problem yet none have addressed it through to completion so that it is no longer a problem. It remains an out-integrity, an incomplete intention, one that mirrors the collective integrity of all its personnel. Out-integrities (incompletes) serve as barriers to manifesting goals. In this case it's to be expected that there are lots of breakdowns in both communication and equipment that cost us all.
* Another indicator of leadership-communication problems within HELCO is the enormous number of tree branches chafing away at the power lines. A leader gets the job done, someone in the process of becoming a leader manufactures reasonable reasons and excuses.
PS. Lest anyone be upset about this acknowledgment. What's also true is, HELCO's CEO and employees do an excellent job at supplying us power and in restoring power when the elements wreak havoc. The above acknowledgment is about taking us all to the next level of community participation.
Check back from time for more (last edited 11/22/11)
