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A bold proposal is made to shake things up. You and your co-workers see immediately that it is a good idea, and the change was long overdue. The person who proposed the change may be the “ranking officer” or anyone else.

If the proposal is made by a ranking officer, they ruin it by doing one or more of the following:

• Announcing a “solution” without defining the problem.
• Dismissing the efforts of the past.
• Not understanding why things are the way they are, and not acknowledging it.
• Not allowing people to be heard.
• Nit picking the words used.
• Asking for a draft, then reviewing it as if it is the final output.
• Always wanting to sound like he or she is “in charge.”
• Not assessing the pace of change that is possible and using that as a baseline for setting goals for change.
• Not seeing that people are agreeing, but if they seem to disagree, it is because they are asking how to deal with the devil in the details.

The hard charging ranking officer is hired because they have the fortitude and resilience to drive change. Ironically, their very strengths have led to weaknesses that threaten to undo their good work.