This was the scene last week, Santa’s chair in place but no Santa in sight.
This didn’t keep loads of excited children from seating themselves in the chair, setting up their own photos shoots, and some even acting out their Christmas wishes with a friend who assumed the role of Santa.
They owned the experience, made their own decisions, with or without Santa’s presence.
In all too many firms, very few would think about sitting in Santa’s chair, as the unwritten rule is that the top chair, and decision making, resides with only a few “senior Santas”.
This was the case recently as 30 leaders and their executive board exchanged their best and broken practices, with a unified intention to improve and grow their already successful business.
There was agreement that decisions were being taken one or two levels higher than needed, with no increased quality, instead slowing down business and thus diluting the customer experience.
An executive team that was spending too much time in Santa’s chair, instead of letting the right key players in the business take the chair and make the call. They vowed to review and adjust this practice.
How about in your organization?
Are decisions being made at the right level in the company or are too few people holding onto Santa’s chair?
Photo by yours truly, it took some time before I could convince the kids to stay off the chair long enough so that I could take this photo as I did not have their parents permission to use their images.