Jim Collins of the 'Good to Great' fame describes the Doom Loop as a downward spiral into oblivion. It is often characterized by a steady stream of 'new' leaders, strategies, five year plans AND constant poor results.
And then, the senior managers often say "It was all so sudden.... we never knew it was going to be so unexpected". Really?
I think anybody in any organization that is on the wrong side of the doom loop will know immediately that the oranization is on a downward spiral but what happens in reality is that fear paralizes them into thinking excactly the opposite or worst, they deliberatly refuse to face the facts. Executives give overly optimistic targets, promise unrealistic turn-around results or feign ingnorance of the difficulties faced by their departments. In one account shared by a senior manager from an organiztaion that was in the Doom Loop was that Fear and Anger made decision making difficult if not impossible. Individuals opposed ideas not based on facts but on emotions. Managers became angry and that clouded their judgement.
Well, thats a Doom Loop scenario alright! Is your organization in a Doom Loop? If yes, tell your people this : We have time to either fail or learn...make your
choices.
