“So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.”
– Peter F. Drucker, Austrian-American Business Advisor and Icon (1909-2005)
What if we decided our only goal was to remove the impediments facing our teams? If that is all we did, would it make a difference?
Intelligence is a dangerous thing, because it wants to be everywhere, all the time.
We’ve all seen it. Smart people work so hard to reach a decision point, and then pull the trigger. Almost immediately, if we’re not careful, the effort turns to trying to get the bullet back in the gun. We want to keep deciding. It’s whiplash-inducing good intention run amuck.
The higher up the food chain a leader is, the less often they ought to decide. (The exception; selecting the people who will decide and who will offer up options when the leader should decide.)
A difference making leader should decide which problems the team will tackle, and at what cost they’re willing to invest in solutions. And then, they ought to spend their time challenging the deciders to think differently — to seek the truth, not the path of least resistance, or the highway with the most off ramps. On the big, foundational calls, the leader should be the decision-maker, otherwise, they should create a nimble, high-speed operation where people are challenging and relying on one another — and where the decisions are being made as close to the level they get implemented as possible.
A good model for a leader to consider is the REELAX approach to running a business.
Recruit and Retain the best talent you can afford.
Create an Environment in which success is the most likely outcome.
Put in place Expectations that are so clear a 6th grader can understand them. (I have a 6th grader. I’m not kidding. Seriously…)
Lead. You lead people. You manage “things.”
Establish Accountability that is consistent, relentless and that generates useable feedback from the market.
X-ray everything. If you don’t know “Why?” you don’t know anything.
When we’re evaluating our success as leaders, let’s measure it by considering how infrequently we have to decide.
Kathy Heston says
I am a manager at an insurance company. I am writing my development plan as I have been put on the fast track I am facing a dilemma because part of what they want me to develop is helping other managers to manage their inventory and Associates the way I have for the past two years. However other managers are reluctant to receive help and assistance from another manager. In the meantime the Vice President wants me to find a way to reach out and provide my guidance to these other manager. Do you know of a way that I could go about doing this without causing friction and getting my message across. Thank you for considering my request
Steve Heston says
Kathy, it’s a great question, and the options come down to the relationship you have (or don’t have) with your peer managers. If the relationship is good and transparent, you can approach them (individually or in a group), and say, “The VP has approached me about sharing some of my best practices with the rest of the team, but I’m not convinced I’m doing that much differently than the rest of you. What if we got together, and everyone brought their list of “best practices” for _____________. Then, working together, we can a) capture our advantages, so that we can train new managers faster and b) look at where we have disparate approaches, and see if we think there’s benefit — for us AND the company — to settling on the most effective approach.” In short, it’s like a sales call — and your fellow managers are the clients. If the relationship you have with them is less solid, or even adversarial (even if it’s not of your doing), there are a couple options that come to mind. One is a modesty approach: “HQ has asked me to lead this and I am kind of embarrassed but also really psyched to be asked. How do y’all think the best way for us to get together and share ideas would play out, keeping in mind that we’re going to be asked to report back on our progress…” Another is candor: “I know that sometimes I resist learning from peers, but there are some things that have worked really well for me, and our VP has notices them. He’s asked me to share them with you and help you adopt them. I’m not saying I’m smarter or better than you, but there ARE a few things that I believe will help us all deliver better results. I’ll have lunch brought in on Thursday — can we walk through a couple items then?” Ultimately, you could also ask the VP to make it an assignment for the team — and in assigning it, he / she could say, “I’ve asked Kathy to lead this initiative, because I’ve noticed _____ things she does that I’d like all of us to adopt. Please work with her and give me a team report on how you’ll infuse these best practices in to our overall business…”
Hope that is helpful, Kathy!