Value the employee, if not the question, and train for future decisions
I have to admit there’s been many times in my career when I JUST DON’T CARE! I don’t care about the question; I certainly don’t care about the answer; I don’t care about the situation; and, frankly, maybe I don’t care that much about the person involved. The results (of the situation) seem absolutely pointless to me, and the whole thing is just a waste of my time.
I’ve learned to “care anyway.”
Let me explain, please. In many business situations, there’s a “hierarchy” of management. Yes, I hate to mention it, but not every organization is “flat” or “horizontal.” It’s true! Some organizations (frankly, most companies) still have a vertical management structure.
In fact, the most common structure involves several layers of management. Management theory says there are 3 levels of management: Top-Level/Administrative; Middle-Level/Executory; Low-Level/Supervisory.
My personal experience has been the route of Assistant Manager-Manager-Assistant Director-Associate Director-Director-Executive Director-Assistant Vice-President; Vice-President; Senior Vice-President; and President/CEO. (Believe me, there are many more layers than this, although I believe this is enough!).
Anyway, the point I want to make has to do with the DECISION CHAIN. It goes up the ladder to the “buck-stops-here” position. (See this article about Harry S. Truman; he made that phrase famous.) That’s often the CEO or, if the CEO can’t make a decision, the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
When the ‘buck’ stopped with me
I’ve been asked to make some silly decisions in my day. The ones that still stick with me were mostly the “simple ones” (well, I thought they were simple) such as:
“Boss, should we purchase the blue ballpoint pens or the black felt-tip pens for signatory purposes?”
Okay, too many variables here. The correct answer was actually BLUE FELT-TIP (or blue roller-ball) pens, for the primary reason of telling if something was an original or a copy back then, and no, you didn’t need ballpoints (we were, to your amazement, no longer using carbon paper). Yes, I know there are color copies available now. This was back in the dark ages of black/gray/white, sorry. I smiled and asked, “What about blue felt-tip pens, could we please get those?”
“Hey Chief – what do you think about using recycled paper in the office instead of new paper, in the copier? We could save nearly $22/month!”
(This was posed to me while I was a VP of Sales and responsible for $628 million in sales. I didn’t care about that amount of money, the decision, etc.) BUT I intently listened, then told the individual, “Well, as long as the quality is up to par with the new paper, the copies work, and the supply is consistent, I would believe this is a good idea.”
“Got a question for you. What do you think we should do about the color of the front reception area? I think the beige is boring, and flat. We need something exciting, like maybe the deep blue in our logo?”
Yikes! First off, the blue was VERY dark (nothing more appealing than a really dark and dismal small room, right?). Second, the rest of the building was beige. Third, our maintenance budget was next to zilch so even paint wasn’t an option.
And so I replied, “That’s really an innovative concept, but we don’t have the funds right now. And that’s a pretty dark color for a small room, don’t you think? Maybe we could ‘spruce the area up a bit’ by adding plants, photos of our products, etc.?” Seemed obvious to me, but, well, you know…
When the decision wasn’t worth a ‘buck,’ but the employee was
And so on… I could regale you all day with “interesting” decisions that had to be made, but the true point is this: I had to act interested and be responsive and show I CARED — even when I didn’t care. Even when I wanted to say, “REALLY? REALLY? THIS IS WHAT I PAY YOU TO DO — MAKE THESE LITTLE DECISIONS!”
I didn’t respond like that. I always made an effort to care, about little things, about inconsequential decisions, and I consciously chose to “sweat the small stuff.” Why? Because it was important enough to the individual to ask the question, it was significant enough for me to participate in getting them an answer.
That’s not to say that I always responded with a decision. On occasion, people would ask me things that seemed incredibly inane and seemed to be a genuine waste of time — and I would respond by telling them I really wasn’t going to address that situation at the time. (If it seemed particularly important to them, then as a good boss, I would listen and answer.)
In addition, I had a few (very few) employees who worked for me in the past who simply avoided making ANY decision (for fear of being responsible, in my humble opinion). Those employees always wanted to “form a committee” or “kick it upstairs”– in other words, let someone else make the decision (and/or “take the blame”).
So what’s the ‘buck-stops-here’ person to do?
As you might imagine, that did not work well for us all, so what to do? Fire them all? No, of course not. The objective was to build up their confidence, let them know that “failure happens.” (You know the old saying, “______ happens.”) I wanted them to know it’s okay to fail (if you learn from it) and to provide a reasonable structure for rapid decision-making. It’s amazing what a confident employee/manager can do when they feel backed up and supported!
It’s important to listen carefully to each request for a decision. Of course, what may seem unimportant to you may be a significant issue for the person asking you to choose a course of action. Whether your role is that of a CEO of a startup, or a director of a business incubator with many startups to help, or a manager of some level in a corporation, YOU will have to make decisions.
I often told my students in entrepreneurship that “mastery of three things will help you go far in management:
First, learn to speak in front of people. Learn to pitch, to talk, to give speeches. Develop your speaking skills and overcome your fear of being in front of an audience.
Second, master the language in which you do business — not just grammar and communication skills (although they are quite important), but understand the “lingo” of your market and absorb financial, marketing and operational terms/items. Get a good grip on social media, promotion, advertising, and know how to very rapidly describe your product and service to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
The third and final item to master is to (you knew this was coming) MAKE DECISIONS. Yes. To make decisions based on facts, research, experience, counsel. Use anything and everything at your disposal, but, in the end, just make the decision.
Make those decisive moments teachable
So many people avoid decisions and thus never advance in their careers or in their startup businesses. You will ALWAYS have decisions to make regarding products, services, markets, customers, support. You name it! If you can trust yourself and make solid decisions, people will look to you for leadership, for guidance, for assistance. Your employees, your peers, your management — all of them will appreciate your ability to discern a course of action.
Yes, it certainly helps to have understanding bosses (hint, hint) and coworkers who get that you won’t always make the right decision. (We’ve all made some bad calls, wrong hires or incorrect choices.) It also helps if they allow you to fail and to learn from those failures. But, in the end, if you can make decisions, you will earn respect.
So, sure, there will be times you’ll say to yourself (you do talk to yourself, don’t you? C’mon, we all do!), “I really don’t care at all about this. Why are they bothering me with this trivial stuff?” So reach down and grab a big cup o’ care, be patient, listen, and either make a decision or use the opportunity to ask/teach/counsel the employee about making a decision.
Help them comprehend why the decision needs to be made, how to gather background facts to properly make the call, and why it’s significant for them to decide. Use the opportunity to groom future decision-makers and to help others overcome the fear of failure.
Oh, and when in doubt, choose the blue felt-tip pens. You won’t regret it!
incubatorblogger 