Aspire Consulting, Ltd. Blog

We often see leaders who are stopped in their tracks trying to make a decision. Why is this common behavior? Ultimately, I believe they are trying to make a perfect a decision, one that will be perfect for, well, forever. I prefer to subscribe to the saying, “make the best decision, until it is time to make the next best decision”.

Follow these steps to decision making:

Clearly define the problem, we see many people solve the wrong problem and make matters worse. Issues that are vague are tougher to solve and often create anxiety.

Gather and analyze information. This means to gather and analyze the right amount of information for the situation. Do not get stuck here trying to have all the information. Weigh the amount of information you are gathering against the risk of an imperfect decision, and time passing without a decision. Include others as appropriate in this step to make the process more complete and timely.

Develop a number of alternate solutions. Keep an open mind as you generate this list, then document the pros and cons of each alternative. This is another good place to seek the counsel of others to add to your thinking.

Choose the best alternative. Again, here it is important to keep an open mind. Some factors you may consider are the decision’s impact on time, costs, quality, employees, customers, risks.

Take Action. Implement your decision. Communicate the decision clearly to all those people it impacts.

Evaluate the decision against your desired result. If your desired results do not happen, go back and reevaluate the issue, and begin the decision making process again, until you come up with your “next best decision”. If you consistently do not get the results, evaluate how you are using the process, and make changes there, go back to the top, and again make your “next best decision”.

How do those three words strike you? For many of those I know, including friends, family and clients they strike some level of fear. I would suggest that even if it was you are wrong., it would still strike a high level of doubt and fear. Doubt and fear many times leads to inactivity.

Why does this have to happen? Maybe I do live in a world of nirvana but when I make a mistake, or when others on my team make a mistake, we learn from it. We look into the cause of the problem and figure out what we might do differently the next time. While it is not so easy for ME to say I was wrong, I know that at the end there is a different outcome that will improve results. Clearly, if this is s reoccurring theme things need to change, however, for a one time event problem solving is our answer.

For your staff, can you:

1. Receive the information?
2. Process it?
3. Integrate the information to the status quo?
4. Think together about alternatives?
5. Plan another action?
6. Implement the plan?

For you and those you report to, can you:

1. Present the information is a non-accusatory or blaming way?
2. Discover the true impact of the error?
3. Think about alternative actions of correction?
4. Implement those actions to correct the issue immediately?
5. Think about plans to avoid the error again?
6. Implement those actions in a forward thinking way?

Ultimately, if it is something that you are immediately responsible for, others you report to are responsible for, or those you report to are responsible for finding ways to replace the fear of mistakes with the
culture of improvement.  It can yield great results. Where ever you are in the chain, what can you do today?

Well, change is easy when others do it! We know that we live in a world that change comes upon us whether we are interested in it or not.

The changes that have happened in the last few years are remarkable. Some involve technology, for example,  medical procedures are possible today which shorten recovery due to technology. Communication can be lightning fast to almost anywhere via the internet. Some of it involves norms. In many places in the country, cultures continue to thrive and mix. Exposure is likewise broadened. Some involve regulations. What was once profitable may no longer be due completely to regulations. Items that we routinely discarded in the past now have some significant and costly regulations tied to them. So what can you as the leader of your organization do?

There is a great short video on Simpletruths.com that can be inexpensively purchased, called “Change is Good, You Go First” that we often use with our groups. Some of the principles reviewed include:

1. Make sure your best employees know they are the best employees. Let them know this in ways that are important to them so there is little doubt. They can support you in implementing changes.
2. Solve the right problem when changing things. Do not be reactionary. If you make changes that cause more problems,  is it surprising that people would cone to fear change?
3. Celebrate your company’s and employees successes frequently. What you measure and then reward will get repeated. Align the celebrations with what you want to reinforce.
4. Focus on strengths, rather than creating weaknesses. Rather than requiring people to work in areas in which they struggle, find their strengths and focus there. These people will then bring more of that in support of whatever needs to get done, be it the routine or change.
5. Remove barriers to your employees getting their job done. When implementing change, uncover the legitimate barriers, remove them then look further for those things that are perceived as barriers.
6. Most of all lead the way and go first. If it is good for your employees and the company demonstrate this in your actions.

Change is good and offers opportunity. How can you and your company or organization take steps to take advantage of it?

By now, our clients have refreshed, updated, or completely revised or rewrittentheir strategic plans for the year. To do this they have reviewed their plans and the results they were looking for in 2011, and where they did not attain their goals, they examined the reasons that  happened.

Initially, most want to blame outside circumstances; regulations, laws, economic conditions, or even the weather. While there are things that did play a part in the success or failure, a well written plan and the goals that fall off it accounts for most of these. We find that greater than 85% of the time,the reason for failure of a plan is in the execution of those implementing the plan starting at the highest levels of leadership.

Senior leadership’s primary job in plan implementation is communicatingit to those that report to them. It is not as simple as handing them a piece of paper with the plan and goals written on it, but spending time to share some of the background that went into the plan, for those who did not participate in writing it.

Managers and supervisors are responsible for translating the overall goals into goals for their area (likely with input from some of their staff) that will help assure the accomplishment of the organization’s goals. Their next step is NOT to communicate that to the rest of the staff, but to first verify that the boss agrees that these goals are connected to the intent of the plan, and if attained will support it. Once that has been done, the attention goes to the next level of staff.

All staff, regardless of their job in a company should understand how their daily work is tied to success for their department and the company. They should understand the value of what they do in this way. If there is no value tied to the plan, maybe they should not be doing that work. They should have a say in explaining how they contribute, and again get agreement from their boss.

A well thought out plan that is communicated throughout each level of theorganization will guide decision making and increase the likelihood of achieving successful results.

I was rereading the second book by a colleague of ours, David Herdlinger ”10.5 Reasons Why Even Top Notch Executives Fail”.  David’s first book was ”Healing a Hospital”.  He writes with great experience.

Putting the positive spin on 10.5 reasons for failing, here are the 10.5 things for executives to do to attain success:

1. Have a clear and current vision statement this defines the strategic direction.
2. Create ownership in the strategic direction among all employees-starting with the executive leadership team.
3. Create a comprehensive goals program-for every employee.
4. Align goals from the top to the bottom, and do so in ways that can be measured.
5. Define leaders as those that get results within the bounds of your organizations values.
6. Invite feedback and especially criticism and be aware of not just your words, but also your body language and intonation when listening to and communication with others. If you have been known to be less than receptive to comments, you should be especially careful in setting a new tone.
7. Implement a system of metrics. These should be for each goal, and include behaviors as well as statistics.
8. Implement a system of assessments. Ultimately getting you staff working in areas that are using their strengths will benefit you and the company.
9. Implement communications systems to measure communications flow in multiple directions. This should be consistent, ongoing and a natural part of the daily life.
10. Learn to trust your direct reports. Delegate assignments and get out of the way. Be there when asked, and do not micromanage.
11. (10.5) Ask for help-be comfortable with not knowing it all.

None of this is rocket science, or shall we say brain surgery? It is one way to systematically improve health care organizations. We need to maximize every possible advantage available to us to thrive in our environment. The pace of change will continue to speed up. Are you ready for it with a well-oiled machine?