I have made a survey among company owners to see what is their biggest bug in managing a company. I wanted to have a clear picture as to what could be my entry point with them as a consultant.
There were several kind of answers but the predominating one was “people.” More specifically the random outcome of things as a result of the “human factor”.
I was of course very much interested in delivering something that is valuable to them, something that prevents or lessens this kind of frustration of leaders. Something that lessens random outcome.
There is a very simple aspect of it that leaders could use well:
Majority of human mistakes, carelessness and random outcome do not occur when there is agreement.
Let me go into it more deeply.
By agreement I mean the more important things, like agreement about what we are doing, what speed we have to keep in order to keep a deadline, why we do all this, etc. – the framework of their thinking.
Here is an example:
The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is contracted to build a bridge. The deadline for completing it is close. The two last pillars have been completed with a delay but skilled leaders calculated that involving more people and adding one hour of work more every day will balance it and the deadline could be kept. This poses a leadership challenge as workers do not like to work one hour longer and they do not like to be pushed by stressed leaders who are squeezed by a tight deadline. The challenge is how to get their agreement? Obviously, if they all agree with doing it they will do it.
Another example would be the start of the same project. The first agreement made with the team would be that “we will build this bridge.” Then a good manager would hold a briefing and explain the details of the project and make the team see that “we will complete it in three months.” Then he would get their agreement on who is going to do what and how, then how far we are going to get today, this week, this month, etc.
Another interesting example would be that of a salesman. The salesman has experienced several rude turndowns in a row. He was a good salesman but he does not anymore feel being able to sell with his good old efficiency. His senior tries to motivate him without too much success, he cannot think with selling as much as he did two months ago. The senior and him cannot come to an agreement in the amount of sales he should make. Deep inside he “knows” that he will not be able to sell. If he would believe in himself again and he could state with confidence that “no problem, I will sell that much for sure, may be even more” then there would be an agreement and he would sell. But there is no agreement. This again poses a leadership challenge. How do we revitalize a salesman? How do we rehabilitate his confidence in his salesmanship so that he can truly agree to it and say “I will sell all of them?” There is a way of doing it but it is not the subject of this article – may be a later one.
Got the idea?
The trick of a good leader is getting the agreement of people. It is not getting them to say “Yes Sir!” but to make them truly agree inside. People do what they agree with and don’t do what they disagree with.
It is never done with rough force or threat. Agreement is reached by using the following and similar tools:
– Detailed briefings,
– Meetings,
– Answering questions,
– Enlightening people individually and in detail,
– Training in the subject,
– By increased remuneration – if it is something extra that is expected
If a project is started off with full and honest agreement from the team it will start smoothly. As difficulties emerge a leader can expect disagreements to show up as well. He has to deal with them and then get back in agreement. The leader has to watch out for any disagreements and if he does catch and smoothen them out early enough he will be a good, smooth and effective leader.
RELATIVE IMPORTANCES
A common reason for people neglecting what the leader says or silently disagreeing is that “I thought it is not so important.” Those guys are not bad, they simply do not have the same understanding than the leader has. Thus all briefings, meetings and training should contain and stress what is of primary importance. The team has to have a clear picture of relative importances. They will do first what you stress as important. But be aware of its side effect as well: they tend to drop those actions that you do not stress as important.
WHY?
People might not understand why something has to be done or why something is so important so they silently or openly disagree. Thus all briefings, meetings and training should contain and stress why something is being done or why is it so important. There is nothing that would orient people better than their understanding as to why something is done or why is it important.
CLARITY OF COMMUNICATION
The most usual reason for your people not exactly doing what you say is simply a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Make sure that you are clear and specific enough in your briefings and presentations. Sometimes you say one thing and they think another thing. Make sure it is exactly the same thing you agree upon.
Conclusion:
You will know when your people agree with you and when they don’t. Have a good and open relationship with them and deal with disagreements. It saves you a lot of trouble as people do what they agree with and don’t do what they disagree with.
