Number 1: Mindset Drives Behavior

Envision this: It’s Friday and you are going to handing out this week’s pay checks. You get everyone together in the lunch room and say, “Times are tough gang. Starting next week, you’all are gonna get a 15% cut in pay. Have a nice weekend.”

Come again? If you do the above, what do you think will happen to next week’s productivity? Will it: 1) go up? 2) stay the same? 3) go down? 4) be non-existent?

If your answer is 1, you’ve obviously watched Marry Poppins too many times. If your answer is 2, you probably think OJ is innocent and was framed in Las Vegas. If your answer is 3, you’re just a run-of-the-mill, every day optimist. If your answer is 4, you obviously wouldn’t lay a 15% pay cut on people and expect them to accept it just ‘cause you’re a “nice guy”!

Here’s a truth: “People don’t resist change as much as they resist the way change is implemented.” In today’s work environment, chances are you and your organization are going to implement changes that won’t be wildly popular. If you implement the changes by “laying them on” people, you will virtually guarantee chaos.

New topic: Do you believe that Mindset drives Behavior? Think about it. If there is a good, solid reason for a 15% pay cut, and if each and every employee knows and understands why it is essential, then when it is implemented you won’t get condition #4 above. Does that mean people will like it? Not at all. They won’t like it, not even a little bit. But…they will accept it.

Another truth: “For people to commit to a course of action they do not need to like it. They need to understand it and accept it.”

Let’s tie it all together. Mindset drives Behavior. The process of Mindset change is:

For people to accept a necessary, legitimate, “unpleasant” change they need to Think about the change and Talk about the change BEFORE you can expect them to commit to Doing things differently. That is, implementing the change.

So, before you implement the next unpleasant change, remember Mindset drives Behavior. If we go back to the first paragraph where “you get everyone together in the lunch room”, this time say, “As you know, times are tough. To maintain a positive cash flow, we need to cut costs by 15%. One way is a pay cut for us all. To me this is the least attractive way to go. What other ways can you all think of?” Who knows - they may have a better way! At the very least, they will have been involved to the degree that they can accept the change when it comes.

The tip of the day: “Involve your people in the tough choices!” Be aware that Mindset drives Behavior. Don’t short cut the Thinking, Talking, Doing process.

Number 2: Leadership and Delegation

This week we’ll start to look at leadership. In this series we will look at the leader as part of his or her team. In this context we’re looking at those things which impact the leader and his or her team jointly.

Many leaders do things, preparing the budget or writing his or her monthly letter for example, outside the context of the team. These things, although important, do not directly impact the team and are, therefore, technically not aspects of leadership.

When is comes to choosing a course of action that impacts the team, the leader can:

1. Choose the course of action without any involvement by the team, in other words, lay it on ‘em
2. Consult the team / team members and then, using the input solicited, choose the course of action.
3. Consult the team and allow the team to choose the course of action. In this context the leader is just one “co-equal” team member.
4. Delegate choosing the course of action to a team member.

Let’s look at #4 above first. In the dictionary we find the following:

Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions, i.e. it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organizational level to a lower one.

From the point-of-view of leadership, delegation is not a leadership behavior. Once delegation has taken place, the person who did the delegating may be a member of the team of the person to whom the issue was delegated, or he or she may just be an “interested” on-looker.

That leaves us with #s 1, 2, & 3 as the leadership behaviors at which we will be looking for the next 6 weeks, or so. They are all appropriate or inappropriate depending upon the circumstances. At the risk of being accused of “beating a dead horse”, I need to confirm that, from this point on in our discussion of leadership, the leader is part of his or her team.

Tip of the Day: Delegation is often the best way for a leader to “resolve” an issue. Once you delegate an issue to someone, it is now their issue, not yours. If you are not willing to turn control of the issue over completely, don’t delegate!

Number 3: When Involvement Doesn't Matter

This week we start looking at some easy-to-follow guidelines which will help you determine just how much involvement is appropriate. But first, we need to determine if finding the “one best” course of action is essential. That is, does the course of action chosen make a difference? I know, I know! You’re thinking, “What kind of Bozo is writing this article?!? Doesn’t it aaallllways matter which course of action is chosen?”

Remember, we’re looking at the leader and the team through the lens of involvement. From the involvement point-of-view, there is a “thing” called “equal solutions”. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you are the Schools Superintendent for a large city. Your “team” is comprised of the Principals of the 10 school districts in your city. It has come to your attention that the various districts buy the 1/2 pint milk cartons for their cafeterias from 10 different sources. They are all Grade “A” milk in an “identical” (in terms of quality) paper carton. You have determined that your school system could save considerable money if you “single sourced” the purchase of milk. The issue is not finding a quality product. Each of the dairies offer an “identical” product. The issue is having the districts AGREE on the single source.

Now stand back and look at the milk issue. Given that the 10 Principals have, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, been doing it their way for a long, long time, what’s the probability that they will “automatically” agree on a single source for milk? If “slim to none” comes to mind, you’re on the right track.

Now, ask yourself, “How many ‘brownie points’ will I get from most of those 10 Principals if I make the choice by myself and just lay the single source supplier on ‘em?” Now if you’re thinking, “Is there such a thing as ‘negative brownie points?’ ”, you’re on the right track again!

Given that liberally sprinkling your team with negative brownie points probably won’t enhance your ability to lead, we suggest that you don’t. So, let’s go back to square one. Mindset drives Behavior. So, to get the 10 Principals to agree on a single source of milk, they have to THINK about the benefits of a common source, they have to TALK about single sourcing before they will support the DOing.

Today’s tip: Sometimes, the options are all virtually the same. Even if the solutions are equal, don’t lay the solution on your team unless you know for a fact they will all wholeheartedly and automatically accept your solution. Involve them. Next time we’ll start to look at the guidelines that apply when it does matter which course of action is chosen.

Number 4: When You, the Leader, Need More Information

Last time we concluded, even if the solutions are equal, don’t “lay” the solution on your team unless you know for a fact they will all wholeheartedly and automatically accept your solution. Involve them.

This time we’ll start to look at the guidelines that apply when it does matter which course of action is chosen. The first thing the leader should do is some introspection. Before you, as the leader determine how much, if at all, you want to involve your team, ask yourself, “Do I have all the information I need right now? Will it enable me to choose a quality course of action?” In other words, given that finding the one best course of action is essential, do you, right now, have all the information you need to choose the superior solution without gathering additional information?

If you go back to our 12 May newsletter, we talked about Plan Implementation Analysis. We encouraged you then to ask, “What could go wrong if…”. In this case, I’d ask myself, “What could go wrong if I choose the course of action based solely on the information I currently have?” If, upon seriously asking this question of yourself, you have even a hint of queasiness, assume you need more information. How do you get that “more information?” You involve your team!

So, where are we now? We’ve determined that it does matter which course of action is chosen and we’ve asked, “Do I have all the information I need right now? Will it enable me to choose a quality course of action?” At this point, you will answer either “Yes” or “No”.

If you answer “No”, it is clear that you will need to involve your team in order to get enough information to choose the superior solution. On the other hand, if you answer “Yes”, you don’t need information. But, all other things being equal, people want to be involved in the choices which impact them. Why? Because people often need to control at lease some of the variables which impact their life. It is a proven fact that, for some issues, people perform better when they are involved.

Today’s tip: If finding the superior solution is essential, be absolutely certain you have all the information required before you even think about choosing the course of action without involving your team! At a minimum, ask a member (or members) of your team for information relative to the situation before proceeding.

In the next two newsletters, we’ll look at how to involve your team and just how much involvement is required to support a superior solution.

Number 5: Speedy Analysis

Last week’s tip was, “If finding the superior solution is essential, be absolutely certain you have all the information required before you even think about choosing the course of action without involving your team!” This week we’ll look at a phenomenon know as “Speedy Analysis”.

The Speedy Analysis guideline kicks in if finding the “one best” course of action is essential...the course of action chosen does make a difference but you, the leader, do not have enough information to successfully choose the best course of action alone, and you do not know what information is missing and/or how to get it. For the Speedy Analysis guideline not to apply, the leader must know exactly what information is missing and exactly how to get it.

If the leader must knows exactly what information is missing and exactly how to get it, then the leader can go to the team member(s) who have the information and get it.

On the other head, if the leader does not know exactly what information is missing AND / OR exactly how to get it. The Speedy Analysis gudline applies. Notice that the guideline specifies “AND / OR”. If either one is “lacking”, the guideline applies. When the Speed Analysis guideline applies the leader should assemble the entire team, or as many team members as are available, in one place to expedite gathering the missing information.

Getting the team all together at once is the heart of the Speedy Analysis guideline. Why, you might ask. Let’s go back to the “AND / OR” to see why. If the leader does not know either what is missing or how to get it and kicks into the one-on-one mode, the situation becomes, take your pick:

A shot in the dark Luck of the draw

Toss of the dice Wild-ass guess

Let’s say there are 10 people on the leader’s team. The leader, in the one-on-one mode goes to team member one, no luck. No luck with member two. And so on. If the leader is really unlucky, he or she will not get the needed information until he or she asks member ten, and that assumes a team member has it. If the team is all together you get the needed information on the first try, or find you need to go outside the team to get it. Bet you are starting to suspect why this is called the Speedy Analysis guideline!

Today’s tip should come as no surprise. If you don’t know either what information is missing or how to get it, assemble the team and ask them as a group. Next week we’ll start to look at participation as a key ingredient in commitment.

Number 6: Getting Commitment without Participation

All other things being equal, people want to be involved in the decisions which impact them. However, there are times when people will commit to a course of action without being involved.

So let's investigate the Commitment without Participation guideline. This guideline states that if the team will not commit to your solution without being actively involved, “Solicit information and opinion (analysis) from at least one team member.”

The Commitment without Participation guideline requires that the leader have a good knowledge of his or her team. If, as the leader of a team, you do not know if the team will commit to the course of action you choose for a particular situation, assume that they will not!

So why does the guideline say that you should solicit information from at least one team member? Let’s say the team has six or seven members, isn’t asking just one a bit skimpy? To answer this accurately, we need to look at two things, how Vic Vroom & Phillip Yetton documented involvement, and how we define “team” in the context of Mastering Involvement.

First, in the contest of Mastering Involvement, we are looking at a team that is functioning well as a team. When this is the case, there is an assumption that there is good communication within the team. With that said, it is further assumed that, if the leader works one-on-one with any team member, the substance of that communication is shared with all team members.

Now to Vroom & Yetton: We’ll not go into the mechanics of how it was documented, but Vroom & Yetton won awards for the statistical documentation they did. On a 10 point scale, they found the following:

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The bottom line is, by asking just one team for his or her analysis of the situation, the leader has gotten ½ of all the available commitment “brownie points." For a modest investment of time and energy, the leader has made huge progress in getting team commitment towards his or her chosen course of action.

Today’s tip: If you do not know if the team will commit to the course of action you choose without their active participation for a particular situation, assume that they will not! That means involve them: seek out at least one member of the team for their information and their opinions.