Horstman's
Law of Real Life Management - Part 2
You don't have to have
all the
answers right now. In part 1 of Horstman's Real Life Law of Management,
we shared that you don't have to have all the answers. That it's ok not
to know. That no one else knows either. Mark and Mike have met maybe
five of thousands of managers (MAYBE 5!) who they thought really did
know all the answers, and to their credit those managers didn't think
they did.
The lack of management
training
causes managers to lack training. The state of not knowing is the
outward expression of the problem. But there's something else; when
managers ask questions of Mike and Mark, there's an edge to their
voice. When we start to answer with a recommendation and background, we
frequently get interrupted. The reason is the manager thinks the answer
is incredibly time sensitive.
It's not. It's rarely
the case
that what is facing you requires an immediate or very short (less than
an hour) response time. We're certainly not against a sense of urgency.
But in our experience, taking a morning or an afternoon to decide on a
management issue is rarely too long (and often too short).
We said in our previous
newsletter, one way for managers to handle direct's queries is to say:
I don't know. When it comes to a matter of great urgency, we recommend
the 'I don't know x 2' technique. That is: say 'I don't know', and when
a
direct or peer asks 'when will you know?' say, 'I don't know'. Since
this
could be seen as a snarky response, with certain of your associates
(your call) it might be helpful to add but 'I will find out' or but 'I
will decide'.
When your directs ask
questions,
of course they want an answer. But don't let their urgency force you
into making a poor decision. Rather than accept their time line (it's
urgent! it's urgent!), we politely assert our timeline (it takes time
to make a quality decision). We assert quality over quantity. The
ongoing debate of quality over speed is legitimate. Sometimes speed is
good. Sometimes deliberation is good (and for us managers, 'all
deliberate speed' is good too).
Mark is sure he'll
regret saying
this, but when you get older ,you'll understand. That dread you feel
for
not knowing is what hurts your decision-making ability. Trust yourself.
Give yourself some time. Sure, when they come back and say "I need to
know now!" then make a decision. But don't believe just because you
don't have forever, you don't have 30 minutes.
2010
2009 has been a tough
year. In
fact, a blog we read today said the whole decade had been tough. In
just a few hours, the year and the decade will turn and it will be
2010.
We're excited about all
the
things we have in the pipeline for the early part of 2010 and the ideas
we have for later in the year and in the years to come. The whole
Manager Tools team is looking forward to serving you more fully this
year and in the years ahead.
We wish you a peaceful
and
successful New Year, and everything you wish for in the decade to come.
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