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| Think About It First! |
A few years ago I was attending a motivational seminar put on by a medical doctor who had built a nice series of medical clinics across the Northwest. He was actually a very good speaker. I liked the presentation he made. I still remember his subject matter very clearly. It was informational and funny. It was also very useful.
His subject covered the art of recognizing how "dead right" works in the world of leadership. He circled what I would call the subject of, "critical thinking." Yesterday I witnessed a business leader lose the battle of leadership with his "dead right" thinking. I also witnessed another leader lose the same battle in his personal life at home. I was able to see both of these troubling events on the same day, in two different venues. I considered this pattern a sign. I figured it was a sign that I needed to cover the depths of this interesting subject. How do we miss "dead right' patterns?
Let's leave the personal one alone in details. I care not to cover the details of that event in this kind of venue. I will say this much for that event, leaders can lose control in such a strong denial fashion. They can become so wrapped up with their emotional baggage that they do not see some very important leadership steps. This particular event was completely written by fear. Fear dominated the mind of that leader. I know he would not agree with that assessment, but it is true. His fears related to lost love crawled all over his methods for performing the silly mistake he performed yesterday. I also believe he walked away from that mistake believing he had won that awkward event of human exchange. He did not win it. He only believes he did. He will walk side by side with denial on this truth.
If you lead your business model and you are the leader at home as well, make sure you learn how to properly manage these two leadership roles. I can guarantee this leader who strayed off course yesterday has seriously damaged his personal home relationships with the act he performed yesterday. His lack of leadership did not go unnoticed. He inserted some serious damage in his effort to take control of something he needed to leave alone. We all feel like we need to control everything in our business and personal lives. We do not need to control everything. Sometimes important things need none of our control. I know this is a hard one to grasp, but leaders...get this one understood very well. Know when to hold up, know when to fold up and know when to run. That is a famous gamblers phrase. Make sure your leadership knows how to recognize this pattern of need. The leader I watched perform this stupid act yesterday is a leader who likes to control everything near his path. He stepped in some stuff that was none of his business. Then he smashed it around and made a big deal of it. It had nothing to do with his leadership life. He just wanted to serve his fears.
The doctor who presented the great seminar covered this subject very well. He described how someone can be 'right' about taking a stance on a serious subject yet being wrong if they express that stance to those who will not appreciate how they feel. He termed this process as being "dead right." We are right in how we assess our view, how we feel about the truth of our view and how accurate we may be for seeing some things the way we see them. However, because of some little circumstances, if we express those truths and our view about the truths as we know them we will likely lose our battle about those truths we share. We might actually become "dead right." The doc described in his seminar how many business leaders miss this tiny little step as they perform their daily functions. He described how often we make this silly mistake. We drive home a position of view that is totally accurate. We deliver it with a sense of seriousness and later we learn how damaging our position of stance was wrongly treated. We get burned by the other things that hurt our outcomes from the truths we shared because our stance of truth was not a stance that was a very wise one to perform. We become "dead right." It was a great seminar. It is a great subject. I witnessed this pattern twice just yesterday. Amazing.
The second failed leadership move is one that I can share details comfortably. It can come to the surface of discussion in this blog with more sense and respect. I have no problem sharing it.
It involves a new manager who has been hired to repair a broken business model. Although he has not performed this kind of repair work in the past, his personal relationship with the CEO of this company was strong enough to earn him the position of leadership for performing this project of business repair. Yesterday he found a way to perform that ugly step of "dead right." It was an interesting exchange to witness. He walked away believing he had won that human battle. He did not win. What's more, he will never likely see how much he lost. His leadership took a terrible 'hit' that he may never fully comprehend.
During the past few months this new leader has been working to repair a broken business model that has been losing some serious money for a long time. He has been doing some very good things at times. Once in awhile, he drifts off the repair course and makes some simple mistakes. Most of those mistakes come from some rough edges he carries in his management style. He does not possess some very good leadership traits with regard to gratitude and appreciation. His staff feels this kind of lacking. As leaders, we sometimes forget to recognize the hard work our employees offer. We are so personally driven ourselves that we sometimes forget to see how others are not as driven as we are. We expect them to behave exactly the same way as we do. Here is a major tip: "Leaders........Your employees would be in your position of leadership if they were as driven as you are. They are not." End of lesson.
Some leaders need to 'face up' with this position of thought. Employees are employees for a reason. They have a whole different set of desires, motivation and understanding than that of their leaders. This truth sometimes gets forgotten. I watched how this can happen yesterday with this business leader. He got caught up in a budget discussion about a small benefit some of his employees were discussing. Two of his employees were describing how they would prefer to move their water cooler location. This company provides the employees with the water for the water cooler. I have seen the budget and it runs about twelve dollars per month to supply this small staff with the water they use. Here comes the "dead right" issue. You guessed it. The new manager walked up and took control of the employee discussion about where the new location should be for the company water cooler. I know, I know. It is a typical employee discussion that makes for good fodder in a leadership weekly meeting. Get over it. This stuff is important and will always happen. Leaders, get over it. Let it happen. Quit trying to completely control the pennies. Pick bigger battles.
You guessed it. The new manager decided to 'clip' the water cooler discussion and informed those employees that he was going to trim that part of the budget out and remove the company water cooler all together. He was met with some tremendous resistance expressions from those two employees. He decided to go to battle with both of them. He began his speech about budget cutting and company responsibilities. He took the next ten minutes to lecture both of those employees for the kinds of thoughts they each had about how they felt the company owed them for the 'free' water. It was a very wrong leadership move. I was embarrassed for him.
I happen to know they work very hard for this organization. When they tried to explain that position to him he agreed that they work hard. However, he went on to describe how that is why they receive a payroll check every two weeks. His position was that they come to do the work the company pays them to do. He described to them that this is the current arrangement. They did not take that kind of discussion well. He was serious. I was watching his leadership perform a "dead right" event. At the end of his seminar, he turned and walked away puffed up as if he had delivered a courageously prized speech with tremendous value. He walked away "dead right."
I call this kind of scenario, "critical thinking." Leaders, get closer to the idea of performing better patterns of "critical thinking." Quit trying to control everything. Quit trying to over manage what does not need to be managed. Get your "critical thinking" better organized. Learn how "dead right" works. Learn how to respect the fallout of "dead right" activities. Here is why. One of those employees that was involved with the water cooler discussion came out of that discussion very upset. With that new manager missing, she described to the other employees in her office how she was going to make some changes immediately.
You see...she takes a short walk on her lunch hour to go to the neighboring post office to gather up the company mail. She performs this act on her own time because she is already going by that post office on her walk. She is one of the employees that does the books of the company. She told every employee in her office that she will no longer do that 'free' work for this company ever again. On that day, yesterday, she waited until she returned back from lunch and clocked in to go back to that post office to get the mail. It took her twenty minutes to complete that post office round trip! I wonder how many of these post office trips will run up the $12 cost that was saved by the water cooler removal? In her case...three trips. The fourth trip will be the one that begins the company losing, times the rest of the year! Leaders, use some critical thinking in your management patterns. Watch out for the rotten patterns of "dead right" moves. I saw two of them get totally missed yesterday! Both will cost those two leaders some serious victory avoidance. That is exactly how we quietly lose.
By the way, just in case you did not notice it, the water cooler has not yet been removed and the company will already realize a financial loss from this "dead right" event. I also want to go on record that I do not advocate that any business expect their employees to pay for any benefit the company enjoys. That employee should always be compensated for the trips to the company mailbox. It is not fair for any business model to never fully know what it truly costs that business to operate. Any additional 'freebie's' from the employees or customers that are realized as financial benefits that the business model enjoys are benefits that unfortunately help to disguise how much is costs to operate that business model. That is unfair to the business. Footnote #1: All playing grounds must be kept equal. Footnote #2: Never allow a nickel to hold up the dollar. Footnote #3: Quit chasing the paper clips.
How do we miss dead right patterns? Easy.
Until next time...
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