This month’s question is:

How can you help me understand why I don’t do the things I know I should?

I will attempt to answer the question through the following information:

On any given day and at no particular time, chances are there are things you are supposed to be doing that you are not.

These things can range from visiting a sick family member, to finishing off a report, to returning a phone call, to cleaning out the garage.

These things that you know you should be doing but are not, can be both personal and or professional. As this practice of not doing the things you know you should, pretty much transcends across many different if not all aspects  of life.

But why?

What is it that holds you back from doing the things you know you should?

Reality is that this is a significant problem in today’s society. The numbers right now support this to a point where it becomes hard to believe the enormity of the situation.

Figures from the medical world suggest that over 65% of people, if told they will do themselves serious harm if they don’t stop doing something, continue to do it.

But why?

What is it that stops a perfectly logical thinking person, with common sense approach to life and desire to do the right thing, not do it?

Let’s explore a few possibilities:

1. Competing Commitments

This is where you are sitting down to the burger with fries, side order of onion rings, the large drink and the chocolate sundae and start to have the conversation about why can’t I loose weight.

Conflicting commitments is this situation and similar. Although you say you are committed to a particular direction, concept or element of change, you continually do things that contradict these statements.

Although this may seem illogical and quite unreasonable to an outside observer, it is not uncommon for the individual involved to not be able to understand it either.

Research from Keegan & Lahey 2001 outline the concept of competing commitments in this way:

Basically, what we are looking at here is that we have one commitment to do what the situation seems to require.  We have another commitment to a conviction we have about what will happen if we do.

They call this (unconscious) opinion the Big Assumption.

Keegan & Lahey note “People rarely realise they hold the big assumptions because, quite simply, they accept them as reality.  Often formed long ago and seldom, if ever, critically examined, big assumptions are woven into the very fabric of people’s existence.”

The bottom line focus of dealing with competing commitments is all about releasing people from the Big Assumption.  Everyone holds assumptions that they “know” are true, but for other people are not.  Some people know dogs are friendly, others know they are dangerous.

The research of Keegan & Lahey has shown that there are 5 questions we must pose to ourself so that we can understand these competing commitments and therefore create an opportunity to move on:

a. “What would you like to see changed?”

They note that the response is usually couched in a complaint.  People complain about what they care about.  So they suggest we ask, “What commitment does your complaint imply?

If we use the example above, about the person that is complaining about their weight. You would then work hard to define the positive intent. Which in this case, could be that they like to be recognised as a person of high levels of fitness & athleticism.

b. “What are you doing or not doing that is keeping your commitments from being fully realised?”

If we were to continue using the example from above, you would look to see what is this person doing to retard to level of commitment?

Looking at this as part of our example: This person is working long hours, skipping meals and then makes up for it by eating takeaway food or convenient meals and therefore continues to gain weight and in the process continues to loose fitness.

c. “If you imagine doing the opposite of what your undermining behavior, do you detect in yourself a level of fear, worry or discomfort? “

All you are really trying to ascertain here is that if you change your behavior/commitments would there be any consequences?

Following on using our example: Our takeaway eating, low fitness level, long hours worker, cannot work less hours.

So to counteract this they would need to create a plan that allows them to exercise at another time.

They would also need to get up earlier of a morning to allow them to prepare some of their own daily meals so they can increase their intake of healthy food.

However the biggest inconvenience comes from not being able to go to the pub as much of a night. The pub schedule has been knocked about because now each evening after work they would be going to the gym to workout.

All of this reality produces a feeling of loss of control, a vision of operating well out of their comfort zone, and a feeling of giving up soooo much to gain so little.

d. “By engaging in this undermining behavior, what worrisome outcome are you committed to preventing.”

When you use this question to unearth those outcomes, you are bringing yourself within striking range to understand and realise the Big Assumption.

Following on with our example takeaway eating person, their Big Assumption is along these lines:

That the financial cost to losing weight is to high.

They would need to hire a personal trainer, purchase special workout clothing, buy special food, supplementation and fluids. And then when they lose weight, they would need to purchase an entirely new wardrobe.

2. Procrastination

I continue to hear that procrastination comes from lack of confidence. And to certain degree that is true.

However, I also believe that there are other contributing factors as to why procrastination continues in everyday life.

Some of these maybe real and some maybe perceived, either way these are contributing factors as to why we procrastinate:

• Don’t have the resources
• The project isn’t motivating/fun/challenging/ enjoyable
• Don’t  have the time
• Don’t have the energy needed
• Don’t have the clarity on the best way to go forward
• The task is too big
• Don’t like doing new things
• Fear of what others might think
• Feeling you have to do something as opposed to just wanting to do it
• Feeling that it has to be done a certain way and for whatever reason it cannot be done that way right now

I think one of the most important aspects to realise about procrastination is that the reason why it happens will vary from project to project.

To start working on overcoming it, you should start to explore the reason why you might procrastinate well before the next project is on the starting line. But as you do, also realise there is no one way that will singularly help you overcome procrastination.

3. Fear of failure

Once again this is one of those elements that is very wide spread throughout society. For many years I have researched the topic with those that I have worked with and the figures are still excessively high.

In common terms, the figures show that as many as 80%+ of people are driven by fear of failure. And in elite achievers, this figure only drops back to the mid to high 70% range.

The biggest contributors to fear of failure are these:

a. Thinking too far ahead
You start to think about something perhaps a goal and end result a particular situation and then you start to draw it out to a final objective. That final objective might be 1, 2, 5, 10 years away and the minute you start to put time and space between where you are now and that final objective, you will also start to doubt your ability to get the job done.

The perspective I would like you to consider is that you don’t need to have confidence of reaching that final objective before you start it. You only need to have the confidence that is required to take the next step in the journey.

b. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy
You start to do things that cause your fear to become a reality. Not that you are causing yourself to fail on purpose, but never the less, you start to do things that cause it to happen.

You do things in a protective way. You second guess some decisions, you don’t do things at the time you should have because you have been over thinking them.

Once again, these are not huge mistakes, but just little ones and by themselves probably would not affect you and your performance to any great degree. But ad them together and all of a sudden you realise that what you have wanted to avoid the most you have just made happen.

c. Comfort zone
We have covered this topic many times, but it is without a doubt one of the key contributors to fear of failure. To overcome this problem you must start/continue to work at doing things outside of your comfort zone. This way, when the time arises where you have no choice but to do something out of your comfort zone, it will be no big deal.

d. We see failure as a negative
The most widely used learning tool used in the development of a human being is trial and error. We can learn, study, understand research and all the rest of it but there comes a time where you have to do.

The chances are that when you do it you may not get it right straight away. But this I do know to be true: if you don’t get it right the first time, you will certainly be a lot better educated on how to get it right for your next attempt.

4. Pride getting in the way

What will others think?
I should be able to do this myself?
I am better than this.
I don’t need anyone to help me.

I bet you can probably think of a thousand more situations that you have done or know of where pride/ego got in the way of good decision making.

We could go over a whole heap of information on cause and effect as it relates to this situation.

But do we need to?

Do we need to do anything other than to have you challenge yourself when the time is right by asking yourself  “Am I letting my pride/ego get in the way of doing what is right?”

5. Fear of success

To some degree  this may sound strange, but you would be surprised as to the frequency at which this occurs from people’s worry of what will happen to them and their world if they DO succeed.

A number of the issues we outlined in the fear of failure section also come into play here.

The worry of the unknown, for instance, is tackled in the same way. Do your homework and talk to as many people as you can.

This is made a lot easier by the fact that success is usually very well publicised, so it should not be too hard to find information on people who have attempted and successfully attained similar goals to the ones you have set for yourself.

These discussions and communications will give you a clearer picture of what you can expect and the pros and cons of the journey you are about to take.

Also, if you are in control of each step that you take and complete along the way, then you will be in control of the end result when you get there.

Through learning the skills of control as your journey has unfolded, you will have gained quite a considerable level of skill and confidence to allow you to control everything that happens when and after you have successfully completed your mission.

The understanding of control comes from the ability to take accountability for everything you do.

If you know you are responsible for the things you say and do and the events that happen in your life, then you must also understand that change only comes about if you instigate it or you allow it to happen.

Therefore, the fear of change due to your success can be removed if you understand that you can be in control of what happens to you. You have the ability and scope to change and redirect anything and everything that goes on in your life.

Just so you know what am talking about here, here are some of the key drivers towards fear of success:

• Even though you attain all that you set out to do you worry that you will no be content, satisfied or fulfilled

• Even though you have achieved all you desire it may not be recognised by others

• Through what you have achieved you will be recognised by others

• Because of what you accomplish you will gain added expectation (media, public scrutiny)

• That you will not be able to sustain or rise above that level of accomplishment

• That you are not worthy of the success that will come your way

• That when you do achieve others will attempt/surpass your accomplishments

So what is it that stops you doing the things you know you should?

What is it that causes conflict and therefore, the things you should be doing don’t get done?

Why don’t you have the discipline to just do what needs to be done?

The bottom line is these questions can only really be answered by you. Get a mirror that works and as you do remember:

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question of:

Do I always lead from the front?

Is one that allows me to share with you a number of different ideas? I think the first insight I want to share with you is that you don’t always need to lead from the front, (and I will explain this in more detail a little later) however, I do believe you always need to lead by example.

To help you understand where I am coming from on the concept of Leading by Example, I want to go back to an article I have previously written:

I hear it so often. It gets stated by good leaders and by others, perhaps not so good. I hear it from young leaders and old leaders alike. I hear it from leaders with many years experience and from those with basically no experience.

I hear it spoken about as though it is a strength, when in most cases, it actually is a weakness.

The phrase I am talking about is:

“I lead by example!”

Leadership by example is fantastic as long as the example is the right kind of example.

As a leader do you have people saying this to you?

“Well if you want it done, then you go out and do it”, or

“If you believe it can be done, then you show me how!”

Leadership by example, in my opinion, is not doing for someone that which they should be prepared to do for themselves.

Obviously, there are going to be times when, because of circumstances, you need to go before everyone else and show what can be done.

Then there is no problem.

But if as a leader you always need to “be an example”, by doing what the people you lead should be doing, then you have a problem.

And that problem is either with you or the team. And as it stands, neither the team nor you are going to see the true benefits of a combined approach if everything continues the way it is.

Let me try and put this another way:

“Leadership is what you do with someone not what you do for someone.”

You are involved with the people you lead; you work with them. But as I said, very rarely should you do for them that which they are capable of doing for themselves.

As you no doubt realise, this will take a great deal of discipline on your part because there will be times when you “leading by example” is your fault, not theirs. Think through some of these statements:

• It was just easier for me to do it
• We were short of time
• I have extensive knowledge in that area
• I just needed to show them how it is done
• Delegation is not my strength

All of these are very legitimate reasons. All of them however, are negatives, not positives.

Yes, it might be easier for you to do it; and yes, they can learn from observing you; and yes, time is important; and yes, to every other reason you want to use to justify your actions.

But if all you ever do is solve the problems of the people you lead without helping them learn to solve them for themselves, then you are not really doing the right thing by them.

And leadership is all about doing the right thing by the people you lead.

Leadership is about empowering the people around you. Are you really empowering them by “being an example” and doing it for them time and time again?

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about the one or two situations where you introduce something new and then show them what is going on. What I am talking about here is role confusion: role confusion highlighted by the fact that you continue to fill their roles and don’t really fulfil yours.

So can leading by example be a strength?

Can leading by example really help those you lead?

Can you fulfil your role just by leading by example?

Can you empower someone by leading by example?

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

But it all depends on the type of example you are showing.

• Honesty
• Integrity
• Commitment
• Caring
• Discipline
• Communication
• Values
• Ethics
• Standards
• Purpose

These are the areas where you do want to lead by example. These are the areas that will have people following your lead. These are the areas that will empower people and these are areas that are capable of taking those you lead to another level; firstly as people, and then as colleagues involved in your specific work.

It is this leading by example that will generate the most important aspect of leadership: Trust.

Those around you will follow you because they trust you. People will follow your example when it truly helps them become better. People will follow you when you show your belief in them, by letting them do it for themselves.

So hopefully, I have been able to clarify my position on leading by example which then leads us back to the original question of should you always lead from the front.

To which my simple answer would be, No. But once again please allow me to explain.

My belief is that there are three different levels from which you can position yourself in your quest to be an effective leader.

Above=Leadership
Beside=Fellowship
Below=Followership

Now before we get to far into this, let me outline this important consideration in regard to this model:

One level is not necessarily better or more important than another.

I believe the best level of positioning will be situation specific. I know there would be others that would have contrary view to this and probably a very strong one.

And that view would be along the lines of: “There is only one place to lead from and that is out in front or above the people you lead”. Now without getting us side tracked I believe this to be a very restricted view.

But back to the specifics of:
Above=Leadership
Beside=Fellowship
Below=Followership

As a leader you understand the sequence of influence and you will also be aware that in some occasions you will need to be above or infront of the team, Leadership. Leading them to where they need to be. But at the same time, as we went through above not doing for them those things they should be doing for themselves. Basically, not leading by example by doing the things they should be doing.

But when the team has taken responsibility to go forward. When they have paid the price of responsibility to be able to take ownership of themselves and of the situation, then you as leader, join in side by side with them. They have their roles and you have yours it becomes a Fellowship of specific role identified performance.

You continue working with the team, you build the team in skill, experience, purpose, desire and responsibility. They continue to increase their responsibility to a point where they are taking control of themselves and their destiny. They are in charge of driving themselves, the product and the result.

In one sense, it is almost like you have made yourself redundant. But as you and those you lead continue to work through the sequence and in the process, have now placed you as the leader in a position of leading from behind the team, Followership. However, even from a position behind the team you are watching their every move and at the same time, watching what is coming ahead, so that if you need to change your position for the benefit of all you can.

But for the time, you sit behind the team, you are a follower of the teams action, purpose, commitment and direction.

So although this is a brief overview of the concepts of Leadership, Fellowship and Followership, I would hope that you can see as I said at the outset, that no one position is more important that the other. But where you sit with the team will be dependant upon an variety of situations, needs and influences.

The right place to sit when selected correctly, will bring with it a corresponding level of leadership effectiveness.

Don’t be frightened to develop the team to a point of independence, as in my belief when you have done this, you will be at your greatest level of your leadership effectiveness, that is; you have made those you lead independent of you.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question is:

As a leader when things get tough, what are some of the things I should be focussing on?

I will answer this from three different perspectives:

1. As an Organisation

a. Don’t tread water
When tough times come the usual focus and talk is to ‘batten down the hatches’ and ride through the tough times. Great organisations show their true point of difference in times where others struggle.

Their attitude, beliefs and preparedness show they are not prepared to be a victim of uncertain times and are willing and prepared to take on the responsibility to be a master of their own destiny.

They continue to market themselves, their product or services, what they do and how they do it. They, whilst watching the budget, continue to look at product development, market and product research, staff training and up-skilling, organisational productivity and efficiency.

In tough times great organisations have a desire and preparedness to continue to move forward and upward.

b. Know the opposition
Your focus should always be on your team or organisation, however it is in tough times when you really should know what the opposition are doing.

In tough times some will flourish, some will survive, and others will perish. Without trying to sound like a vulture waiting to feast on the carcase of those that perish, however the reality is there are opportunities to be taken if you know what is going on around you.

As others struggle there will be (without being totally ruthless) opportunities for you to prosper. As times change and things become more difficult some of your competitors will be looking to retain their best clients and their best staff, and although what is left in their mind might not be the best, this does not mean that what isn’t their best cannot be of benefit to you and your team or organisation.

c. Show loyalty
Tough times demand tough decisions. Usually in a business sense, some of these tough decisions are of a financial nature and without sounding like I am saying ‘go against sound financial judgements’, don’t just make your future and tenure secure by cutting back on everything and anything.

As tough as it is for you, remember there are others that are relying on you, your team or your organisation.

Show some loyalty and help others through these tough times as well. Show loyalty to your customers; show loyalty to your staff, team members and those around you. Show loyalty to your suppliers, sponsors and the like.

But the key to loyalty in tough times is to pay it forward. Don’t wait for others to show it to you, show it to them first and enjoy every moment of doing it. This level and timing of loyalty more than any marketing that you can ever do will show what you are really about.

And although it should not be your primary reason for doing it, your loyalty will be noticed by others and in doing so, your loyalty will be repaid in many different ways.

d. Misery loves company
Just because things are getting tough and everyone around you thinks the sky is falling, doesn’t mean that you have to join in and share their point of view. But on the other hand don’t see the world through rose coloured glasses either.

Things are the way they are and the most important consideration here is how you are going to deal with what is going on around you. You as an organisation can chose to believe things are either good or bad. You as an organisation can choose to have either a positive or a negative outlook. You as an organisation through your thinking, choices and action will choose whether in these tough times you are going to flourish, survive, or perish.

But as you are deciding remember misery loves company.

e. Use the mirror rather than the window
Many times when things get tough there is a preparedness to sit inside and look out the window and think that the reasons why as an organisation you are struggling is because of what you see outside.

Great organisations have a philosophy when things are tough to look in the mirror before they ever even consider looking out the window.

Don’t ever take responsibility for that which is not yours to take, however the more you realise that you as an organisation have a role to play in why things are the way they are, then you will continue to not only survive in tough times but you will undoubtedly flourish.

f. Awareness and adaptability
One of the key aspects to getting through tough times is the ability to recognise what is actually going on around you and why. Factual evidence, experienced based insight, accurate qualified awareness.

Once you are aware as an organisation of what is actually taking place around you, you will then know how, where and why you will need to adapt and make changes to allow you to continue progressing through the tough times.

The type, level and accuracy of the read will be a paramount to what success you can hope to expect. However on the other hand, your ability to recognise where, why and how you will need to change and adapt will also have a huge influence on that desired success.

Once again great teams, organisations and individuals all have that ability to recognise where they need to adapt but also share in the skill of not procrastinating and hoping things around them will change, therefore removing the need for them to change. They have that innate ability to adapt and change in a timely manner and as they do, they leave behind both the opposition and the stress associated with tough times.

2. As A Leader:

a. Be visible
One of the worst mistakes you can make at a time like this is not to be seen. Now it doesn’t really matter why. You can justify this by saying you are in a strategy meeting or you are doing this or that or you are attending to something urgent.

When things slow down, the people that are with you and around you, want to see and hear their leader every single day and, in most cases, more than once a day.

An unreasonable request? Absolutely not!

b. Control outer emotions and deal with inner ones
When things slow down and are not going the way you would like, there is usually a corresponding set of emotions that comes into play.

Anguish, nervousness, lack of confidence, anger, frustration, and resentment - all of these and many more are quite common at these times.

The key is to deal with these internal emotions. Get some advice, another perspective, new information; create opportunities and methodology to deal with your inner emotions and make sure you do it away from the scene that is causing them.

Do what you have to do, but make sure you do not just leave these emotions be. Deal with your inner emotions and make sure they do not transform themselves into outer emotions.

You know, the outer emotions that are represented by the snappy reply, the over-reaction to little things, the body language of a stressed individual, and the facial expressions of a worried person.

Silently deal with your inner emotions and outwardly you show the emotion and body language of a leader who knows how to deal with adversity.

c. Be relentless in going back to the basics
Whatever you do, don’t try and rectify the situation by making the solution look difficult. It is at these times that simplicity is your greatest ally.

Many times a situation will look as though it requires an intricate solution; but in reality, it is the basic steps everyone knows that will usually lead you to where you need to be. Don’t fall for the trap of believing that details and intricacy means success.

Once you have looked at all the basic steps, and you realise that no matter how you look at it, this situation calls for a solution that is a little more intricate, then break it down and make it look basic.

If you can’t make it simple then make it easy to understand.

d. Don’t let pride get in the way of making the right decisions
Of course when the tough times come, there will be a level of both responsibility and accountability directed your way. That is the way it should be. But don’t let you get in the way of the best way to go forward.

Make decisions that are in the best interest of all and not about what is in your best interests. Those that you lead will respect you a whole lot more when they see you put your pride away and make a decision that is there to benefit others.

e. Communicate more
Keep people informed as to what is going on and why. Continue to let people know what you are doing and why. Remember when the though times come, it brings with it a great deal of uncertainty.

That uncertainty can be about many things:
• Future direction
• Survival strategy
• Security of tenure
• Element and degree of change

It is at these times as a leader you can bring great relief and security to those that you lead. Communication is a great way to clarify direction, alleviate fear and revive and redirect motivation.

3. As A Team:

a. Redefine purpose, goals and standards
Without dropping the standard or compromising the expectation taking the team through the exercise of redefining purpose, goals, standards and the like can be a very beneficial exercise.

For one reason it should help get everyone back on the same page and heading in the same direction. I said should, but not always; so do expect this exercise to come with a level of work if you really want it to make a difference.

Second advantage in redefining purpose, goals, and standards is that it gives everyone in the team and opportunity to see what the future will be like and why they are heading in the direction they are.

b. Clarify roles, responsibilities & expectations
For similar reasons as above clarifying roles and standards lets each individual once again understand what they are about and what is expected of them.

So we have brought clarity to the team through redefining purpose, goals and standards and them through working with the individual, we have helped them see what their role is in all of this and then what is expected of them.

c. Communicate more and better
When things get tough it is not unusual to withdraw into our own world and to start to think irrationally. As a team you do the complete opposite, by communicating more often. Don’t sit around and whine about how things are sit down and communicate how things will be. Use the communication process to provide clarity, sense of belonging and an air of confidence.

d. Recognise understand and respect difference
People deal with adversity in different ways. As a team understand this and work to help each other in the way that is required to get everyone through the adversity. Difference does not mean that you grow apart as the tough times come. Difference will be, if you allow it to and drive it in the correct manner will be the thing that brings your team together.

e. Show what being a team mate is all about
As hard as it is for you, chances are someone is struggling with things more than you. Don’t make it about you at this time, make it about them.

The Journey Continues!

In the January 1st edition of our newsletter The Full Nelson, I asked the question of:

What is going to be your approach to 2008?

And I based this question around the age-old fable of the Hare and the Tortoise.

A hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing, “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.”

The Hare, believing his assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal.

On the day appointed for the race, the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course.

The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after his fatigue.

The moral of the story?

Slow and steady wins the race.

From that story I then asked the following:

Are you going to come out of the blocks at a thousand miles an hour as you pursue your goals and New Year’s resolutions with a whole heap of excitement and motivation?

If you are, please make sure you don’t fall asleep half way through the year because of either fatigue or boredom.

Or …

Are you going to begin and end the journey of the next 366 (Leap Year) days following the philosophy of the tortoise — Slow and steady wins the race?

As a follow up to that article, I want to share with you the following insight to the ongoing relationship of the Hare and the Tortoise.

The Journey Continues!

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 2:
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realised that he’d lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless, and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there’s no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So, he challenged the tortoise to another race.

The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It’s good to be slow and steady; but it’s better to be fast and reliable.

However the journey still continues:

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 3:
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realised that there’s no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route.

The hare agreed.

The tortoise and hare started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime, the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking, and finished the race.

The moral of the story?

First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

However, the story still has not ended and the journey continues.

The Hare and the Tortoise-Part 4
The tortoise and hare, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realised that the last race could have been run much better. So the tortoise and hare decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. Both the tortoise and hare felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they’d felt earlier.

The moral of the story?

It’s good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you’re able to work in a team and harness each other’s core competencies, you’ll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you’ll do poorly and someone else does well.

The Journey Continues!

This month’s question:

What is the right balance of head, heart and guts as a decision maker?

I know what I am about to run through will look like I am not prepared to give a definitive answer to a great question. I don’t want it to look that way, but too some it might. The reason being; that in my opinion there is no set standard of balance between Head, Heart and Guts when it comes to decision making or anything else for that matter.

However, I do believe it is important that all three become part of any decision making process. Ultimately though, the right balance will depend upon many different considerations.

Considerations such:
The situation
The outcome
The influences
Available information
Level of risk

On the other side of the ledger you would need to consider:
Your personality
Your leadership style
Your vision and focus
Your experience
Your levels of understanding
Your past decision making process

As you can see there are numerous factors that would need to be considered in the process or structure of your decision-making. However, there is also an opportunity, and in many cases, a real and relevant need to include the aspects of Head, Heart and Guts.

Now with that stated, I would also suggest the idea of a weighted scale that allows you to use all three elements of Head, Heart and Guts, but to what amount of each would depend upon the appropriateness of each area, as their relevance, significance and appropriateness will vary from decision to decision.

The reality is that you will operate from a different perspective in your decision making depending on a wide a variety of considerations, not to mention pressures, levels of clarity, understanding and information processing. One cannot use the same style of decision making every day. The need for diversity of approach changes moment-to-moment, situation-to-situation, and decision-to-decision.

We can always do better as decision makers, whether it is professionally or personally. But as you continue to develop yourself, your thinking, your understanding, and therefore your decision-making, it is vitally important to stay true to yourself.

Each and every decision you make must have your DNA attached. It should be easy for anyone influenced by the decisions you make to see you in how the decision has been reached and why.

They may not always agree with your decision, but their level of unease is somewhat reduced, simply because they can see your consistency of approach in the decision that has been made and through the process that led you to the decision.

As a leader of people, each and everyday you will be placed in the position of chief decision maker and those decisions need to be made based on some type of criteria.

Many times that criteria is developed through your past experiences, it is aided by a system or structure, or it can be helped by the information you have available.

I would also suggest emotion to some degree will be involved in your decision-making procedure.

The skill is not to remove or ignore the emotion, but to truly understand the level of emotion involved and its ability to influence you.

You should have a sense of understanding about you and your tendencies towards the emotional aspects of decision-making. That understanding at the very least is to guard against your own worst tendencies.

Let’s look at it this way. If you’re over optimistic, you’re likely to gloss over the threat of things going wrong. If you’re pessimistic, you might have a tendency to dwell on the negatives. And if you’re greedy, you might be so tempted by potential rewards, that you overlook risk altogether.

Probe the basis of your belief. We often make decisions based upon our assumptions, be prepared to test those assumptions against the reality of the situation. Test your opinions by looking for information that challenges your beliefs, rather than looking for information that supports your opinions.

Be prepared to look at your areas of expertise, your beliefs and your philosophies, and honestly assess the restrictions. Search for examples. Identify situations or individuals that have faced a similar decision. Evaluate their experiences to better prepare for your own decision. Watch for over confidence in yourself and others when you venture outside your individual perspective.

If at all possible, do a partial test-run. By this I mean, create a scenario in line with your overall objective, but only do part of the overall decision just to see how it might unfold.

Within the process of making decisions, it is vitally important to look further than one step ahead and to also take into consideration all future options.

Continually and consistently search for new information or insight which may help you in the decision making process. As long as you know where to search for the relevant information - and can verify the accuracy of what you learn - you will be well positioned to see all sides of an issue and make a sensible judgment.

The most effective decisions flow from your ability to surmise the right information, to read the situation correctly and to ask the right person the right question at the right time.

You should also consider: What are the costs associated with this decision and are the benefits worth the cost?

We’ve all heard stories of leaders or we know someone that has for whatever reason, decided to take a rather large risk and from that action, have been able to deliver some outstanding results. Basically, they were willing to make bold decisions with no real understanding, if the outcome they were pursuing would ever be attained.

However, the reality is that most successful leaders take a balanced approach to risk. That is; they accept that risk is inherent, but they make a sharp distinction between calculated risk and careless risk.

They look at a couple of key areas to help them make the distinction, areas such as:

1. Identify the cost
You have to be clear about your viewpoint, theories and assumptions and think through the potential consequences of any decision you make. Ask yourself what could go wrong under any and all circumstances, both internally and externally, and then evaluate the potential effect and magnitude.

Before deciding, picture the expected outcomes of your decision and mentally forecast the ramifications of your chosen course of action.

2. Diversify your approach to reduce the risk
Without turning your back on any element of risk, make sure that you put the context of risk into the bigger picture. That way you can offset risky decisions, ventures, or initiatives with more predictable outcomes.

3. Know when, how and where to read the warning signs
Make a point of understanding, monitoring and analysing the aspects that a favourable outcome of your decision depends upon. Work hard to detect if things aren’t working, as you believe they should be.

Makes sure you have created a network of people that can help you monitor the situation or hold you accountable to the things you should be monitoring.

So hopefully from what we have outlined, you can see that there is a role for Head, Heart and Guts both individually and collectively in your decision making process. To what degree you use any or all of them, is a decision best left to you once you have considered they types of things we have just worked through.

The Journey Continues!