Decision-Making Best Practice 9 – Never Let It Go Without Saying
Everyone has a collection of thoughts that are almost automatically acted upon under a given set of circumstances or in response to a specific type of event. Reflective of our beliefs and values, these actions occur naturally as if by reflex. Sometimes these thoughts and behaviors are so shaped by our values we don’t give a ‘second thought’ to acting on them; in fact, we may unconsciously believe others who generally share our convictions will act similarly. We believe ‘it goes without saying’ that these actions will occur.[wcm_restrict plans=”49274, 25542, 25653″]
No two people will share the exact same values. Similarly, no two people will perceive a given situation in the same way. Our unique life experiences and personal circumstances ensure we are different; and in being different, what comes naturally to one person will never be exactly the same for another. Thus, nothing can be left unsaid if consistent, predictable decision execution is to be achieved.
Well executed decisions require all team members share a common understanding of the situation and actions to be taken. This ensures each team member or group not only executes their part in a predictable manner but that they can also readily recognize deviations from plan and alert the appropriate parties. Common understanding occurs when all expected actions are communicated. Assuming some actions will be automatically taken because they ‘go without saying’ places the entire decision outcome at risk because no two team members can be expected to act in the same way – the optimal actions may not be taken.
Stating ‘that which should go without saying’ offers decision-makers:
- a timeline against which to assess the decision’s implementation progress
- a list of activities against which performance measures can be defined
- a framework against which to assess the ongoing effectiveness of a particular decision execution task or group of tasks
- a defined foundation on which to thoroughly assess the overall effectiveness of the selected decision option
- confidence their desired activities will be performed in the manner wanted
- reassurance that team members will be able to recognize and respond to undesired outcomes and unexpected changes in circumstances
- the ability to hold team members accountable for quality performance of assigned tasks
Final Thoughts…
Saying those things ‘that go without saying’ is about open communication and trust. Decision-making team members must possess a sense of safety in the work environment in order to open up in a way that reveals their inner values and perspectives that may, at times, be counter to those of the group. No one should ever be put down for offering a ‘goes without saying’ point. Fostering this type of trusting environment and practice will inevitably lead to the discovery of options and risks that would not have otherwise been considered.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”49274, 25542, 25653″]
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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective – Taking Decisive Action
History is replete with crisis so much so that their occurrence can be counted upon with some certainty. Crisis themselves create uncertainty but it is the response or lack of response to a crisis that creates the unnecessary uncertainty that often ripples through the marketplace, government agencies, and society.
”A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”
Rahm Emanuel
Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama
As suggested by Rahm Emanuel, those individuals and organizations responding well to a crisis garner acclaim. Likewise, those who do not respond decisively are scorned.
Poor crisis management by British Petroleum (BP) and the U.S. government in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is evident by the ongoing nature of this catastrophe and the devastation it has caused the people and property of the Gulf States. Examining this crisis reveals several inadequacies in the disaster response:
- Delay in executing the initial event response – 9 days (time until Obama Administration acknowledges the “spill [is] of national significance”)1
- Failure to apply all appropriate resources to the event response – ongoing refusal of the Obama Administration to lift the Jones Act restrictions and allow international skimming ships to aid in the oil spill clean-up2, 3
- Delay in defining and executing on obvious goals – 12 days to begin drilling a relief well to stop the oil spill4
- Faulted decision-making process – inaccurate assessment of the spill conditions, namely the late recognition of the significance/volume of oil leaking5, 6
- Lack of leadership and coordination – initial and ongoing confusion between BP and U.S. government authorities as to which organization was in charge of the event response efforts7
Some would argue that not every event can be anticipated and that the Deepwater Horizon accident was one such incident. We would not argue that point. It is unreasonable to expect that every situation and circumstance be fully anticipated and planned for not to mention that such an effort would be cost prohibited. However, when unanticipated circumstances arise leaders must be prepared to act decisively based on their and their organization’s values and beliefs and a set of core emergency response principles. Some of these include:
Values and Beliefs
- protecting of human life
- protecting the environment
- protecting property
- acting ethically and with integrity
- minimizing the impact of the event on all parties involved and effected
Core Emergency Response Principles
- recognizing that an emergency condition exists
- identifying the leader and the roles and responsibilities for all participants or groups of participants
- accurately defining the problem in both quantitative and qualitative terms including potential future challenges based on other probable and impactful events
- identifying all resources (personnel, materials, and equipment) available to support the event response effort
- defining the desired outcomes consistent with the organization’s core values and goals
- identifying the several options that will enable achievement of the desired outcomes; including risks (short and long term), costs, and benefits
- prioritizing options and selecting the optimal solution
- communicating and executing the chosen solution including contingency measures should the primary approach be ineffective
- continuously monitoring and adjusting the chosen approach as necessary
The response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and the Tylenol Crisis in 1982 serve as positive examples of values-based emergency responses following core response principles in the absence of pre-defined procedures. The decisive actions by Rudy Giuliani, the then mayor of New York City and the Johnson & Johnson executive team instilled confidence, minimized follow-on consequences, and expedited restoration from their respective event.
StrategyDriven Recommended Practices
For the past several weeks, we have discussed methods for identifying and preparing responses to probable events. The following recommended actions will help ensure leaders are prepared to response to unanticipated events in a manner that minimizes adverse consequences.
Unanticipated Event Response
- Clearly define organizational values understood and embodied by all organization members – An organization’s values serve as beacon against which all actions should be aligned and evaluated. Having a clearly defined set of documented organizational values provides responding executives and managers with a quantifiable basis against which to identify and evaluate response actions.
- Establish a commitment to adhering to the organization’s values over cost – Defined values are of little value unless organizational executives, managers, supervisors, and employees are willing to act on them even if doing so incurs additional cost. Gaining such commitment requires ongoing reinforcement to the principle of values over cost by all executives and managers during normal operations and event response periods.
- Define and train on a decision making and unanticipated event response processes – Individuals understanding and committed to the organization’s values may still not be capable of translating these into the needed timely response actions without decision-making and event response training. Such training should be periodically provided to all individuals at all levels of the organization.
Final Thought…
Decisive leaders are not impulsive. Quite the contrary, impulsive acts often diminish emergency response effectiveness. Decisive actions are timely, well thought out and consistent with the individual and organization’s values and beliefs. These actions follow the core emergency response principles. Their logic and structure are easily recognized, understood, and accepted by those implementing them, the public, and other interested stakeholders.
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Sources
- “Timeline of Gulf oil spill, government response,” The Associated Press, The Boston Globe, May 8, 2010 (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/08/timeline_of_gulf_oil_spill_government_response/?page=1)
- “U.S. not accepting foreign help on oil spill,” Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, May 6, 2010 (http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/05/06/us_not_accepting_foreign_help_on_oil_spill)
- “Jones Act Slowing Oil Spill Cleanup?” Brian Wilson, Fox News, June 10, 2010 (http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/10/jones-act-slowing-oil-spill-cleanup/)
- “Spill relief well draws scrutiny, fears,” Greg Bluestein and Jason Dearen, Associated Press, June 13, 2010 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37674027/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf)
- “Timeline of Gulf oil spill, government response,” The Associated Press, The Boston Globe, May 8, 2010 (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/08/timeline_of_gulf_oil_spill_government_response/?page=1)
- “Size of Oil Spill Underestimated, Scientists Say,” Justin Gillis, The New York Times, May 13, 2010 (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14oil.html)
- “Gulf Cleanup of BP Oil Foiled by Leadership Confusion (Update1),” Jim Efstathiou Jr., Bloomberg Businessweek, June 10, 2010 (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-10/gulf-cleanup-of-bp-oil-foiled-by-leadership-confusion-update1-.html)
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Leadership Inspirations – Getting Back Up
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Confucius (551 – 479 BCE)
Chinese thinker and social philosopher who emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity
StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 38 – An Interview with Robert Morison, co-author of Analytics at Work
StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.
Special Edition 38 – An Interview with Robert Morison, co-author of Analytics at Work explores how to leverage analytics to make better business decisions that ultimately lead to superior business results. During our discussion, Robert Morison, co-author of Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results
- the tangible benefits leaders realize as a result of incorporating analytics in their decision-making process
- types of questions analytics can help answer
- the five stages of analytical maturity
- the five key analytics DELTA components: Data, Enterprise, Leadership, Targets, and Analysts
Additional Information
In addition to the invaluable insights Robert shares in Analytics at Work
About the Author
Robert Morison is co-author of Analytics at Work
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Don’t Fail Like Edison Did
Tales of successful innovation are told – as good stories ought to be – in linear fashion, with the focus on a single triumphant hero. For example: Edison realized the potential for creating light with electricity, tested a wide variety of light-bulb filaments, and finally came up with one that worked well.
The implication is that innovation proceeds in a neat, orderly progression, from our hero recognizing the need, to testing solutions, and finally, rolling out the best one and smiling all the way to the bank.
Not so fast! The reality of innovation is very different from the historical depiction of it. Innovation is messy and wasteful, and it rarely moves in a straight line from problem to solution. The history of the light-bulb illustrates the gap between how we like to recall innovation, and how it really happens.
While Edison and his lab played an important role by contributing a design that made it into commercial use for a time, the fact is that Edison did not invent either the modern incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Edison’s light bulb design, a thin piece of carbon in a vacuum, is not in use today. Our bulbs are either based on the tungsten filament patented by Willis R. Whitney in 1903, or the mercury vapor light patented by Peter Cooper Hewitt in 1901. Edison is not the father of modern light-bulbs, he is more like a first cousin twice removed.
[wcm_restrict]Edison and his contemporaries were inspired by the work of Humphry Davy, an English scientist who, in 1800, showed that a piece of carbon would glow when electricity was sent through it. If anyone was truly at the beginning of the invention of the light-bulb, it was Humphry, but history does not remember it that way – probably because his invention just happened to be called the ‘electric arc,’ which does not have anything in common with our modern names for electric lights.
If we don’t use Edison’s light bulb design, did we even need Thomas Edison? Yes and no. We needed lots of inventors, creating choices and giving society opportunities to gain experience through real-world applications over a long period of time. And we needed the cross-pollination of ideas between these many inventors.
Edison is, of course, also credited with electrifying our modern world. This is as much of a myth as the light-bulb story. Yes, Edison’s firm did win early contracts to set up electric grids in various cities, but his direct current (DC) system proved far less efficient than Nicola Tesla’s alternating current (AC). Westinghouse and other contractors relied on Tesla’s AC patents to displace Edison’s system and electrify the nation. Edison found himself on a side branch of both the light-bulb and the electric grid.
Perhaps the smartest thing Edison did was to help build General Electric – which incorporated Edison’s initial firm along with others through mergers. General Electric was a great investment because it took a plural approach to light bulbs, using any and all good designs and patents to produce successful bulbs for commercial use. It hardly mattered that it did not commercialize Edison’s filament. The point was to produce something that would sell well.
Edison is a brilliantly famous inventor. However, often the less-luminary innovators are more likely to collaborate and cross-pollinate, and therefore to find their way to the central stream of innovation as it evolves in its messy, multi-faceted way.
For my money, I’d rather model my efforts on inventors nobody recalls today, but whose patents proved to be the ones society built upon. They got to see their royalties grow exponentially. I’d rather bet on growing royalties than a growing reputation. However, it might just be possible to get the credit and the profits by remembering that everything you learned about famous inventors is a myth, and by following three simple rules of real-world innovation:
1. Don’t stop after your first design is done. Develop (and if possible, patent) multiple designs. There is always a pack of candidates, so no single approach is all that likely to emerge as the hands-down winner. Improve your odds by taking more than one approach. When it comes to innovation, the old adage about eggs definitely applies: Don’t put them all in one basket. A plural strategy works best.
2. Coin a catchy name or term. Branding is really the key to getting credit in most cases. If you insist on giving your invention a complex or technical name, know this: History is not all that likely to give you the credit you may feel you deserve. So talk to a branding or naming expert if you can’t come up with something catchy yourself. The person whose name sticks to an innovation is almost always the one who gets the credit.
3. Collaborate. Don’t fall prey to the myth that innovations arise from the lone genius working in isolation. In fact, it takes many creative people, approaching from different directions, to break through all the mental and practical barriers and bring something new to its full fruition. If you reach out to share ideas and learn from others, you are more likely to find and work on the main trunk, rather than be relegated to a side branch as the innovation grows and develops.
In reality, innovation is a messy process with redundancy and variations on themes. It’s impossible to predict which design will emerge as the main commercial success. Even recognition is not enough to insure ultimate success. Model your approach on the reality of how innovation occurs, not the neat, heroic version in our history books.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]
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About the Author
Alex Hiam (www.alexhiam.com) is the author of more than 20 popular books on business, including Business Innovation For Dummies
