Are you able to accept "no" for an answer

It's Project Review day at the office. You are sitting in a conference room surrounded by the Project Manager, a few of the technical leads, the Marketing VP/Director, HW/SW Directors and a few others. Your purpose of the meeting is to discuss the project status. The project has been running behind, and you are looking for commitments by the Project Manager and team to keep the release date in tact, and even accelerate it. There's a lot of pressure from Sales to get this out the door. It's quite simple, really. You are merely looking for the words "Yes, we can do that".

Over the course of the next hour you get agitated, angry and bewildered at the number of excuses why the project is late. You stress the importance of meeting this commitment, how company revenues depend on it, and the teams' reputation is at stake. Finally, you hear the magic words, "ok, we'll get it done". You leave the meeting not entirely satisfied. It was more of a battle than you anticipated. But you feel good you eventually managed them to see it your way. Now you can concentrate on another fire in your to-do list.

Many of you leading development teams probably faced this situation numerous times. In the end, did the project conclude as you expected ? There's a plethora of dynamics happening here. Let's briefly look at both sides of the table - What you want to hear, and what the Project Manager (and team) want to say.

First you - A good leader, mentor, coach and of course the executive responsible for the projects success. You challenge your team to meet goals, motivate them to perform above expectations, stress the importance of customer commitment and satisfaction. In this environment, it is imperative to push the right buttons. So, what happens when your Project Manager responds with "no", or the many variations of "no"; "That will be a challenge", "I'm not sure we can make up that amount of time", "Are you kidding"?

Here's the key - your first reaction will set the tone for the remainder of the discussion. At this pivotal moment you will set the tone in one of two ways;

1. an atmosphere to tell the boss what he wants to hear; or
   
2. an atmosphere to solve the problem together
   

Which would you rather have? If you picked number 1, you can stop reading !

But, if you would rather solve the problem, use the collective skills of your team to determine the best course of action, analyze what the core issues are and attack those, then consider yourself a better leader than you thought. Your job at this moment is to ask great questions, listen, analyze. Trust me, the Project Manager wants to meet the commitment just as much as you do. But it's up to you to lead the way. And, of equal importance, for you to acknowledge the problems and challenges in attaining that goal.

Now, here's what' transpiring from the other side of the table. Rick Brenner has written a great essay; Saying "No": A Tutorial for Project Managers. He analyzes why people would rather say yes to something they inherently believe is "mission impossible" - Fear of losing their job, being passed over for a promotion, etc. The bottom line is that fear, and an environment of retribution, forces a culture of "yes men". I hope you would agree this is not good for the team, you or the company.

Executives create culture. How we act, talk and respond to these situations is a legacy carried forward and inherited by the workforce. Give some careful thought today on the legacy you have left behind in that meeting room.

Use the power of "no" to your advantage; use it as the catalyst to solving the problem. This may not get you the release date you were after, or all of the features, but you will be creating stronger teams that believe in you as the leader. And that results in a workforce willing to go the extra mile. And those are the teams that accomplish great things.

\Mike

Making Executive Decisions

"Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results. " - Scott Adams


Everyone makes a decision, everyday, 24x7. I told my wife the other day we were not going to an affair that we had been invited to. (My reasoning is outside the scope of this discussion -:). But, I made the "executive" decision, and that was that ! Well, until the topic gets revisited and the discussion re-opened. We employ an Iterative Decision Process. We can revisit the decision, but only if new and relevant information can be presented that could significantly change course. (Think of it as "Appellate Court" )

Now, suppose we used an Iterative Decision Process to our businesses? In fact, some already do, and may not realize it. For years we have learned and read about decision processes; you know them; Decision Trees, Consensus, MultiVoting, etc. And for years, we've read about corporations that wallow in a decision, take too long, and miss an important market opportunity or critical strategy or major architecture decision. Why is that? What prevents very smart leaders from finalizing important decisions? What is so difficult to weigh the facts, look at the alternatives, and pick one ? Far too often executive management falls prey to analysis paralysis. Having experienced this phenomenon first hand, it is stressful, emotionally draining and for the most part, completely unnecessary! Research has shown that " smart people don’t automatically make good decisions,” said Eric Johnson, a professor at the Columbia Business School". It is a skill that can be learned and fined tuned.

Governments are notorious for indecisiveness. Call together a group of politically motivated people and the outcome is predictable. Cities and towns will debate issues for months to the detriment of its constituents. An elongated conclusion most certainly has an effect on the people waiting for the answer. How good is that?

And that led me to wonder how politically motivated we are with our leadership teams within the corporate environment? Do you find your executive meetings filled with colleagues attempting to honestly solve issues, or, if you listen closely to the words is there some other agenda at heart? Think of the last set of meetings you were involved with that fit this profile, and now ask what you could have done better to break the pattern.

As a leader, keep in mind the effect of indecisiveness on the employee population. Being a leader carries the responsibility of quick, accurate decision making. The more belabored the process, the more significant an increase in employee anxiety is sure to result. And we can all agree that today's world is filled with enough anxiety already. When your team is waiting for the answer; ...what's our next goal? Are we going to build that next gen product? ....remember that sluggish behavior on the part of the leadership team is a sure fire way to demotivate and create a stressful atmosphere.

I am by no means suggesting that the executive issues you face are trivial. I certainly advocate that items are thoughtfully weighed with proper analysis. Here's one suggestion though; Put a time-box around these decisions. Give it a time limit of say 2 weeks, 1 month; whatever seems doable but aggressive. And communicate that to those waiting for the results. Next, take it as your personal commitment to meet that time frame. Get your fellow executives to do the same. Keep the rhetoric low, the conversations on track, and keep the ball moving forward.

Follow the motto; The worst decision you make is to not make a decision at all.

\Mike

Top 100 Leadership Blogs

I occasionally run across sites that I perceive worth forwarding on to my readers. In this case, I discovered a blog listing the top 100 Leadership blogs. I have been scanning some of them and find the information quite good. They are not limited to corporate leadership. The 100 list also includes Religious leadership sites, Youth Leadership, Community Leadership and Female Leadership blogs.

This particular blog is embedded in the Web Site www.bestuniversities.com. So in addition to scanning the 100 leadership blogs, you can also research online universities and what they have to offer !

Enjoy!

http://www.bestuniversities.com/blog/2009/top-100-leadership-blogs/