In yet another management meeting, I had to do all I could to hold back my frustration. The managers in the room should’ve been discussing an idea that would help their company perform even better and deliver greater results.
Instead, the conversation centred on what was wrong with the idea on the table and why it wouldn’t work. If their KPI (key performance indicators) had been to find why it couldn’t happen, they’d be on track for maximum bonuses.
Why is it so easy to say what’s wrong with an idea? Listening to the managers philosophise about why their plans couldn’t work made me wonder, “If they spent the same amount of time talking about how it could happen instead of how it couldn’t, how much more would they accomplish?”
There’s a litany of reasons why people focus on why something won’t work or what could go wrong, ranging from fear of ability to deliver, not knowing what to do, avoidance of further accountability or simply not wanting to do more.
What disappointed me most was that the senior director allowed the situation to carry on. Instead of stopping the petty excuses and redirecting the people in the room towards thinking about how they could make the idea work, he calmly sat there until he’d had enough. Then, without warning, he abruptly ended the meeting.
No action. No change of behaviour. The managers won — well, if you want to call failing a victory.
That behaviour reminds me of when I was a student and we used to try to distract the teacher. We would lead her down a rabbit trail, taking the discussion off on a crazy tangent and throwing her lesson plan off course. Now as then, rabbit trails interfere with resolving the topic at hand, just like a discussion about why it won’t work.
It’s an utter waste of time to discuss why something can’t work. It’s the wrong discussion. Instead, you should be asking, “How can this work?”
That question forces you to face, and deal with, the fact that something can go wrong or not happen, but crucially, it keeps you focused on the goal ... a solution.
Solution-oriented leaders focus their teams rather than allowing them to control the direction. Remember: where you look, they’ll go. So, if you engage in what I call redline conversations — rabbit trails that divert the conversation off course — then you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to manipulation and hours of wasteful chatter.
Since it’s budget planning time, let’s use next year’s planning as an example. Imagine you walk into your 2018 retreat with a message of aggressive growth, and your team starts bringing up reasons why you can’t make it happen. Their excuses might sounds compelling: oil prices, uncertainty surrounding Qatar, shifts in market dynamics, even internal excuses like not having an adequate CRM or ERP, or insufficient data.
However, these excuses are exactly that: excuses. They are examples of redline conversations, management rabbit trails. When managers raise these issues, they’re baiting you — tempting you towards the redline. If you succumb, you become both distracted and distracting.
Even the most seasoned leaders can get distracted by what’s happening around them and what their teams are saying. But, you need to stay focused if you want your team to be focused too.
When your team tries to place obstacles in the way of an idea, redirect them to the right path and ask, “Given that reality (assuming it is), how are we going to accomplish our goal?”
They may have valid concerns about a plan or how to reach it, so it is of course important to listen, but it’s just as important to use your own judgement. If you decide that what they’re saying is unlikely to transpire, dismiss it.
What’s more, if they are unable to back up an assertion with facts and data, ignore it. As harsh as it may sound, it’s your responsibility to direct the conversation, and ultimately your responsibility to achieve results.
As I sat in the management meeting, I hoped the senior director would call the managers’ bluff instead of getting irritated. All he would’ve needed to say was, “Thanks for your comments, now let’s focus on how we’re going to accomplish this.”
That way, the team would be forced to focus not on problems, but solutions.
Employees find comfort in raising the negatives without offering a solution. Don’t let them!
The writer is a CEO coach and author of “Leadership Dubai Style”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com
