Shed The Culture Of Indecision In The Workplace - globaladvisors.biz/inc-feed/20141010/shed-the-culture-of-indecision-in-the-workplace/ By Adelia Cellini Linecker Youre a CEO and you have a vision. You give great speeches, too. But when it comes to putting your plans into action, you come up flat. Whats the matter? Your company is suffering from a culture of indecision. The cure: delegation and dialogue. Chronic indecision stems from fear, says Linda Henman, a St. Louis-based executive coach and the author of Challenge the Ordinary. Its always fear, she told IBD. Fear of loss of control, fear of criticism, fear of rejection. Learn to conquer such dread and create a dynamic workplace. • Delegate. Hire smart people and give them the authority to make decisions and take action. If everyone must report to you before making any decision, things crawl along. If you let out the fishing line, projects move while you free up time to kick-start other business for the company. Also, if you dont delegate, you have neglected one of your major responsibilities as a leader, which is developing the bench, said Henman, who runs Henman Performance Group. • Make it meaningful. Every single executive Ive coached, from multimillion-dollar companies to mom-and-pop shops, dont actually delegate decisions. They delegate tasks, Henman said. How to let go of the reins? Step 1: Ask the people reporting to you what decisions they are ready for. Step two: Negotiate an agreement. Someone might say theyre ready to make all decisions about product development, while you think theyre ready to make some but not all decisions, Henman said. So you put up parameters. Example: You let go of decisions on projects below $50,000. If the experiment works, you step off the brake a little more. • Ditch the monologue. Support a sincere search for answers, says Ram Charan, author of What the CEO Wants You to Know. Try this, said Henman: If youre the highest-ranking manager in a meeting, let others speak first. Give your opinion last. Whether its a one-on-one conversation or a larger meeting, once a senior leader voices an opinion, you will hear echoes and not real ideas or exploration of ideas. Once you become a senior manager, youd be amazed how much funnier your jokes are. • Diffuse tension. Dialogue that leads to action must tolerate unpleasant truths (and) invite a full range of views, spontaneously offered, said Charan. Henmans tip: Appoint a devils advocate in the room so youre not the one challenging ideas. People wont feel like theyll get in trouble for saying something unpopular.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 06:04:12 +0000
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