My natural character drives me far too often to rush to decisions or alternatively push others to make their own decisions more quickly than they feel comfortable with.
I can be driven to distraction by those who have to weigh up the decisions over and over again. It is a constant topic of discussion with my wife. How often have I said “life is too short, let’s make a decision and move forward, and we’ll deal with the consequences as they crop up”?
Working with various clients to help them improve performance, increase profitability and enable change forces me to take a more considered approach as we help our clients reach their own decisions with our help.
This issue has some real resonance with the current political climate. As I write, the Tory lead in the polls over the Labour Government has narrowed to within 2 points, from what seemed like an unassailable lead just a few weeks ago.
It is not who will win that interests me in this, but the fact that many commentators and the markets see a real possibility of a hung Parliament, as the parties may have to try and negotiate to form a workable coalition government.
This possibility has put the pound into a bit of a free fall, because the markets feel this will weaken the ability of the government to make decisions, and ultimately deal with the massive budget deficit that we face. It is not because the decisions may be wrong, but simply that decisions themselves will not be made.
There has been a long debate about the way that the first past the post system in Britain has brought “strong government”. The coalition government model that it so regular in place with many of our European counterparts requires a much more collaborative approach to politics.
It is a balance between quicker decisions, which will lead to quicker change versus slower more considered and negotiated decisions.
Innergy’s work with organisations of varying shapes and sizes allows us to see how different management approaches to decision making have very different outcomes.
Management teams who follow my natural vice for quick decisions will move more quickly, but the downsides are:
- A higher possibility of failure
- A potential loss of engagement with their staff
- Disillusionment of key peope and potential increases in staff turnover
- A reputation for aggression and potential conflict during change
When a more collegiate approach is taken, whether this be by asking for wider input before making decisions, or taking it further and empowering others in the organisation through delegation to deliver the solutions , then you can expect considerable benefits:
- Longer lasting success in change
- A better management brand which in turn leads to more engaged teams and a better environment to attract good candidates from the outside
- Greater productivity
- Smoother change processes
