You’re Not Thinking About This Right

There is always the boss who only knows one way to do things – his way. I had the opportunity to work for that guy not too long ago. His favorite thing to say when he disagreed with anyone’s opinion was, “you’re not thinking about this right.” I always found that to be an interesting statement, and I knew exactly what he meant. He was saying, “You’re not thinking about it like me.”

A classic misstep for many managers is getting locked into one way of attacking a challenge or an opportunity. Certainly, there are procedures or business operations that can only be done effectively one correct way, but the issues we are considering here are almost always matters of opinion or perspective. When a manager does not listen to the ideas of others, or give them the opportunity to pursue other courses of action, several things happen. First of all, creativity is squelched. Second, employees learn not to take risks. Third, team members learn not to move forward without the direct approval of the manager.

For the micro-manager, I may have just described nirvana! These are managers who typically prescribe to the axiom that “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”, and they believe no one else can do it as well as they can. They believe that no one else is capable of making critical decisions – nor do they attempt to develop the employee’s ability to make those decisions. This process creates one of two crippling effects for the organization – either the manager is incapable of hiring talented players and the organization is full of marginal performers, or, upon hiring talented players the manager stifles much of their ability, which ultimately leads to turnover.
“Results equal power. Better decisions create better results. Better options create better decisions. Diversity creates better options. Therefore, diversity equals power.”

Jim Kearns, DuPont Fiber
The bottom line is that these types of managers simply do not trust people. There is no way to get away from that conclusion. Great managers are defined by their ability to identify talented employees, use and further develop their potential, and create high-performance work teams. To be fair, a mediocre manager may actually be a highly skilled and productive individual, but the capacity of the team will always be limited by the manager’s own capability because he does not develop the potential of his employees.

In the highly acclaimed business best-seller Good to Great, Jim Collins says that “leadership is about vision, but leadership is equally about creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts confronted.” Unfortunately for the company, many managers equate management with knowing more than anyone else and making all of the decisions – why else would they have been promoted to the position of manager??

The genius of Collins’ observation is that great managers actually believe quite the opposite. While creating an environment of excellence and high expectations, the great manager believes that there is still much to be learned from every situation and each employee. As John Maxwell has often said, “leaders are learners“.

If you don’t understand that, perhaps you’re just not thinking about it right.