| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Argue Your Way To Business Success
"Jack" (not his real name) is a vice president of a publicly traded company. Recently, Jack's stress and anxiety levels have been high enough to impact both his working and his personal lives. (I'm using an alias because he's concerned about his story becoming public ? for good reason!) What, exactly is Jack stressed out about? It's not just another case of burnout and he's not worried about losing his job. Rather, Jack is convinced that his company is adopting the wrong strategy. And he's not alone; some other senior managers feel the same way. As a result, these people are lacking motivation and drive. One was heard to say he hasn't enjoyed his work for months. So, why aren't these managers speaking up and arguing their position? The answer is that his company's culture discourages argument as destructive to team spirit, values and conformity. Because this culture equates differences of opinion with disloyalty, behavior has mutated into a form of "go along to get along." Significantly, the CEO establishes the culture. Jack loves his company. He's worked there for many years and truly wants to see it succeed. But the "Stepford Executives" mentality is really becoming an impediment to success. The CEO is convinced he's moving his company forward because his vice presidents all seem to be right behind him. But the truth is he's shielded himself from knowing that the vice presidents think the new strategy could be taking the company right over the cliff. For the Sake of an Argument In this all-too-frequent scenario, all of the players let themselves and each other down. The CEO has been let down by his direct reports because they aren't speaking up. Consequently, shareholder value is destroyed and the CEO's career will be ruined. The "go-along-to-get-along" vice presidents are doing themselves a disservice, because their careers will be damaged when the strategy fails. No one wins here. And it's a shame because a good old-fashioned argument could have turned the situation around. Argument is not a dirty word, and arguing doesn't have to be either caustic or destructive. As a matter of fact, the Oxford English Dictionary defines argue as "1) To put forth reasons for or against; debate 2) To attempt to prove by reasoning." There's nothing inherently negative in that definition. The Argument for Argument I base my argument that businesses need to learn how to properly argue before they can succeed on two points. First, people tend not to see things as they really are. We see things as we really are. The things we do, in combination with our experiences, biases and opinions all shape our perceptions of a given situation. That's why we need several points of view argued by different people in order to see the full picture. Besides, none of us has all the answers. The upshot of a well-managed argument is that the solutions, strategies and plans drawn up by the management team will be better thought out and more rigorously scrubbed in search of the best alternatives. Second, we need to learn how to argue because improper argument and the lack of argument can be destructive to morale and significantly increase worksite politics. Unlike Jack's company, some corporate cultures breed open conflicts where nonstop arguments inevitably turn personal, bitter and sarcastic. In this type of environment, the interests of shareholders are totally lost in the melee and winning an argument becomes an end in itself instead of the means to an end. The Six Keys to Proper Argument So how should arguments properly be conducted within companies? There are six keys to arguing properly, beginning with the need to build trust. Trust can be built when team members share a common goal, such as increasing shareholder value. So, having a common goal or objective is the second key. When each member is working to the same goal, legitimate differences of opinion aren't misinterpreted and healthy exchanges don't turn bitter. Depersonalization (evaluating a position without regard to the characteristics of the person who advances it), therefore, is the third key. The fourth key is to make arguing an ongoing process. Practice makes perfect. Experience at arguing creates an attitude that says, "let's debate this so we can get to a good solution that all we can get behind." The fifth key is to conduct post mortems on the results of your arguments. This is how you will determine if they lead to good solutions and if not, why not. When a crisis occurs, this helps companies focus on working the problem rather than assigning blame. People should be reassured that identifying the cause of the problem is still important, but must take a backseat to solving the problem. Also, post mortems reduce personalization, because most of the emotion has faded away. And the sixth key is to develop a thick skin. People who are willing to risk being vulnerable are perceived as being a bigger person. It's important to learn to overcome the emotional tendency to fight back with those who disagree with you and insult you unintentionally - or even intentionally! Keep your eyes on the prize and address any of the pettiness later. If you can do this, you will become a significantly better leader, as well. Rob Waite is a senior executive with over 20 years of leadership experience in domestic and international business. His successful track record includes start-ups, turnarounds, multinational strategic partnerships and global business expansions with Fortune 500 companies. Rob is also a successful author, dynamic speaker and a business strategist. His most recent book is The Lost Art of General Management, was dubbed "a must read for anyone who wants to be unstoppable in business" by one well-known CEO. Rob also developed and produced a one-of-kind interactive virtual seminar The Six Figure Job Search that guides executive level job seekers through the entire job search process. Also, joining such luminaries as Bill Gates, Donald Trump and Suze Orman, Rob is a contributing author to the Walking With the Wise series from Mentors magazine. Rob has been a senior executive with both Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies. You can learn more about Rob, his books and programs at http://www.robwaite.com and at http://www.sixfigurejobsearch.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Management - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Ways New Managers Become Great Leaders "It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there." - Franklin D. Taking Care of Middle Manager Bounce Off How many times have the management consultants been 'in' and after leaving, have left little or no trace of their passing?Despite massive investment there is no discernable performance improvement, the retention figures still look as if we are running a call centre and our safety record is second to everyone.Why is it that what seemed a logical and progressive implementation model failed to have any lasting impact on our business?Could it have anything to do with 'Middle Manager Bounce Off'?'Middle Manager Bounce Off' is a little understood phenomenon that appears most frequently in the wake of a management initiative or a consultant driven implementation. One Crazy Cookie In order to survive, you have to be happier than if you were in your right mind. Chinese Fortune Cookie When orienting someone new to the company, the last thing I tell them is to, "have fun. Middle Managers Behaving Badly - How To Stop This Damaging Your Results More and more I hear and read about a looming crisis of leadership at the middle management level and the inevitable resulting increase in, poor performance, accidents and production mistakes and hence declining profits.I'm afraid to say these observations are not just rumours. How to Reduce Temporary Employee Turnover The use of temporary services to stock a farm of employees is beneficial in a number of ways for an employer, and detrimental in others; but the one that will always be heard is that good labor is hard to find when using these services.This is a very real and expensive reality for some, and the blame always falls on the employee. Nonprofit Performance: Outcome Measurement Can Be A Good Thing Does the idea of program evaluation make your stomach churn? If so, you're not alone. Many nonprofit professionals and volunteers view program evaluation with fear. Creativity and Innovation Management - Turning Ideas into Action The phrase "turning ideas into action" is a Russian doll.Managing the ideas to implementation process is important for at least two reasons:a) To make effective use of resources - investing in one idea uses resources that could be applied to another idea. Business Innovation - Ignoring Content Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Choices in Appointing International Managers Globalization is requiring companies to make important choices about how to deploy international managers. The costs of making the wrong choice are heavy both economically and in the emotional and physical toll it can take on employees and the impact it can have on the overseas branch. To Outsource or Not to Outsource In these days of restricted head count and tight budgets, the question of whether to outsource or hire in-house staff is more critical than ever. The technical publications function, however vital, is undergoing more scrutiny and also facing greater challenges than ever before. Forecasting Support Costs Did you know that maintenance accounts for 50% to 80% of the overall product cost? Well, it does! And while most project managers are fairly good at sizing new product features, many are terrible at estimating the effort required to support a product once it becomes generally available. As a result, maintenance projects are inadequately staffed, companies can't respond to customer requests in a timely manner, and products never reach payback. Business Innovation - Tacit Knowledge Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Dont Leave Your Key Stakeholders Guessing Communicate! Don't leave you key stakeholders guessing.We are generally not very good about keeping others informed about the progress we're making, especially if there isn't much. Status Quo Pep Talks That Can Threaten Your Leadership Organizations live and die by results. Yet most organizations get a fraction of the results they are capable of. Why Soft Skills? The industrial age is over. Organizations still stuck in the industrial age business models are going out of business very fast. Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do it and get open and honest feedback on their performance.Any performance management process should answer 4 important questions for your employees:· Direction: What do I need to do and how well? · Feedback: How am I doing? · Rewards: What happens when I do well? · Support/Development: What happens when I need/want help?Lets look more closely at each of these:DirectionEmployees are not mind readers. Employee Motivation: Make Everyone A Cheerleader For Your Company Do you manage by walking around? What do you see? People excited about their job or people just going through the motions? Here are seven ways, that do not cost much if anything, to turn the "it's just a job" employee into one that is powered up and willing to give their best every day.Spend time out in the field. How to Get the Best from Outsourcing There's a great little article ('Business Lifeforms') on the back pages of the UK's leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It's a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation. Phone Sex is Bad for Business On August 3rd/2005, Reuters reported that a German man had colluded with a phone sex operator to defraud his employer's company out of approximately 16,000 Euro or almost 20,000 US dollars, by making 160 phone calls over a year and a half from work. He apparently split the profits 50/50 with the phone sex operator. The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running the day-to-day aspects of your business is the true challenge you will face as an entrepreneur. Do you find that the business you started to suit your lifestyle somehow taken over your life and home? If this sounds familiar, then your business is running you.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |