Sharpening your skillset

It is often said that the best managers are the ones that act swiftly and never over analyze a situation.

Brian Tracy speaks about a study done on a group of leaders who were given a problem to solve where it came down to two executives who both arrived at the same conclusion which was considered deemed as the correct conclusion.

The two showed off their problem-solving prowess, but only one of them was able to make a decision based on their assessment and to then apply a course of action in a timely manner. That is what what Tracy says separates the top performing leaders from the rest of the pack.

I don’t think that there is anyone who would disagree with Tracy’s point.

However, there are also a couple of other skills/traits that are important to consider in addition to decisive action.

Companies often tell me about the following three areas where they sometimes notice weaknesses within employees. These are areas that all of us probably need to consider.

1. Jumping too quickly on initial conclusions.

We all remember multiple choice exams in university and hearing that our first instinct is usually the correct one.

Well, that mentality is not always correct.

The e

ducation system sometimes trains us to get the right answer quickly without always considering all factors.

Companies still want that sense of urgency but it is also important to remember that every action has a re-action and we don’t live in a game show where partial seconds are extremely precious. It may be beneficial for more employees to sometimes adapt the mentality of an engineer, who are usually very strong at analyzing and contemplating different scenarios and deducing through root cause analysis.

Think about conclusions in terms of probabilities. We all know that the most effective leaders and managers have contingency plans and that they think about best and worst case scenarios.

Less effective leaders don’t have back up plans, but by assigning probabilities or percentages to one's work, this will often force individuals to consider contingency action routes.

For big decisions, it is important to step back and make sure that you are considering all factors or as many as possible when analyzing current conditions. Often, we want to simplify solutions while we hope for the best, but in reality, technology has also created more challenges for us while also bringing us convenience.

We now live in an age where it is not uncommon to see an entire industry disappear overnight.

That was not the case even 20 years ago.

I’m not suggesting to look for something that is not there, but be able to identify patterns and linkages.

You don’t want to be that company that “didn’t see it coming until it was too late.”

Farewell,

Mike

Recruiting BusinessMike KingJune 30, 2017Toronto Headhunter, Recruiter, Headhunters, Recruitment FirmComment