Lumenovis

A few years ago I was having lunch with William (not his real name).  William was a former colleague of mine at a recent startup.  William was one of the hardest chargers I’ve ever worked with; as a key leader in the quality assurance and configuration management departments, he was always available, 24×7, and ran a very tight ship.  He was also a former military special forces warrior and was generally unconcerned about collateral damage as long as the mission was accomplished- in other words, he caused a lot of hard feelings.

William asked me to lunch to catch up and to discuss some challenges he was having in a new position; not surprisingly, his style was creating some friction.  He was perplexed because, for the most part, he was “in the right”.  The new organization needed some serious discipline and procedural house cleaning, and William was doing everything in his power to make the changes as quickly as possible.

William was caught in the classic trap- he was “right”, but he wasn’t being “effective.”  I see this all the time, and I’m guilty more often than I’d like to admit.  When you know you’re right, it is very seductive to take what appears to be the shortest route, which is ofter to simply announce that “this is the way it will be, because I’m right” (or some variation).

But the truth is that being right is not enough if you actually want to make a difference.  Sun Tzu said it well: “In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.”  You can be “right” over and over and never get out of the campaign.  Being effective requires you to expand your definition of “victory.”  Your “great object” (i.e. goal) is to bring about some change, not to achieve a state of moral righteousness.

So how do you go from being “right” to being “effective”.  That’s more art than science, but here’s a few guidelines I try to keep in mind:

-  When possible, take some time socializing the idea.  Change is scary to many people, so allow for some time.  Once a critical mass of the group believes its a good idea, then it’s a done deal.

-  Get buy-in from the leadership (peers or superiors).

-  Create a sense of ownership; make it everyone’s idea, not just yours.

-  Listen.  Let people voice their objections or concerns.  Address them with respect.  Use them to beter the idea.

-  Let others fight the battle.  If you can convince a few “thought leaders” of your idea, let them run with it.  Don’t hesitate to give them credit (or even let them take credit).

-  Stay focussed on the real victory conditions.  It’s easy to get bogged down in tactical conflicts, but if you stay focussed on the end-game, you’ll be in a great position to compromise or even back down in areas that are not critical to getting the idea done.  ”Lose the battle but win the war” is a great tool to have in the toolbox.

-  Be willing to compromise and be patient.  If you can get 50% of your idea implemented without much fuss today vs. 100% with major push-back, I’d take the 50% and then go after the remainder in the next round.

-  Use Guerilla tactics (carefully).  It’s sometimes helpful to throw an idea on the table that is so unpleasant that your original idea looks positively great by comparison.  This works best if someone else floats the idea.

-  Last, but perhaps most important, lead by example.  If you can show personally or within your organization that your idea not only works but gives you and your team a competitive advantage, others will be highly motivated to get on board.