Taking Action - MAC098

I pull inspiration for my episodes from many places.  The inspiration for this week's episode came from the June 19th episode of the Help Wanted podcast with Jason Feifer and Nicole Lapin (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-find-solutions-when-there-are-no-good-options/id1456031960?i=1000713535785).  In that episode, Jason outlines a specific problem solving technique, but it reminded me of a critical fact when it comes to your career.  I'll get into Jason's technique later, but first, I want to take a step back and talk about the importance of taking action.

 

If you think about your job in the simplest of terms, your JOB is to take responsibility of SOMETHING so that your leader doesn't have to think about it.  That may be small responsibilities early in your career or larger responsibilities as you gain experience and seniority.  Even your boss is expected to take responsibility of something so that THEIR boss doesn't have to think about it.  As much as possible, there is an expectation that you continue to move those responsibilities forward with very little input from anyone else.  If everyone does their part, the organization will continue to make progress on it's goals.

 

This is why it's important that you continue to take action, even when faced with a problem with no obvious solution.  In Episode 084 (https://www.managingacareer.com/84), I talked about the phrase "Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions".  This episode is sort of a continuation of that.

 

In Episode 084, I talked about the three reasons you might engage your leader in your responsibilities.  You need their authority, their permission, or their insight.  Because they have their own responsibilities, leaders are looking to minimize how much of their time you consume.  If, every time you face a difficult decision, you escalate to your leader, they will begin to question why they delegate tasks to you since you aren't showing ownership of the problem.

 

"But," you may think, "I want to make sure that I make the RIGHT decision."  But that desire to be right may lead to decision paralysis.  Over-research, waiting for others, or meetings to discuss the options AGAIN.  All of these factors are just putting off progress.  Sometimes, there IS no right solution.

 

This is where the technique that Jason mentioned in the episode of the Help Wanted podcast (https://www.jasonfeifer.com/podcast/) is useful.  When you have imperfect choices, it's often better to pick one to move forward and deal with the imperfections than it is to stall out your project.  By taking action, you showcase your ability to make tough decisions and allow your leader to continue to focus on bigger things.

 

Jason calls this strategy "List before you Leap".  Or you can consider it to be the "Least Flawed Option".  Start by listing every option that you've considered; even the ones that you have already dismissed.  When you consider each solution one by one, it's easy to say "no" because you can identify the flaws.  However, when you have the list of options, focus on determining to which solution you will say "yes".  By flipping from a "no" mindset to a "yes" mindset, you're preparing yourself to move forward.

 

With the list of options before you, it's often easy to eliminate most of them when compared to the few stronger candidates.  This is where applying the approach that Jeff Bezos uses for making decisions.  Some options may lead to 2-way doors and others may lead to 1-way doors (https://blueprints.guide/posts/one-way-vs-two-way-doors).  Consider how reversible a decision will be.  If you can easily undo a decision, that represents a 2-way door because once entered, you can always exit.  But, if a decision is irreversible, that decision is a 1-way door and you must take extra cautions when making that choice.  After you have narrowed your selection of imperfect solutions down, if you are struggling to decide, it is better to select a 2-way door solution instead of a 1-way door solution.  As you encounter the flaws, if they cannot be overcome, it may be useful to reverse track and choose the other option.

 

When you've made a decision on which imperfect option to choose, the next step is to present it to your leader.  As mentioned earlier, when you escalate to your leader, it's for authority, permission or insight.  It requires a lot less of their time when you ask for permission to proceed than if you ask for their insight.  You've indicated what was considered in making the decision, so you've provided the insight; you're just asking for permission to proceed.

 

 

In the Managing A Career podcast, I cover short-form topics to challenge your thinking about career advancement.  If you are interested in professional coaching, reach out to me via the contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website (https://managingacareer.com/contact).  I will schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your coaching goals.  If we're a good fit, we can set up regular coaching or I can refer you to other coaches I know that may suit your needs.