You know that your approach to decision-making—your
decision-making "style," if you will—needs
to change as you progress from associate
to junior partner to (perhaps) practice group
leader to member of the executive committee. But
precisely how should your style change?
Courtesy of Korn/Ferry and Harvard Business
Review, we have some
insights. Yes, they’re from
corporate-land, not law-land, but since
the principles are primarily derived from
human nature and not from the specifics
of the context, we can apply their learning.
The first thing you need to know is that
if your decision-making style does not change,
your career will (or should!) stall. Starting
out, one’s style needs to be prescriptive,
decisive, directive, and command-oriented. Things
need to be done today, if not yesterday,
and incremental consensus-building is not
the way to go. But, as the authors
say:
"We found that decision-making
profiles do a complete flip over the course
of a career: That is, the decision style
of a successful CEO is the opposite of a
successful first-line supervisor’s."
As one rises through the ranks, two simultaneous
evolutionary changes should be occurring in
your approach to decisions.
In the public, outward-facing mode,
you need to become more open, inviting, inquisitive,
and inclusive: "it becomes more about
listening than telling, more about understanding
than directing."
But at the same time, in your private, thinking/analytic
mode, you need to become more decisive—once
the pipeline of information that you’ve hopefully
opened up in public has saturated you with
alternatives, creative choices, and
an array of viewpoints.
Failing to understand, or to navigate, this
transition can cause intense stress. You
need to shift from thinking everything needs
to be resolved more or less on the spot to
inviting dialogue, input, and disagreement. They
describe the shift as it occurred to "Jill:"
"We saw the impact of this transition
in the case of Jill, a second-level manager
for a large petrochemical company. When we
initially met Jill, she was a first-line
supervisor in a power-generation facility
at the company. When we met her again, she
had earned an MBA and was managing a department
that functioned as a liaison between an operating
unit and company headquarters."In a casual
conversation, Jill told us that she was enjoying
the job—now that she had figured things out.
At first, she had found her new responsibilities
confusing and distressing. But one morning
she realized that although she had important
things to do that day, none of them had to
be resolved immediately. She could take some
time, collect information, and seriously
consider her choices. This was in sharp contrast
with her previous job, where every day things
had to be decided and done on the spot. Just
recognizing the difference eased the stress
considerably and opened Jill’s eyes to the
change needed in the way she handled decisions."
Do not view this as "soft," intangible,
or touchy-feely research. Failing to adapt
appropriately has real consequences. Indeed,
according to our authors, the "bottom 20%"
of managers get permanently stuck.
How, then, to assess how you’re doing? I
suggest you ask your colleagues and peers
for an honest, totally candid, opinion. Scary? Then
have courage: The career you save could
be your own.
