Week 4: Independent Decision Making
Creativity has never been a strong quality of mine. I often shut down in those conversations and hope that another individual leads. My mind is wired to find direction and be goal-oriented. I have been a part of organizations where my leaders did the same – a complete shutdown when creative ideas of discussion occur, but they kill the result. They treat those conversations as the gatekeepers, and if the outcome does not have their understanding, it dies there.
We support independent decision-making – by all employees.
One of the ways I am learning more about this is by experiencing our company’s growth. We have great people on staff and are turning over the reins in some of our essential areas. Not easy. It’s been easy for me to handle everything over the past three years, but I didn’t hire people to answer phones, emails, and fill a desk. I hired individuals to lead and bring cohesiveness to a team. I have a ceiling as a leader, and I can’t lead everyone. We want to be ahead of the growth we are experiencing, and leaders who don’t know how to delegate and trust their employees limit the growth of employees.
We joke about the Omaha audible by Peyton Manning, but Peyton had the green light to make any change at the line of scrimmage he wanted. Peyton was on the field and could see the defense, and his input should be valued equally as the coach with 30+ years of experience wearing the headset. That’s what we want here at GMG.
Here are a few ways we are already putting our employees in a position to be independent decision-makers:
Taking a step back during the hiring process: We are gearing up for 2024 and the growth to come by bringing on four more people before the end of the year. I am not involved in the vetting or interview process. If I trust what I have communicated and trust the employees who have heard it, they will find the correct folks to fill the job.
Delegating your software and systems POCs: A leader's goal should be to know as many positions in their company as possible. However, they shouldn’t be the go-to forever. Delegating an individual to become the subject matter expert for a unique component of your business will spread the knowledge and workload. This is something we are currently working on.
Giving your team leaders direct input into their team’s salary and bonuses: I’ve been told this is taboo. Some would not want employees to know what other employees are paid. Discretion is essential, but giving your team leaders a good chunk of money to decide how it is used for their team’s future pay increases helps build an even stronger team mentality. This isn’t a competition-based decision, but it creates success when the team thrives and is rewarded by the one leading them. The person who signs the checks doesn’t usually know all that has been undertaken to achieve the end goal.
Not every decision deserves a check-in, and not every decision will be a winner. I must accept that if we give employees the ability to make audibles, they aren’t always going to be perfect. In my years of doing this, I have yet to encounter a wrong decision that we haven’t been able to rectify. It might cost dollars and time to fix, but nothing has ended in devastation.
That last one is the most important to me. It is enjoyable to see how much growth employees find in themselves when they are the ones calling the shots. My capacity increases, the employee’s abilities are stretched, and they begin to take ownership. You won’t have a winning culture unless everyone buys into that culture. I think employees have a more challenging time accepting your culture if they can never implement it themselves.