Seek input from key executives
Making a decision without the appropriate information is like shooting at a
target without lining up the gun’s sight.
“You need to make sure that you’ve got
all of the information to help you make
the decision so that you’re not doing
some kind of a hip-shot situation where
you’re pulling the trigger without all of
the information that you need,” Faherty
says.
As the housing slump worsened and
Atrium’s unused capacity was beginning
to stifle incoming revenue, Faherty didn’t shoot wildly. Instead, he gathered up
as much information from as many different sources as possible to home in on
his target — the right decision.
Much of that information came from
national reports and databases that
report on past trends and predictions
within the housing market. While that
certainly was helpful, Faherty says no
information dredge is complete without
tapping into your constituents. But soliciting feedback from your leadership
team can’t be a one-time request.
“That has to be a part of your style, a
part of your culture, a part of the company’s culture,” Faherty says. “You can’t
turn it on and turn it off like a switch.”
To establish that collaborative dialogue, Faherty says to hold regularly
scheduled meetings with your key executives every month.
“You seek to bring them in,” he says.
“You ask their opinion. You don’t give
them a yes or no question. You give them
a question that requires their responding
with more than a yes or no type of
answer.”
Asking open-ended questions is a great
way to elicit feedback from your more
introverted executives. It’s also a great
way to pull multiple opinions on the
table to get the conversation going. As
each idea is being presented, just make
sure to give them proper consideration.
“Don’t bite people’s heads off if they
come up with a stupid idea,” Faherty
says. “That’s the last time they’ll come up
with any kind of an idea.”
When members from your leadership
team contribute to the conversation,
Faherty says they’ll begin to develop a
sense of ownership about the ultimate
decision. They may not like your chosen
course of action, but at least you’ll foster
a certain amount of buy-in.
“Nobody liked doing it, but if we had to
do something, that was the right decision
to make,” Faherty says of the consolidation. “If you get buy-in with all of the people involved, then the execution of it
becomes a whole lot easier. Everybody
wants to execute the strategy because
they’ve played a part in that decision.”
