Be prepared
It’s critical for a leader to understand in his or her own mind what the ramifications of a decision might be before stepping into a meeting with others.
“I consistently spend time by myself thinking about the business, analyzing the business and developing my own action plan,” Vrabely says. “I never walk into a strategy meeting or even a staff meeting or a conference call with folks running our field locations without my own plan.”
Vrabely recalled the discussions, which took place heading into the 2009 budgeting process, that concerned the possible cutbacks in employee perks and benefits.
“We collectively put together a list of potential cost-cutting activities, pulled the management team together and went through this list one by one quantifying what the savings might be as well as the impact that those cost-saving activities would have on every employee in the organization,” Vrabely says. “As we went through that list, the pushback from certain individuals on the team around certain items became personal.”
He says he does not open the meeting with a deep explanation of his position on these topics because he wants to hear what others think. Sometimes, that feedback gets heated.
“What I don’t want to do is lay out my plan and then ask for feedback,” Vrabely says. “That tends to stifle communication and feedback. Even if you foster a very open environment where you encourage people to challenge your thought process and even if you do not view yourself differently, one of the things I’ve learned from being the CEO compared to the COO is that other people do view you differently.”
Vrabely simply presents a topic for discussion and asks others what they think.
“I solicit input on a very consistent basis and I think throughout most of the organization, employees are pretty comfortable providing me with their feedback and with their thoughts,” Vrabely says. “I always try to be cognizant of taking in their opinions and feedback prior to making any decisions. As a leader, I think it’s critical that you don’t isolate yourself, even in tough times, and think you’re the only person who has all the answers about what needs to be done. You have to be willing to allow people to challenge your thought process.”
Vrabely says he began to realize that the group would be unable to reach a decision regarding the possible cutbacks on its own.
“The buck stops here,” Vrabely says. “I am willing to make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure our survivability. I walked out of that meeting with a very clear understanding that I needed to return to my office and do my job, which was to make the decisions. I think once I made those decisions, the way in which I communicated them not only to my team but to their teams made all the difference in the way people perceived the decisions.”
Vrabely and his executive team met with general managers and told them what was happening. He documented each decision, explained why each decision was being made and what impact it would have on the company’s profitability.
The effort to explain the process showed employees that there was thought given to the moves.
“People get very nervous when they feel decisions are being made in a vacuum and just being announced without any logic or communication or explanation behind the decisions,” Vrabely says.
“It comes back to my fundamental rule that I understand not every decision I make is going to be popular. There are going to be people who are going to disagree with the decisions I make. That is their right. At the end of the day, all I can ask is that they understand the thought process I went through to make the decision. The only way you get that level of understanding is through openness.”
