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Be More Prickly

As you climb the career ladder or add more people (and demands) to your own business, it is inevitable that the decisions you make will carry more weight and will have a greater impact. And because of the sheer volume of decisions you need to make you'll also have less time to consider each one.


Hello Mr Prickly Head

If you get those decisions wrong, the resulting outcomes may set you back.


That means you need to be good at assimilating information - asking the right questions, understanding the data, probing for more input - and then cutting to the chase, making a decision and moving on. That doesn't mean skipping over the surface; it means being able to do a deep-dive and do it fast. It's quite a skill and will take practice.


It's the difference between doing a bit of snorkelling on your holiday and getting serious about free-diving.


In order to be effective you need the input you receive from your team to be succinct, thorough and accurate. What once might have been an hour's happy romp around the development issues, is now a 10 minute summary, decision and go.


And at some point you're going to have to be a bit sharp to an organisation that is still used to chatting things through with a beer in one hand and a falafel in the other.


Along the lines of:


"Look Tim, please don't come and see me with some half-baked, meandering story about what's clearly an important subject. I can't give this the same amount of time I used to. I regret that, but it's the reality of running a business that's growing fast. If you want me to make a decision, I need you to have thought through all the angles, be crystal clear with the facts and decisive about what outcome you need from me. Please come back with a clear picture of the issue you've got, so I can help you. And, in future, make sure your team does the same for you so you get the clarity you need."


No-one likes to be pulled up by the boss. Your prickly behaviour will be transformational. People will be more demanding of each other and that in turn will raise the bar.





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Guest
Jul 14
Rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Love it - you might have got something here.

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