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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Maybe your boss is wrong!

by Rick Baker
On Feb 3, 2011
Or, maybe you are the boss and you are wrong - at least, maybe once in a while you are wrong.
 
So…what happens?
 
Say you are the boss and you are wrong…what happens?
 
It is common for people to overestimate the correctness of their views and decisions – that’s called knowledge overconfidence*.
 
So, likely when you are wrong you do not know it.
 
The alternative is you know you are wrong but press on anyhow…isn’t that unlikely?
 
Summing up the scenario:
  • You are the boss,
  • You are making a mistake,
  • Your people know you are making a mistake, but
  • You don’t know you are making a mistake.
What do you want your people to do:
  • Pretend they don’t know you are making a mistake and say “Yes Boss”?
  • Let you know they think you are making a mistake?
  • Do something else?
It seems to me this is a rather common scenario. People make mistakes. People don’t know they make mistakes. So, it is not a stretch to say bosses make mistakes and don’t know it.
 
The bosses’ mistakes could be trivial and of little impact. Or, maybe, they could be catastrophic.
 
But…what will happen when those mistakes are made?
 
It pays to have a plan to cover this scenario.
 
Here’s a suggestion…
 
Bosses can set guidelines.
 
For example, I use the following guideline for Command Decisions.
 
I call it the 10-3-1 Guideline:
  • For every 10 [command] decisions I make I expect about 3 will be questioned
  • For every 10 [command] decisions I make I expect about 1 to be strongly resisted
For more details… see the Thought Post about Knowledge Overconfidence.

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

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Sales Tweet #144

by Rick Baker
On Feb 3, 2011
Sales Tweet #144 From time to time Ernest Seller takes great pains - and gives them to others.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Ernest does not mean to be a pain in the body parts of his Clients, his Boss, or his coworkers. It just happens. It is fair to say Ernest Seller can be inept. Maybe it would be more accurate to say Ernest gets carried away. On the other hand…if we asked the Boss then the Boss would tell us he wishes Ernest would get carried away.

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Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller

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