4 ways to react

 January 20 – I’ve begun to address the issue of decision making in the new company. I had to address it with the MD – he is after all the root of the problem. I gave him my feedback on initial reactions. He was, I think quite shocked when I said the company was crippled by indecision, by comfortable actions that fail to exploit opportunities to best effect, and my belief that he was a prevaricator.

I stressed there was no point in me being there if I did not say what I think. And that unless there was change then I doubted that my role would be of any benefit. I therefore made clear that right now we had to work with each either in a state of constructive tension whilst working out where we were going.

At which point for the second time this week I used food as the tension breaker – we went out to lunch. I’m always reminded of what someone told me recently – which is that apparently ‘company’ means to share bread in its Latin root (but I’ll have to take their word for it). To put it another way – when you share food with someone it’s that much harder to fall out with them.

I explained to him something I think I have said here before, which is that I think there are only four basic reactions anyone can have to any problem. First you can ignore it. And let’s be honest – that is the right reaction to a great many things we’re presented with. They can be accepted.

Second we can walk away. We quit. We lose the contract. We fire. And so on. Again, a lot of the time this is the right reaction. I know that in my main company we do not respond to a lot of tender requests. We quit before we even start as we think the business is not for us. Again, that’s fine.

Third, we can fight to change things. This is usually the hardest work. But it’s essential sometimes. We need a plan when we’re going to do so though.

Finally, and importantly, we can reframe things. Someone gives you a problem and you then look at it in a different way to see if the issue is the one they really think it is. So for example, in the new company the problem seems to be working capital commitment. Actually it is the wrong product mix sold on the wrong trading terms. The ability to reframe is vital.

All of which is pretty basic stuff. And from the reaction I got this was the first session in decision making he’d ever experienced. It won’t be the last, not least because he seemed to enjoy it. Good marks for effort. I’ll admit the score for achievement is not yet clear.