The Most Excellent Virtues, and Dangerous Vices, of Reacting

I'm a big believer in having a strong business plan that lays out the case for your enterprise, your value proposition to your constituency as well as outlining your systems for how you are going to conduct business.   I am also a big believer in utilizing your business plan as a foundation for how you are going to react to the world around you and the changes it brings.

Reacting to situations is a two-edged sword;  if you don't react to a changing world, or to special circumstances, you run the risk of allowing injury to happen to your business, becoming irrelevant or leaving opportunities for growth untouched.   If not kept in balance with your overall business plan, however, reacting can become over-reacting that sways your venture from one undefined tactic to the next, which in turn leaves your constituents looking for the lost focus of your purpose.

The same is absolutely true in our leadership styles and our interaction with our teams.  We  must be able to react to and interact with our team members, otherwise we are irrelevant as leaders.   This must, however, be guided with our own professional leadership plan.

Many times I have fallen prey to reacting immediately to a team member's request or situation.  I was answering off the cuff and either saying "no" (or, more accurately "hell, no") or "yes, go ahead and do it" without any systemic thought.   Mistakes.  Big mistakes.   My reaction was a short-term answer with no long-term value. So, herewith are a few thoughts on a professional plan that enables you get all of the virtues out of reacting and hopefully none of the vices.

• With few exceptions (those being medical emergenies, natural disasters and personal danger) there is not a request or situation that cannot wait for a few minutes.   There is nothing wrong with a response of "Let me think about it and get back to you in a few minutes/hours" as long as you are prompt in getting back to the individual.   Often requesters want us to grant their wish on the spot; often we, and the team, are better off to invest some time in analysis before reacting.
• Make a promise to yourself that you are going to look at the issue from all sides:   your natural point of view, the boss's opinion, the point of view support services (HR?, IT?) may have as well as the perspective of other team members.
• Take counsel.   Unless it is an issue that is highly confidential, find a peer, team-member or supervisor with whom to discuss the issue.   It is good to hear yourself talking about an issue to someone you trust - you may find yourself. . . telling yourself what to do.
• You may want to revisit the issue with the person who brought it to your attention.  Why do they think it's important?   What do they view as risk factors?  What are the opportunities if addressed positively?
• Ask for more information if that is warranted (don't do it just to delay making a decision - that's not fair).
• Rally the team.   Often, especially if the matter is urgent, the temptation is to act alone.   I have done it that way and failed.    I was successful when I partnered with peers and in collaboration we quickly came up with and executed a solution.

The point is this. . . you can leverage reactionary situations to most everyone's benefit, but only if you have a plan and point of view, for how you, as leader, will react.

Brent Frerichs is the author of "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" available for the Kindle, IPad, Mac and PCs from Amazon Kindle.