Snap Judgements

Some of the more egregious errors in judgement I've made were based on a quick, initial impression combined with intuition and past experience.     The interviewees with the great pedigrees and the verbal bedazzlement sometimes  turned out to be average performers.   The people who I thought were "only OK" turned out to be some of the more valuable team members.  The issue that I thought I recognized based on my experiences, was not at all what I thought it was.

Admittedly, there is often pressure in the workplace to make snap decisions.  Often we put pressure on ourselves to make decisions more quickly than is necessary or perhaps wise.

Here, then, are some of the lessons that I have learned.

Interview for attitude and aptitude, don't hire on intuition.  The entire interview process is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is that the participants get a minimal amount of time together before making one of the more important decisions of their professional careers.  When I tried to make a gut judgement on an applicant, often I failed.   When I stepped back and evaluated the candidate from the two perspectives of  attitude and aptitude, I was much more successful.

Evaluate team members over the long-haul, not the short-sighted distance.  As a leader you have the great privilege of being able to work with people for a prolonged period of time (usually an advantage - if not - one of you has got to go).  Take advantage of this perspective and be open to learning the most you can about and from each team member over days, weeks and years.  Avoid making the mistake of quickly forming a concrete opinion about an individual that cannot be changed no matter what information is provided to you.  Be open, instead, to constant evaluation and (hopefully) appreciation of the art and skills each individual brings to the workplace.

Use different lenses to evaluate individuals.  Establish different criteria by which you look at each team member's talents.   Are they creative?   Are they analytical?    Are they organizers?   What positive role do they play on your team/what is their place in the world?  Too often we tend to evaluate team members from a point of narcissism, believing the more they are like us, the better we understand them and the better they are.  Not true.  While there does need to be common ground, often the more diverse team members are, they stronger their contributions to the team can be.

Take time with issues.    Because we are highly efficient individuals, often we can expedite issues quickly by making assumptions and judgements based on our past experiences.  I have learned it is often better to create a little space and time in which you can carefully consider an issue.  Some issues (do you want cream and sugar?) do not require such care, but many do.  Ask co-workers to think through an issue with you, so that you can arrive at the best possible decision.

While often we may perceive we are being judged by our ability to make quick decisions and turn on a dime; ultimately we are judged by our ability to make wise, strong business decisions.   Most of these, whether they regard people or issues, are not snap judgements.

Brent Frerichs is the author of "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders," available on Amazon Kindle for e-readers, tablets, Macs and PCs.