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The FASD Method: Improved Decision-Making at Work

Adults make over 35,000 decisions each day. Many of the choices you make are automatic and proceed without much conscious consideration, such as getting out of bed or the route you take to the office. Other decisions carry more weight and require additional time and thought before making a judgment. But what about making decisions at work? Do you have a decision-making method to determine the right course of action?

Most of us have never been formally coached on how to make important decisions. If you’ve had difficulty making decisions at work, or if the calls you’ve been making are resulting in undesired outcomes, there might be something wrong. Not necessarily with the decisions themselves, but with how you are making them.

What if you took a more methodical approach to decision-making? Decision-making methods do exist. In fact, the military wouldn’t be able to function without a system for making rational decisions we call the FASD method. Could implementing a similar decision-making method at work help you develop and hone your decision-making skills?

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What Is the FASD Decision-Making Method?

The FASD approach is a military decision-making method that provides a framework for making informed decisions. This method guides choice-making with a systematic approach. To use this method for making decisions at work, you first determine the possible courses of action. Next, measure each of the options against the four FASD principles:

  1. Feasibility

  2. Acceptability

  3. Sustainability

  4. Discernibility

Both the Australian and American military use a variation of these terms in their decision-making methods. Let’s cover each one.

Feasible

Is the course of action feasible? Meaning can it be done within any restrictions you may have, including physical limitations, access to resources, and so on? Consider the amount of time required, the location, and the manpower needed.

For a simple example, let’s say your company’s fax machine has broken, and you are trying to choose whether to repair it or replace it. Is one option more financially feasible than the other? Do you have the staffing capacity to spend time comparing and testing new models? What about physical space–would a new machine take up more room, and can dedicate the square footage to this piece of equipment?

If it passes the feasibility test, you can move on to the next parameter.

Acceptable

Take the time to do a risk assessment. If a given option plays out as you expect it to, what are the consequences? Define the risks and determine if they are more detrimental than doing nothing. Balance the cost of this choice, which includes the risk involved in relation to the potential gain.

Continuing with the broken fax machine example, are the consequences of replacing vs. repairing the fax machine acceptable? If you replace it, the cost will be more significant, but repairing it may only buy time until another breakdown. Which option is more acceptable to you?

Sustainable (or Suitable)

In other words, are you capable of following through with this decision and maintaining the outcome on a long-term basis? Also, take a look at suitability — does the end result effectively resolve the problem you set out to solve with this decision-making method?

Referring back to our example, will the company be able to absorb the cost of replacing the fax machine, or will it do irreparable harm to the budget? Or, if you repair it, how long will it last until it breaks down again, thus incurring another cost?

Discernible

Lastly, look at whether each course of action is discernible. If the options you have identified at the beginning are not significantly different from each other, then you aren’t really making a decision — or rather, you’ve already made the decision, and who knows if it was the right one? If this is the case, return to the beginning of the process and redefine your potential courses of action, making sure each one solves the initial problem through a distinct and differing result.

In this case, our example problem of replacing vs. repairing broken equipment might have the same outcome if all other factors, such as cost and downtime, are the same. If that’s the situation, you should consider what problem you are really trying to solve. Is your end goal to send faxes? Or is it simply that you need a secure way of sending documents to clients? Are there other ways of accomplishing that goal other than a fax machine? Can you pivot to electronic signatures via an online platform or email? Or would you benefit from in-person meetings to go over these documents? Now, instead of tying yourself to a “choice” where you ultimately up in the same place no matter which option you choose (still using a fax machine), you have three truly unique options to choose from (fax machine, electronic sending, or in-person meetings).

From there, you can take the options that have passed the FASD criteria and conduct a course of action analysis to make a better and more informed decision at work.

Why the FASD Method Is Better Than Most Decision-Making Methods

The FASD decision-making method gives decision-makers the steps to complete a thorough assessment and review before making critical calls. This approach to decision-making is better than most others for various reasons. To understand this, let’s take a quick look at some other common ways decisions are made.

Common Alternatives to the FASD Decision-Making Method

Some of the common decision-making methods used to make decisions at work today include:

  • Commanding: Making decisions on your own without outside input

  • Consulting: Considering input from a small group of peers to make a decision

  • Voting: A group consensus where the majority rules

Each of the above methods fails to include one crucial step that the FASD masters: setting up the game properly. To make truly informed decisions as a leader in business, you first need to develop feasible options to compare. Each option has to be able to stand on its own merit and be entirely different (not just a slight deviation from the same plan).

The FASD method ensures that you’re choosing from the right set of choices. Assessing each course of action against the four principles above provides clarity in two ways. First, it acts as screening criteria to ensure each option is thoroughly considered. This prevents proceeding with a decision that fails to meet one of the FASD principles. Second, it enhances problem-solving abilities by requiring a thorough understanding of the situation before making any rash decisions to solve the problem.

When you adopt the FASD decision-making method, you can find your true power as a leader by adopting a military-like approach to your business. Doing a thorough review of your options before you choose one removes subjectivity and impulsive conclusions from your process, thereby earning you more respect from your team.

Take Your Decision-Making Method to the Next Level

Learning the right methods for how to make decisions at work can be a daunting task. If you feel this way, you are not alone. Luckily, there is help. At The Eighth Mile Consulting, our goal is to work with good people looking to improve themselves as employers and leaders.

If you’re looking for lessons that will take your leadership to the next level, take a look at our 8-week online leadership course to see if it might help you make better decisions at work and become a better leader for your team.

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Character vs. Professional Reputation: What Matters More To A Leader?

Some time ago, I posted this on LinkedIn, on the topic of leadership.

Word on black background: Your reputation is your real business card

In response, I got many references to a popular John Wooden quote challenging that claim:

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

I admit fully that John Wooden is a smarter guy than me, and this quote does raise an important distinction and connection. In essence, Wooden is saying that by consistently adhering to strong personal values (in other words, having a good character), a good professional reputation will follow. I don’t disagree with this equation. But when it comes to being a leader, which one is really more important?

What Does It Mean to Be a Leader?

Before we can start to answer that question, we need to understand what a leader really is.

Forbes defines leadership in the following way:

“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”

In other words, leadership stems not from authority or power, but from having the ability to guide and rally others. A leader leads people, regardless of whether they are “direct reports.” True leadership, it seems, speaks more to the service of others instead of a reliance on formal structures and authorities.

If we agree that a leader influences others, regardless of their formal role, then surely a leader’s professional reputation is an incredibly important indicator of how they are doing. You might even say that one’s reputation is a social litmus test. 

  • Does this leader communicate effectively? 
  • Are they able to align people around a shared intent? 
  • Are they clear on their expectations and reasoning? 
  • Are they ready to face adversity or problems?

What Influences Influence the Most?

I am fortunate to have worked alongside some of the most amazing and influential leaders in the world, all of whom have had excellent professional reputations. Even when they had to make unpopular decisions, the respect people had for them never wavered. Because they were consistent and authentic, their followers trusted them no matter what. Leaders like that are an incredibly valuable resource, particularly in complex environments characterized by uncertainty and confusion. Even if all they do is make tough calls, they still manage to leave nothing but positivity in their wake.

It is important to know that it was other people who took the leader’s message to different forums. These people are known as “evangelists.” They go out of their way to tout the leader’s message and character, simply because they believe in it that much. The power of good character and social influence can spawn these ultra-loyal followers whose support can bolster the leader’s professional reputation. 

A Good Leader, Objectively Speaking

On the flip side, we have those who develop professional reputations that are not aligned with their intent or values.

Say an individual joined an organization with one approach in mind, only to find that the organization’s culture or goals are completely at odds with that mindset. Because of this disconnect, the individual may develop a poor reputation that is not a true depiction of their character. Viewing the situation subjectively, without fully understanding the context, they may very well look like a “bad” leader.

If we look at the situation objectively, we see that both sides–the leader and the organization–played a part in lowering this person’s social influence and professional reputation. However, the leader must be the one to decide where to go from here. If they are truly of good character, they should be able to apply what they learned from this misstep and identify a better position for themselves in the future. If they do that successfully, they will repair their professional reputation in no time.

The Matter of Legacy

Like many of us, one of my personal life goals is to leave a positive legacy as a “good person.” That legacy will be measured not in dollars and cents, but in the number of people that surround my deathbed, watching over me with love and support. It is in the positive message I hope to leave behind.

A person’s legacy is a form of reputation. It is what remains alive when we have left. So, while a good character may be the font from which a good reputation springs, reputation is what lingers long after we are gone.

In Conclusion

It is my firm belief that the best leaders commit themselves to the pursuit of truth in every respect. That includes the truth about themselves, their performance, their teams, and their impacts.

As leaders, we cannot be so quick to discount the importance of one’s professional reputation. It tells you how your message impacts others and where you need to improve as a leader.

At Eighth Mile Consulting, we aim to help those interested in genuine self-improvement grow into better leaders. We offer individualized coaching as well as an online leadership course that informs on everything from motivating team members to improving your decision-making.

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Preparing for War: Resource Management in the Modern Marketplace

During my time with the Australian Army, I learned a lot about strategy and tactics with regard to resource management. 

History has shown that the outcome of almost every major military effort comes down to differences in strategic approach. Essentially, one approach works, and one fails. After I left the service and became a management consultant, I found this to be relatively similar in the corporate world. While organizations can co-exist in the same industry, their actions still affect one another, especially if they are locked in a contest for market share. In that contest, as in military action, one strategy will succeed, and one will not. Yet even with that knowledge, many company leaders refuse to change their strategy, often to their own detriment. 

Conversely, those organizations that are willing to entertain new approaches often end up leaving their competitors in the dust. Regardless of size or industry, companies that seem to glide toward their goals are able to answer one fundamental question:

How do we best allocate our resources to achieve our goals? 

When it comes to resource management, you can apply many different military methodologies to a corporate and commercial context.

Attrition Resource Management

Attrition warfare involves wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse. The World Wars were prime examples. During these campaigns, one side would bring as much force to bear on the enemy as possible until they fell apart. 

Attrition warfare unequivocally favors the more significant force and requires less imagination and agility than other strategies. The resource cost is immense, but if conducted in the right context, it can result in decisive victories where the enemy is incapacitated in one fell swoop. However, if a decisive victory is not achieved, wars of attrition can drag on for years as each side becomes more entrenched and, therefore, more difficult to dislodge.

In the corporate context, examples of attrition warfare tactics as they related to resource management might include:

  • Paying for premium ad space that may be unreachable for competitors (such as a Super Bowl commercial)
  • Sponsoring major industry events
  • Taking legal actions against competitors (such as copyright or trademark infringement lawsuits)
  • Poaching high-end staff with the promise of better pay and benefits

Attrition as a practical commercial strategy is only practical for those with a large number of resources on hand. Corporations that already control a massive share of the market will do the best with attrition resource management as there is no practical way for smaller organizations to compete with them. 

Maneuver Resource Management

Maneuver warfare is a strategy aimed at unbalancing or unhinging the enemy. It identifies the root purpose of the enemy campaign (such as taking control of a certain landmark) and finds different ways to do the same thing. Essentially, it targets an enemy’s “center of gravity,” or the ineffable “something” that gives them the will or the ability to fight.

Throughout the course of history, militaries have used maneuver warfare through the following avenues:

  • Physical Dislocation: Removing the key assets or logistics that enable the enemy to operate.
  • Temporal Dislocation: Moving faster when achieving important terrain, milestones, or assets.
  • Moral Dislocation: Attacking the enemy’s will to fight. This often includes a significant effort to get into the minds of the key decision-makers and shape their decisions.

These methods can run simultaneously, and all of them emphasize the elements of surprise and speed.

For resource management, maneuver warfare shines brightest in organizations that are adept in prioritization and channeling their efforts towards the outcomes that will have maximum impact for minimum input. These organizations know their strengths and weaknesses inside and out and magnify their results exponentially by focusing their precious resources on two or three outcomes instead of a dozen. 

Maneuver warfare for resource management not only allows medium-sized organizations to start capturing market share from bigger competitors, but it also ensures a more tailored market share.

Guerrilla Resource Management

The concept of guerrilla-style tactics was heavily publicized by Sun Tzu, who suggested in The Art of War that a small force could win against a much larger competitor if it made use of every available resource with the utmost haste. 

Guerrilla warfare is based on the idea that smaller teams can create significant issues for their enemies providing they stay under the detection threshold. They almost always have few to no resources, and therefore rely heavily on unorthodox methods (such as ambushes, raids, or sabotage) and a loyal support network. 

In the corporate or commercial context, smaller, more agile organizations can achieve proportionately huge impacts if they are agile, dynamic, and able to rally passionate support for their cause. It also means that smaller boutique agencies can provide highly tailored services to those with simpler, more focused needs.

In many ways, this approach to resource management has been one of the founding successes of The Eighth Mile Consulting. We endeavor to support areas of the market that remain undetected by the larger players in the industry. With support from partner organizations, we can seize opportunities quickly, provide valuable services, and maintain our support network.

In Conclusion

This might seem counter-intuitive given what’s been discussed thus far, but these resource management strategies do not have to be adopted in an overtly aggressive manner. They may be more useful at guiding your team’s operations than they are at destroying your competitors. 

In addition to a competitive edge, consider what a resource management strategy can help you achieve:

  • Prioritizing your efforts toward specific outcomes
  • Focusing the scope of operations on what will be the most impactful
  • Highlighting strengths and weaknesses
  • Identifying paths of least resistance in the marketplace and promoting early action
  • Incentivizing creating thinking instead of reinventing the wheel

As you can see, the real enemy is not your competitors, but the conditions in which you operate. Through proper and appropriate resource management, you arm yourself with the weapons you need to reinvent, endure, and ultimately succeed.

At The Eighth Mile, our organizational values and ethos are clear:

  • Service: Client-tailored training
  • Initiative: Find the needs and fill them
  • Integrity: Deliver on every promise
  • Accountability: Personal investment in every outcome

Manage and lead your team to victory through our 8-week online leadership courses or private consulting for unique business strategies. Get in touch with our team to discuss your company’s needs.

Additional Resources

The Principles of War – A Corporate Translation

We Do Not Retreat

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What is Online Leadership Training?

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

It takes a trailblazer to go where no path exists. It takes a leader.

In every business, it’s leaders who provide direction. Your business couldn’t reach its goals without this.

But great leaders aren’t necessarily born — they’re made. Leadership is one of those qualities that people can learn.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) recent report on working millennials, 29% of those surveyed accepted their most recent position for its personal development opportunities and advancement potential. Only 14% chose their position for the benefits package.

The bottom line? Millennials are poised to make up 75% of the workforce in just a few years. These workers want to see training opportunities offered, and employers who don’t meet this desire risk losing current (and attracting future) talent.

The question is: do you opt for traditional classroom-based or online leadership training? And how do you know if online leadership training is right for you or your organization?

Classroom-based learning has its place, but online leadership training offers multiple benefits over the classroom — for employees and employers.

Benefits of Online Leadership Training

Whether you want to help employees jumpstart a soaring career trajectory, succeed in a current role, or prepare for a future role, knowing the benefits of this kind of training can help point you to the right type of program.

At Eighth Mile Consulting, we pride ourselves on helping organizations grow by improving their people and processes. Our consulting services can help your organization handle change, build resilience, and develop the strategies that cultivate leadership.

The right online leadership training program can provide many opportunities for improvement.

Assess your Leadership Effectiveness 

To improve upon anything, you need to know where your skills stand currently.

  • What are some of your weaknesses?
  • How can you strengthen those areas?
  • Where do your strengths lie?
  • How can you pull from your current skillset to improve your leadership qualities?

Becoming familiar with these answers generates awareness. It offers insights that identify improvement strategies and personal leadership styles. You and your employees can reference, pull from and build upon these skills over the course of a career.

Learn and Practice Vital Leadership Skills

Effective leaders know how to:

  • Define direction
  • Create teams
  • Coach coworkers
  • Give constructive criticism
  • Offer meaningful advice and feedback
  • Generate interpersonal relationships built on trust

The mark of a genuine leader lies in their influence on (and empowerment of) coworkers, subordinates, and bosses. Great leaders can tackle stressful situations and identify whether delegation is necessary or if it would be better to handle the task on their own.

Receive Honest Advice From More Experienced Leaders

This is the greatest benefit of online leadership training: the exposure to others in leadership positions. Leaders in all career stages have experiences they can share, and learning from others is one of the best ways to grow. Freely debating and exchanging ideas is something that can prove invaluable compared to trying to learn how to lead all by yourself.

Who Benefits Most From Online Leadership Training?

You may think the only candidates worthy of leadership training are those who already hold some type of leadership position. Actually, a wide range of positions and career stages can find value.

Let’s take a look at four types of professionals who typically see the most benefit from online leadership training.

Entry-Level to Mid-Career Employees 

These professionals might be experts in their field or company. If this person wants to eventually take on a leadership position but isn’t sure of the path to get there, leadership training is the map. Proactive development of the skills a leader needs primes these employees for lift-off when the right position opens.

Employees New to Leadership Roles

Most larger companies have an established hierarchy that determines those next in line for promotions to leadership roles. For example, specific education and relevant experience may be required for consideration.

On the other hand, smaller and more agile companies might not have such a formal hierarchy. This is ideal for employees who desire a leadership role but don’t have any experience yet. Employees suddenly thrust into leadership positions can especially benefit from leadership training to get acclimated to their new responsibilities.

New Entrepreneurs

A lot of small businesses begin as single self-employed individuals. There are no other employees to schedule, manage or otherwise consider.

The moment this entrepreneur’s business grows, hiring that first employee can change the game entirely. The entrepreneur isn’t just responsible for themselves anymore. Many people can attest that solopreneurial success doesn’t always translate to entrepreneurial success.

Honing leadership skills is a must for people whose desires lie in the entrepreneurial territory. It helps them learn the skills needed to hire and manage a high-performance team.

Entire Companies

Depending on the business or industry, some companies look outside to hire for open leadership roles. But there are several benefits of promoting someone already familiar with how the business works, such as:

  • Reduced costs. There’s no expense to recruit, screen, or interview candidates.
  • Faster acclimation. Since the employee already knows a lot about the company, there’s much less time spent on training.

Offering access to online leadership training can help the newly promoted individual learn more about management and build the skills necessary for success in their new role.

What Problems Can Online Leadership Training Solve?

Online leadership training, compared to traditional classroom-based training, can ease the strain on employees in several respects, such as:

  • Employees with children don’t need to seek childcare.
  • Employees whose families share one vehicle don’t need to coordinate transportation.
  • Employees can still address other responsibilities outside of work.

Unfortunately, some companies cast aside these benefits in exchange for perceived cost savings because the C-suite mistakenly believes that investing in online leadership training is cost-prohibitive. Did you know: After changing company policy and implementing online leadership training, IBM saved almost $200 million?

Partner with The Eighth Mile

At The Eighth Mile, our mission is to work with good people who are ready to improve their leadership and management skills through critical evaluation and absolute honesty. If that sounds like a challenge you are ready for, we’d love to hear from you. Our consulting and educational programs can help you design your ideal team through our 8-week online leadership course with regular virtual workshops and even one-on-one coaching sessions included with the modules. If you want to learn how to better handle changes in your organization, build greater resilience within your staff, and develop the strategies that cultivate strong leaders, connect with us to learn more.

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The Blame Mindset: A Convenient Way to Fail as a Leader

When I was a teenager I had an answer for everything. On one occasion I was engaged in a semi-heated discussion with my parents, who were challenging me on my lack of commitment to my schooling. I had developed a number of unresourceful habits and had become lazy with some of my subjects. Simply put, I was failing.

My parents, of course, wanted me to be able to capitalize on opportunities afforded by my capabilities. I wanted to take the path of least resistance. They would ask a question and I would provide an excuse. They would ask another question and I would repeat the process. For me, a quick-witted teenager (or so I thought), it seemed all too easy to redirect their questions toward others.

Then, after a number of these exchanges, my Dad finally said, “how convenient when it is always someone else’s fault.”

That stopped me in my tracks. He had hit the bullseye, and there was no way I could respond save one–to take responsibility for my actions. 

I know now that my parents had my best interests at heart. Not only that, but they chose to engage in an uncomfortable conversation to ensure that I didn’t head toward a path of unnecessary turmoil.

Today, I work with people and organizations all around the world. Many of those who reach out to us have exhausted their current resources and are open to new ideas or alternatives. I routinely engage in uncomfortable conversations with people about their career progression and leadership understanding to determine if they are interested in real change or simply going through the motions. Inevitably, I think back to that exchange with my parents, and I ask myself: Is this person willing to take responsibility for their own circumstances, or not?

In short, do they have a blame mindset?

The Blame Mindset: What Is It and How To Spot It

There are two factors you must take into account when determining if you are dealing with someone who has a blame mindset: context and personality.

Context

In this case, context means the situation in which the person looking for help is operating. 

It is important not to confuse “context” with “excuses.” While excuses are geared towards blaming someone/something else, context explains how and why the individual arrived at the decision to try and find assistance.

Personality

When evaluating the personality of the individual, the language they use when describing their problem is key in determining whether they are harboring a blame mindset. For example:

  •       “I couldn’t do anything because they were a bunch of jerks”
  •       “They made me do ______”
  •       “They did _____ to me”

Now, some people have experienced some genuinely unfair, unreasonable, and inequitable things, in which case the above sentiments may be warranted and a blame mindset is unlikely. The distinction lies in the way they frame situations. For example, Person A might frame their situation by saying:

“I have found myself in a situation that I know is not working for me. I am experiencing tough times in my family life, my job, and my health. I am keen to see where the opportunities exist in order to change what I can in order to head towards a better trajectory.”

This is a world apart from Person B:

“I just got fired from my job because they couldn’t handle the information I was telling them. I don’t think they could deal with the fact that I knew what was going on and they didn’t. My partner is being a real jerk about it too and they are just siding with the business. Everyone else doesn’t just get me and the fact that I know what I am talking about threatens them.”

Conversations like these are part and parcel of the operating environment for someone in my profession. Sometimes, the indicators of a blame mindset are more subtle. Sometimes, it’s very obvious. But sooner or later, through asking the right open-ended questions, the true personality emerges. This, combined with the context of the situation, will determine if coaching is a viable option or if a blame mindset has already set in.

“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”

-George W Carver-

Accountability: The Blame Mindset Antidote

One of my mentors once explained to me:

You cannot change someone’s mind. All you can do is provide additional information that might lead them to a different conclusion.

It’s good advice, but over the years I’ve realized it’s incomplete. It’s not only the information you provide, but how you provide it, that helps lead people in the right direction. At the end of the day, however, the buck still stops with the individual.

Someone who has a deeply ingrained blame mindset is virtually impossible to help. Anything that goes well is attributed to them and their selfless brilliance. Anything that goes poorly was the fault of others, the environment, a change in circumstance, and so on. Sadly, but not surprisingly, these people find themselves subtly ostracized as their cohorts move away from their draining, self-centered energy. 

When I see that a person has adopted a blame mindset, I have a choice to make. I can accept this person’s money and attempt to guide them to a different conclusion. Or I can call out the issue by saying something like, “Has it ever occurred to you that, in all these stories of other people’s failings, the single point of consistency is you?”

When you ask a question like this, people will do one of two things: attack or consider. 

Getting defensive is often a symptom of a deeply ingrained blame mindset. Therefore, those that attack are rarely good candidates for coaching.

For those that consider the information, there may still be hope for them to adopt an accountability mindset. Not to be confused with a guilt mindset (where “everything” is your fault) or victim blaming (which is simply another iteration of the blame mindset), the accountability mindset prompts you to take ownership of the role you play in your current circumstances. It also encourages you to accept the likelihood that, to effect the change you are looking for, you will have to change yourself to some degree as well.

People who adopt an accountability mindset often make the most significant and influential leaders by building cultures centered around personal responsibility. It is in these environments that nurture new ideas and drive progress. But no one can build a flourishing ecosystem when everything that goes wrong is always “someone else’s fault.”

Conclusion

Adopting a blame mindset almost always ends in failure. People have limited patience for those with no interest in acknowledging their transgressions, and will not trust such leaders as a result. Without accountability, their employees will leave in droves.

It is also important not to confuse people with the blame mindset with those who have endured true hardships and whose grievances are justified. However, even when this is the case, the best way for these individuals to re-empower themselves is to take ownership of identifying and preventing future bad scenarios, both for themselves and others.

This empowerment can begin by being about who you spend your time with. If you hang around people who shirk blame and adopt a victim mentality, it won’t be long until you begin adopting the same behaviors and thoughts.

Personally, I make no apologies about filtering who I do and do not let into my professional and personal spheres. If someone can’t learn from their mistakes because they feel they have never made any, then we are at a crossroads. One which will send us on different paths.

For leaders looking to empower their people, the answer is simple: give them choices to own. No one should feel that everything is always happening to them. Illustrate how powerful they are and show them how much they have learned through their previous experiences, especially if those experiences were particularly arduous or unfair. Only then do we see people move forward in the world, protected by a suit of armor forged in accountability.

And that goes double for leaders. Wear your failures and lessons learned as a badge of pride. Let it strengthen your reputation and character. And when you make a mistake, own it. It is your opportunity to improve. Yours, and no one else’s.

Interested in learning more about how to prevent the blame mindset? Contact us for information on individual coaching, leadership training, and more.

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Boundaries – ‘Rules Of The Game’ 

There is a common misconception that boundaries are only used by manipulators as a mechanism of coercive control.  In reality, they are the tool by which we protect our interpersonal relationships, teams, and projects. 

I have heard many definitions of culture over the years.  The most pragmatic definition I have stumbled across is,  

Our culture is comprised of the behaviours we reward and punish. 

 – Gustavo Razetti. 

If you want to understand why people commit to seemingly unusual individual or collective behaviors – chase the reward system.  If that fails to provide a rationale – chase their fears.  In order to navigate this challenging task, we need a framework to anchor from.  

This is where boundaries become highly relevant.  They provide a framework by which people can divine ‘the rules of the game.’ 

 

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FEAR & UNCERTAINTY 

Ask anyone to play a competitive game and they will become anxious when the rules of the game have not been adequately explained prior.  It is not uncommon to promote a fear response due to situational uncertainty.  

This fear response triggers one’s “fight, flight or freeze” response, causing an involuntary physiological response called the ‘Amygdala Hijack‘.  The response reprioritizes the brain’s allocation of cognitive resources.  It does this by redirecting precious cognitive processing power (usually utilized for creativity, complex problem solving, and prioritization) and replacing it with decisive sub-conscious-led action.  

Simply put, when people experience uncertainty, it promotes stress.  As leaders, we must be acutely aware of this physiological response.  

But what is a reasonable remedy for uncertainty?  The answer: Structure 

Where we cannot predict the future, we can build systems to combat it.  Where we cannot mould our environment, we can develop an approach to navigate it.  

Boundaries, acting as ‘the rules of the game’, provide some semblance of certainty inside changing or tumultuous environments/situations.  In this way, they re-unlock people’s creativity and autonomy.  

In discussing boundaries, we will cover three different aspects: 

  • Personal Boundaries 
  • Team Boundaries 
  • Project Boundaries  

 PERSONAL BOUNDARIES 

One of the most common terms cited during divorce cases is ‘resentment.’  

Resentment forms when people feel: 

  • Their expectations are not being met 
  • Important discussions are not being had (this can link to a lack of assertiveness) 
  • Regretful about past actions 

An uncomfortable question that follows such breakdowns is, ‘did you explicitly communicate your boundaries to your partner?’ 

A commonly repeated response, ‘it was obvious, they should have known…’ 

If life has taught me anything at all, it is: ‘nothing is obvious.’

Relationship Survivability

John Gottman (one of the world’s premiere relationship psychologists) developed numerous mechanisms for determining predictions for relationship survivability.  One of the most effective means was measuring positive vs negative interactions (averaged out over time).  

Not surprisingly, too much negativity resulted in marriage breakdown (Ratio of 1:1, Negative: Positive).  People have a natural negative bias which prompts them to remember the negative before identifying the positive.  A 1:1 ratio, despite being balanced on the surface, was not good enough to save relationships, ultimately leading to a ‘fail’ prediction with around 90% accuracy.  

As we might expect, sliding down the scale (more positive vs negative), we see increased survivability rates, with the optimal number landing on 5:1 (Positive: Negative). 

But what is not commonly represented in discussions of Gottman’s work is what happens next… 

If we slide further down the scale (Positive: Negative), the survivability likelihood begins to decrease.  

“Not only does excessive negativity (a ratio under 5:1) threaten to undermine the marriage, excessive positivity does too.  The disintegration of the relationship also begins to occur when the positive to negative remark ratio exceeds 11:1.” (Loer, 2008) 

Why, you may ask?  Because after a point, the avoidance becomes just as damaging.  Nothing gets fixed.  Personal boundaries are getting trodden on as daily occurrences, and the novelty wears off.  

Ultimately, being too critical is signing the same failed contract as being avoidant.  

This means we need to be able to communicate our boundaries and expectations so that others might abide by the mutually agreed rules of the game.  This is, of course, working on the assumption that we genuinely want the relationship to survive. 

 

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TEAM BOUNDARIES  

Successful teams are glued together by their culture.  

Our ‘culture is comprised of the behaviours we reward and punish. But how do we know what to reward or punish if we haven’t articulated the rules?  It is impossible to do consistently.  

 

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

– Peter Druker 

Setting Boundaries – Within the Military 

There is a common romantic misconception about the military.  That there were no personal or team boundaries, and we all just lived in some utopian shared community with shared possessions and time.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  

In practical terms, it manifested in rules such as: 

  • Do not rummage through other people’s equipment when they are not there
  • Do not comment about people’s families, finance, or religion unless they have invited you to do so 
  • Do not volunteer people’s personal time without talking to them first 

The rules were protected by the other members of the team and it scaled across multiple teams as well.  For example, when a new mission was being formulated, and multiple organizations were being crammed into the same place, it became the mission of leaders to convene and coordinate the boundaries that would ensure mutual coexistence.  New rules were set and enforced and were contextually specific to each scenario. 

The more complex things got and the fewer personal freedoms we had, the more the boundaries became relevant.  The importance of boundaries grew proportionately with the increased value of personal freedoms.  

The same applies outside of the military in corporate or commercial settings.  

People’s individual boundaries are nested within a team setting.  What one person does affects people around them.  No rules result in chaos.  

As leaders, this is a unique opportunity to lean in and demonstrate our value.  We can assist in the development of practical means of coexisting.  But to do so, require forethought and communication. Boundaries must be explored and defined.  

PROJECT BOUNDARIES 

Project management is an interesting beast both from a planning and implementation perspective.  How do we ensure the best outcome while giving our people the best opportunities for growth and development?   

When people set boundaries with you, it’s their attempt to continue a relationship with you.  It’s not an attempt to hurt you.

– Elizabeth Earnshaw 

The temptation exists to bury our people and teams in endless tasks while conveniently removing their ability to make decisions at the lowest level.  The ‘do anything to ensure project success’ narrative is convenient, seductive, persuasive, and even manipulative.  Leaders and managers run the risk of micromanagement. 

It does not provide the required boundaries to achieve project success adequately.  Or where it does manage a successful outcome, it lacks the resolution to achieve higher levels of performance by integrating a ‘boundaries instead of tasks’ methodology whereby we consider guiding borders in: 

  • Physical – Where to/not to operate 
  • Temporal (Time) – Deadlines
  • Logistical – Resources available/not available 
  • Legal – Governance and compliance 
  • Moral and Ethical – Behaviours accepted/not accepted 
  • Stakeholder – Who can/cannot be communicated with 
  • Roles and responsibilities – The role’s effect and requirements 

Including such boundaries reduces endless task lists while promoting proactive decision-making and acceptance of risk at the lower levels.  The flow on consequences includes increased momentum, early identification of risk and opportunity, reduced single points of failure and expedited decision-making cycles.  

CONCLUSION 

The establishment of boundaries or ‘The Rules of the Game’ govern how organisations and teams do what they do without constraining people to individual tasks.  It is the difference between an average team and the next level – high performance.  

 

Boundaries will set you free

– Common military mantra 

 

If you want micromanagement, information silos, protracted decision-making, and a cumbersome organization which is slow to adapt to an ever-changing and dynamic environment – focus on tasks. 

If you want proactive decision makers, increased influence, and teams capable of operating autonomously – focus on boundaries. 

 

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Accountability Is Disappearing From The Workplace. How Can You Improve?

When I was a young boy I made a monumental mistake.

My rebellious friends and I had managed to swipe a big box of matches. We headed down to the makeshift BMX ramps in the nearby pine forest that surrounded our suburb. It wasn’t long before we figured out that, with a simple hold and flick, we could shoot matches at each other. 

Who would have thought that hundreds of flaming matches in combination with a dry and arid Australian bushland would be a recipe for disaster? 

It didn’t take long before we started a small brush fire. We tried to stop the spreading flames by taking off our T-shirts and smothering the flames. With a little bit of luck and some lateral wind, we won the battle and went home. 

Hours passed uneventfully. Then there came a knock at the door. One of my friends stood on the stoop next to his dad. My heart practically stopped. 

My friend’s dad filled my dad in on what had happened. With every word that passed, my father’s rage grew as fast as that brushfire. After they had left, he turned to me and said one simple and entirely unexpected thing:

“Where was your self-discipline?”

Now, courtesy of one of the most disciplined men I know, I pose that same question to you.

Where is Our Self-Discipline?

Society has evolved rapidly, with the last ten years alone spawning huge innovations in technology, population expansion, globalization, and leadership. And yet in other, more subtle ways, we have regressed. It has become more acceptable to withdraw from accountability. Truth has slowly been replaced with whatever makes us comfortable. We’ve stopped telling people what they need to hear in favor of what will make them happy. We make excuses for people’s bad behavior in order to avoid difficult conversations. As a result, many people feel disconnected, even irrelevant, from those around them.

Our minds are often geared to resist change, whether out of laziness, risk avoidance, or fear. To combat this resistance requires finding a purpose, such as serving others. But without the will to act, people remain in a state of limbo. They have a lot of ideas but rarely have the calloused knuckles of a person who does the work to make them a reality. To borrow a phrase, they are all talk and no action. 

Recognizing this and finding the will to change is the start of how to improve self-discipline.

The Art of Doing What’s Necessary–Whether You Want to Or Not

If we do not discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.

-William Feather

During my military career, I met some of the most disciplined people in the world. They would stop at nothing to achieve the goals required for their individual and team success. If they were scared, they bit their lip and did it anyway. If they were underperforming, they trained harder. If they were hurt, they found another way to contribute. If they did not figure out how to improve their own self-discipline, you can bet their superiors would do it for them.

In civilian life, you don’t have a commanding officer or a unit of other soldiers that will hold you accountable. If you do not follow through on the tasks you set for yourself, it will be your own loss. Therefore, you have to be responsible for how you improve your self-discipline on your own.

How to Improve Your Self-Discipline in Three (Not So Easy) Steps

Perform An Honest Self-Evaluation

If you struggle with how to improve your self-discipline, start by asking yourself the following questions:

  1. Do you only do things when influenced by others?
  2. Do you understand your purpose? Does it influence your daily activities and behaviors?
  3. Do you routinely blame external influences or people for your failures?
  4. Do you judge other people on their lack of performance? Do you judge your own lack of performance on the same scale?
  5. Are you unhealthy in body and mind?
  6. Are you lazy?

If you can’t answer any of these questions, or if the answer you give is unfavorable, then you need to examine further:

  1. Why are you in this unfavorable circumstance? More specifically, what was your role in the events that brought you to this point?
  2. Do you have the ability and the interest in taking the necessary steps to change it?

It’s not easy, but if you’re really struggling, this is how to jumpstart your improved self-discipline.

Get Used to Accountability

Think about the New Year’s resolution you made. Did you follow through on your goal or not? If not, did you take responsibility for that decision? 

It is not someone else’s responsibility to fix your job, your finances, your relationships, or your life. If you want to improve your self-discipline, you must own your behavior, your attitude, and your results. When you make a mistake or do something wrong, you must accept responsibility without making excuses or redirecting the blame.

Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Regardless of what we might want, life is never going to be easy. Our existence plays out in an environment full of chaos, uncertainty, and friction. By placing our fate in the hands of that environment, we surrender control of our own futures.

Most people avoid discomfort like the plague. But if you’re looking for how to improve self-discipline, it’s time to start seeking it out. The more uncomfortable, the better. Eventually, you will have spent so much time feeling uncomfortable that it will become familiar. Then you will be able to make choices that can significantly improve your life and circumstances, no matter how untenable they once seemed. 

This doesn’t mean you have to jump into a snake pit, proverbial or otherwise. Instead, commit to doing something small that you’ve been avoiding (a phone call, an errand, etc) and get it done. Tomorrow, do something slightly bigger, and so on. This is how you improve self-discipline–by forcing yourself to confront the most tedious or unpleasant items on your to-do list and finish them. You have a lot more control over yourself and your future than you think.

In Conclusion

If you’re seriously looking for how to improve your self-discipline, start by accepting accountability for your actions. Identify behaviors that are counter-productive and stop them. Surround yourself with people that are also on a journey of betterment, but don’t rely on them to do the work for you.

If you want to commit to sustained, long-term success,  I say:

Ad Meliora – Onwards to better things.

As a place to start, you might consider enrolling in the 8-week online leadership training course from The Eighth Mile Consulting. Your self-disciple will be tested with four self-paced modules, plus regular interactive virtual workshops and individualized coaching to keep you accountable. Check out the course description or contact us for more information.

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How to Hire the Best Leaders

When determining how to hire the best leaders, let’s take a step back and start with a more basic question:

What does it mean to be “fit”? 

If I had to guess, I’d say you’re probably picturing someone lean, muscular, and athletic. Someone who is likely to excel at any sport they attempt. But what if that sport was sumo wrestling?

A side-by-side comparison of a UFC wrestler and a sumo wrestler to demonstrate fitness is purpose-specific.

The ideal sumo wrestler looks nothing like the Western ideal of “fit.” They strive to be as large as possible, and in doing so, are idolized as sporting gods.

The term “fitness” will always be relative to a given scenario. This is especially true when determining how to hire the best leaders. No matter how strong a leader appears to be on paper, do their skills and style suit the requirements of that role?

Are they “fit”?

A Bad Leader? Or a Bad Fit?

We often works with organizations in developing their leadership and project capabilities. In doing so, we have learned that different tasks, environments, and strategies play a big role in determining how to hire the best leaders. By taking these all into account, you can determine which leadership style will be the best fit.

Fitness based on leadership style is a crucial point that is largely overlooked in the hiring process. When figuring out how to hire the best leaders, interviewers tend to focus on the “Previous Experience” section of a candidate’s resume when that has the least relevance in relation to your company’s needs.

Another common reason for choosing a candidate is because they are “really intelligent.” But having an IQ of 170 doesn’t automatically make one qualified to lead. In fact, there have been many studies on the correlation between IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient). While the results varied in their specifics, the general conclusion is that most people tend to be strong in one or the other, but not both. Therefore, a candidate with a high level of traditional intelligence may actually be at a disadvantage for emotional intelligence, making it more difficult for them to communicate, cooperate and, in short, lead.

Leading The Blind

When determining how to hire the best leader for your company, ask yourself:

  • Do you have a thorough understanding of the organizational issues this leader will need to address?
  • Can you communicate the expectations for this role in its entirety?
  • Do you know how do the position’s goals play into the company’s larger plan?
  • If you are hiring a replacement, have you considered exploring a new style of leadership in this role?

If you’ve answered “no” to any of these questions, don’t put up that Help Wanted sign just yet.

Many organizations try to hire for leadership without first knowing where they want to be led. All too often those choices are put off “until we find the right candidate.” This attitude makes the hiring process like trying to hit a bullseye blindfolded. You can keep throwing darts, but without knowing what to aim at, you’ll be lucky to hit anything at all.

The future of your company is not a game of darts, and neither are your employee’s careers. It is unfair to fire a leader who has been hamstrung by limited resources and nebulous expectations, and yet this is exactly what will happen. Eventually, you will have to let them go because they “aren’t a good fit”–a fact you would have known if you’d determined what a good fit was in the first place. 

How to Hire The Best Leaders

To avoid any questions about how to hire the best leaders for the open position, make sure you do the following prep work.

Understand The Problem and the Need

When determining how to hire the best leaders, you must first figure out where the company wants to be led to (or away from).

  • What is the issue you are trying to solve?
  • Is this a people, processes, product, or profile problem?
  • What are the expectations of the leader in terms of time, cost, and quality outputs?

Know Your Desired Outcomes

Based on what you know about the position, what strengths and styles are needed most?

  • Someone who focuses on the details? Or someone who keeps the larger goal in sight?
  • Someone who has a high level of technical, governance, and/or risk experience?
  • Someone who will gel with other members of the team?
  • Someone who is not afraid to challenge the way you do things? Or someone who will operate in a similar way to the person in the role previously?

Finally, of the traits mentioned above, which one is most important?

Same Conditions = Same Results

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

If the reason you looking into how to hire the best leaders is that your last one was unsuccessful, think twice before hiring someone with a similar style–especially if that style involved not rocking the boat. If there’s a potential problem within senior management (such as limited resources or lack of direction), hiring a candidate that will push back could be an asset.

Hiring Is Only The Beginning

Just because you’ve figured out how to hire the best leader doesn’t mean your work is done. Evaluating the company’s strategy and goals in relation to your new hire must continue even after they come on board.

Commit to Continuing Education

Even the best leaders have room for improvement. But if you’ve hired someone fit for purpose, then you should be able to develop them appropriately, especially in areas where the team needs them to be stronger.

New Software Won’t Fix Bad Management

Many organizations mistake a personnel issue for a technical problem. What looks like a failure with one of your systems may in fact be a communication issue between sub-organizations or individuals. Companies can spend millions of dollars trying to implement software solutions whilst avoiding the actual people-based problem.

In Conclusion

There’s a saying in the military: “Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.” The same mentality can be applied when figuring out how to hire the best leaders for your company. By taking a methodical approach to identifying what the problem is and finding the most appropriate solution, you will be more assured of finding the right leader for you. Otherwise, you may end up with a slalom skier when what you need is a sumo wrestler.

When it comes to hiring leaders, it may be beneficial for you to experience what good leadership looks like firsthand. The Eighth Mile Consulting offers an 8-week self-paced online leadership course perfect for those looking to improve their skills through honest self-evaluation and disciplined dedication. To understand what “good” leadership really looks like, visit our course page or contact us for more information.

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Virtue Signalling – Positive Messaging with Dark Connotations

An astute individual scrolling through social media will observe endless support towards groups attending to issues afflicting society. Most would logically agree that this is good, imagine a world where nobody gave a damn. Sounds like the precursor for localised hell and misery.

It is evident the people who are raising these groups are operating from pure intent linked in admirable and noble values. My parents used to recite a short mantra in our household ‘find a need, fill a need,’ advocating for the importance of proactivity and initiative.

This article is not targeted towards the importance of social initiatives, that would by hypocritical of me, after having raised numerous not-for-profit and for-purpose organisations.

Instead, my attention is drawn towards the dark and insidious side effects resultant from the mismanaged language and messaging many of these groups subscribe to. Specifically, this article will explore ‘virtue signalling’, “the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.”

In simple terms, virtue signalling is saying or doing things in order to be seen positively supporting trending causes or initiatives, not necessarily because of the value of the cause itself (although they can be mutually supportive).

The Dark Side of Positive Causes

Said plainly, I feel some of these social initiatives have become a means by which some individuals assert their moral high ground onto others. It is not uncommon to see the demonising of people, judged to have been inactive in supporting certain causes or social movements.

There is an old phrase, ‘if you are not with us, then you are against us.’ This might seem simple enough until you cross reference the same idea with an age-old adage, ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend.’ These two concepts merged together create for a smelting pot of animosity and confusing loyalties.

My concern is that the level of reflexive aggression from groups purportedly claiming to be good, might indeed be causing unnecessary enemies and destruction.

To my mind it seems a bridge too far to assume that people who are not actively supporting a cause are therefore positioned as enemies to that cause. It seems like a good way to create unnecessary adversaries. It certainly doesn’t seem like a survivable strategy when we consider there are no shortages of social issues. Afterall, utopia doesn’t (and won’t) exist. There will always be room for improvement in any social construct. It behoves us to ensure that the systems we apply for determining friend from foe are refined enough to provide longevity to our causes.

Just because someone is not investing their time and resources towards a specific goal, does not mean they are against it…

Yet here we are, surrounded by narratives and messages that demand action for causes determined to be of high priority. A determination made by someone else with their own bias, ambitions, and perspectives. The problem is when everything becomes high priority, nothing is high priority (by definition). At any one time, we have limited provision of resources. Discernment requires that we individually prioritise our resources towards initiatives which demonstrate potential for the highest impact and effect.

Conformity, guilt, and fear

It seems certain segments of society are overshadowed by an ominous cloud characterised largely by guilt and shame.

As part of my profession, I have invested significant time towards researching and investigating what makes people tick. My synopsis is there appears to be two emergent camps: Those which believe people are primarily influenced by incentives/rewards vs those which feel people’s behaviours are influenced by fear. I sit in the ‘fear’ camp. In doing so, I acknowledge nobody is one or the other, and instead it is characterised by a gentle leaning towards one or the other. I feel that people’s behaviours (particularly seemingly unusual behaviours) can most often be linked back to fears and insecurities.

With fear as our frame, we can start to see how virtue signalling might have emerged. I feel some people have adopted the behaviour as a means of preventing undue judgement or public criticism. A behaviour anchored in ‘double narrative logic’, i.e. the prevention of a criticism as opposed to the reinforcement of a positive action.

In my own observations this is most often seen when a new social movement emerges:

  • STEP 1: Most often linked with a contentious social event which pulls into debate the morality, ethics, and values associated with somebody’s decision. The event triggers a social response. The social response often forces public discussion (often devoid of context). The popular discussion then rapidly forces people to make a public choice: Do they sit in camp A or camp B?
  • STEP 2: What happens next is the dangerous step towards rationalisation, and it looks like this: If someone is leaning towards camp A they must then hate everyone in camp B. For someone to be in camp B, they must then hate everyone in camp A.
  • STEP 3: This realisation then triggers confirmation bias i.e. the collection of information/evidence that would prove camp A OR camp B are incorrect. Now, knowing that we are ‘right’ and they are ‘wrong’ (reinforced by all our aggregated evidence) we then choose to guilt the other group for siding with the wrong camp.

It is very rare that people consider there is a third group (camp C) characterised by ‘I don’t yet know’ or ‘it depends.’ This group might concede that situations of this nature are largely characterised by context, whereby the intricacies of each individual situation are relevant and applicable. They might also concede that they don’t have enough information to make an informed decision. Their discernment in this regard is the trigger which drags them above the public detection threshold.

What is interesting is the relationship between both camp A or B, in relation to camp C. In a weird twist, camp C becomes the ultimate enemy. They fall into the ‘if you aren’t with us, you are against us’ category. Someone saying I don’t know is immediately counter attacked with ‘well, you should know – you are part of the problem.’

When this occurs, a dangerous plot twist occurs for society. Not having an opinion is worse than picking the wrong side. At a societal level, it means we are encouraging people to throw context to the wind and pick sides prematurely to protect themselves. This is all overshadowed by an air of guilt and shame. It is a somewhat subtle mechanism of coercion prompted by an unhealthy social pressure.

History has no shortage of examples where this does not end well. Some of the worst examples of collective group behaviour (group think) have been prompted by this approach:

First They Came – Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Moral high ground and social superiority

As far as I can surmise, this topic appears to be linked with moral superiority insofar that supporting specific societal initiatives allows certain individuals to lord pretentions over others. I have thought long and hard about whether this is a deliberate attempt at control or power, and I have concluded in the most part that I don’t think it is. Instead, I believe it is a learned behaviour of survival, contextually anchored in an environment which forces people’s hands.

They either pick a side and deal with either camp A or camp B, or they stall and risk having to simultaneously fight camp A AND camp B. Not an exciting prospect particularly when your heart might not be in the fight in the first place.

One of the sounder definitions of culture I have stumbled across is: ‘Our culture is comprised of the behaviours we reward.’ It is such a simple explanation for a complicated concept. If one must ask why we (as a collective) are doing something, then trace the reward system/structure, or the associated fears (reference my earlier observations).

This topic prompts us to ask some deeper questions:

  • Why is the moral high ground so valuable?
  • Why are we encouraging this behaviour?
  • What are the long-term implications?
  • What does it say about our society, which is purportedly founded on values and attributes such as inclusiveness, freedom of speech, and the pursuit of truth?
  • Whatever happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’?
  • When did context become a dirty word?

In my observations, the trajectory does not bode well.

If we genuinely believe the message is worth sending, then we should subscribe to sending it correctly. Sending it correctly surely means:

  • Ensuring our message is based in reality.
  • Encouraging people to get behind a cause based on its value, not the fear associated with inaction.
  • Including the requisite context so that it may be seen as applicable and balanced in its delivery.

Societal implications

The societal implications of virtue signalling are significant in my estimation.

If our society’s motivations are driven in significant part by fears associated with saying the wrong thing, or not overtly supporting trending causes, then there must be a long-term price to pay.

  • If our behaviours are being forcibly shaped by others then surely our actions have less meaning?
  • Are we not encouraging people to do good deeds only for the purposes of social validation and acknowledgment?
  • Are we encouraging people to only be seen doing good things as opposed to actually doing them?
  • If our language is being shaped by others, then surely what we choose to say risks being interpreted as disingenuous or forced?
  • Once the lines become blurred, then who and what can we truly trust?

If taken to the end of its logical conclusion, it seems like a precursor to compelled or censored speech. In extreme cases history has shown the destruction caused by language of this nature, coupled with binary and low-resolution modes of thinking (good vs bad, right vs wrong, them vs us).

Spoiler alert, it leads to cliques, cults, and devastating conflicts.

The balance

We must be careful unpacking this topic.

We do not want to scare people away from positive action. The world needs people to ‘find a need, and fill a need.’ It requires people to be passionate about their causes. Virtue signalling although bad, would not be a touch on the damage caused if people were to subscribe en mass to other models such as anarchy or nihilism.

If we had to pick between people feeling the need to demonstrate virtue via signalling, vs feeling no need to demonstrate any virtue at all – I’ll pick the first the option. We all know people demonstrate vastly different behaviours when they are held to a code or framework vs handing the reigns over to an ideology akin to lord of the flies.

Nonetheless, we must be careful about the consequences of whatever path we choose. Everything has a price, and most things only work when they are implemented in suitable balance and with forethought understanding.

Moving Forward

Don’t be so quick to create unnecessary enemies.

The world is quite legitimately full of unending issues requiring attention. Issues which left unchecked will result in unnecessary and undue misery in our fellow citizens.

We do not need to add salt to the wounds by creating unnecessary conflict and tension in support of those social initiatives. Moreover, we must bite our own pride and pretentions and concede that what is a priority to us, is not necessarily a priority for others. This is something I have personally had to come to terms with over the years as I have advocated for veterans, disaffected youth, and the development of certain commercial business models supporting underrepresented groups within society. Just because someone does not see the same level of urgency as I do, does not make them my enemy.

Just because other people are not standing on street corners and social platforms advocating for a cause, does not mean they are positioned against it. This isn’t high school, this is real life. People are fighting their own battles. Their observations of the ills of society might sit in different proportionality and conclusions to our own. Moreover, they might be investing their time and effort into causes which they deem to be more impactful or important. In the worst case, they might not be supporting anyone other than themselves, which is still not reason enough to go head hunting them (in my opinion).

Our communication, is comprised of both intent and delivery. If a message is worth sending, then it is worth sending right. One could reasonably argue that ‘sending the message right’ might mean advocating for a cause without the unnecessary creation of enemies who would otherwise have gone about their business.

It might also mean doing the right thing even when nobody is watching.

—-

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy other articles written at Eighth Mile’s blog.

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Observations from a ‘Bloody Consultant’

Over the years I have heard consultants get a pretty bad rap, so here are some observations from a ‘Bloody Consultant’.

When I worked on the other side of the fence, I heard consultants described on occasions as ‘vultures’, ‘sharks’, ‘idiots’, ‘morons’, and everything in between. Ironically, the organisations which I worked in at the time had felt the need to bring them in order to get momentum and horsepower in areas where they were significantly lacking. On other occasions, consultants were brought in to provide objectivity and impartiality.

I have only been a consultant for a relatively short time, and I chose the profession as it seemed like a logical choice that would enable me to support different organisations in achieving their goals, as well as entwine myself in varying and complex problems.

When we launched The Eighth Mile Consulting, we created a mantra and ethos of ‘good people, helping good people’ and made sure it translated in our service towards ‘positive projects and people only’. At the time we felt the need to do this in order to demonstrate some level of separation from what some people see as a ‘dirty’ word.

Since our launch, we have kept true to our mantra. We have supported only positive projects taking the form of social support projects, scholarship programs, Veteran services projects, leadership & professional development projects, medical projects, and more. It has been a roller coaster to say the least, but here are some of the observations from a ‘Bloody Consultant’.

I hope that providing some objective observations, it might allow people to learn from some of the consistent friction areas experienced by many organisations.

Be very wary of a ‘Yes’ culture

No organisation I have ever worked in is without its faults. It is impossible to have a perfectly oiled system and operation. If you cannot find areas for improvement, then you aren’t looking hard enough, or your staff aren’t raising it to your attention.

Either:

  • They don’t trust the information will be kept confidential and used for its intended purpose
  • They think you will react adversely against them or another member of the team
  • They believe it’s easier to just go along with whatever their manager or supervisor says than to raise issues.

There is a term I have picked up on my journey called ‘malicious compliance. It refers to a tendency for jaded staff to literally follow directions from their supervisors despite knowing that it will have significant negative effects. When this occurs disastrous things happen, and what is worse is the leaders are left holding the ashes, not knowing how they could have stopped it. Rapport and respect are weapons against evils like malicious compliance.

Many executives have called us in because they don’t feel they have a good understanding of an issue in the organisation. In this way, consultants are gathered in order to ground the truth of what is actually happening and provide feedback for the executive or manager. This can be hard to deliver sometimes, as it takes a very courageous and well-intentioned leader to open their doors to critique and objectivity. It also takes an equally courageous consultant to relay information that could be poorly received by their employer.

I have a lot of respect for those leaders and consultants willing to engage in open and honest conversations. It takes integrity, self-awareness, and professionalism to pull it off.

 

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Plan to communicate

So many issues in the world are caused by miscommunication. In one of my previous articles, I wrote that misinformation is worse than no information at all. At least with no information you can actively source data, but with misinformation, it will corrupt your decision-making and cause nightmares in your deliveries.

Many of the issues associated with the teams we work with are based around a distortion of information from the top to the bottom and back up again. There was a great scene in a Simpsons episode where a rumor is started but by the time it gets to the end of a long line of people it has evolved into ‘purple monkey dishwasher’. Unfortunately, this demonstration of information distortion is uncomfortably close to the truth for many organisations.

Here are some rules which I hope will serve some people in their attempt to tighten their communication:

  • More touch points or crossover points always equates to more errors. Ask yourself how many gates are required in order to get this information where it needs to go. Can we cut it down, or streamline it?
  • Translating information between systems and people dramatically increases the chances of errors.
  • Ensure your communication clearly answers an organisational question or need. Don’t create or collect content for the sake of it.
  • Too much information and no one will read it.
  • Less is more. Brevity is key in communication and stands out like a sore thumb in today’s saturated environment.

Leadership will make or break teams

No brainer right? Wrong. I have been very fortunate to be mentored throughout my whole life by very capable and influential leaders. What I thought was intuitive and obvious is not. Leadership is learned by seeing others and adapting it into a methodology that suits the individual and the circumstance.

People need to be trained and mentored if they are to become better at leading and managing teams. Worse yet, some people will have to be trained to drop bad or toxic habits. Unfortunately for people like myself, we cannot change someone else’s mind. All we can do is provide additional information and context that might lead them to another conclusion.

If your organisation genuinely wants leaders it needs to invest in them. This means (as a minimum):

  • Time
  • Resources
  • Executive and senior management buy-in
  • A strategy that they can understand and align to

One key mistake I see routinely is that people are promoted, or forced into leadership roles due to their tenure in an organisation. This is dangerous, particularly in technical or specialist streams. Not everyone wants to be in a leadership role and not everyone is suited to it . This opens a can of worms that can be very difficult to put a lid back on.

Luckily for me and my team, we love helping other organisations with leadership and management training. There is nothing more satisfying than supporting someone else to a point where they can support others.

Strategy reinforced by systems and processes allows you to scale

There is significant pressure placed on organisations that have scaled too quickly and are now forced into becoming reactionary and responsive to their operating environments. Their staff regularly feel like they are behind the eight ball (no pun intended). Over time this develops animosity against their teams and their profession. Scaling properly takes planning and preparation if it is to be done right. It also takes a concerted and deliberate effort in order to decentralise certain roles and responsibilities to other staff or capabilities. One person cannot do it all effectively.

Scaling a business should be leveraged off a unified strategy which can act as a compass during the confusion. When things get crazy and the operating environment becomes more complex, our staff need an agreed direction to head, as well as sanity-check their decisions.

Companies that ignore the importance of a well-communicated strategy do so at their own peril. Consultants are often well-positioned to assist companies in developing a strategy as they are able to cross reference against market trends and other companies.

Resilience is not a buzzword 

Resilience is a serious issue in today’s society. With ever-increasing psychological issues influencing our workspaces, it is becoming more relevant than ever to have teams that are robust, focused, and unified. Without going into my personal beliefs as to why this is occurring, I think we can all agree that a resilient team is often a key determiner in improving our chances of success.

Companies that invest in formal resilience training perform better overall, as they see benefits in their staff retention, leadership, and their ability to respond to change. Companies that don’t take this seriously experience highly transient workforces, poor reputation, and numerous incomplete projects.

 

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Change takes courage and commitment

The world is going to change whether you like it or not. The difference is whether you are leading it, or being led by it. Companies considering large-scale changes need to seriously assess the implications on their staff, clients, profile, and operational delivery. Being quick moving and agile is great providing you have a framework and team built to support such actions. Move too quickly and you will leave a wake of destruction in your path.

Good change management relies on strategic alignment and the development of a ‘need’ (combined with an agreed sense of urgency). It also relies on clear methods of communication, and responsible/accountable people who play a strong stakeholder game. Too light in some of these areas and the implications can be terrible.

Don’t wait until it’s too late

Many organisations wait until the damage is done in order to bring in consultants to support their work. It becomes tough for consultants as they are asked to achieve seemingly impossible results and are then chastised when they are not delivered. I believe this reflects poorly on the consultant in many instances, as they have not fully expectation managed their client and have then subsequently under-delivered. But in any case, we can probably agree that if issues are addressed early then we have an infinitely better chance of fixing them before it becomes a true detriment.

The key capability a consultant brings is objectivity. Providing they are courageous enough to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Approaching the problem without the same biases and internal politics can be the difference between bad, good, and expert.

Conclusion

My observations from a ‘Bloody Consultant’? I love being a consultant! I love being held accountable for my work, and my team’s work. Our consultants at The Eighth Mile Consulting are focused, professional, and experienced and it makes my job of managing the brand a breeze.

There is no more satisfying feeling than supporting a positive project or initiative and seeing it through to delivery. Our measure of success is being called into the next positive project, based on the success of previous ones.

I hope these observations serve others well. Remember, it is just one man’s opinion…

If you ever think you might need an objective and friendly hand on something. Give us a call. We are always here to help.

Safe travels.

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