“Just Do It” won’t always do it!

I was talking to a manager recently about his style of leadership – someone had given him feedback that he wasn’t decisive enough.  He had translated this as “Stop engaging in dialogue and asking questions. Just tell your employees what you want them to do! That’s what it means to be a strong manager.”

I said that while there is a time and place for “just do it,” it isn’t a style that worked in most situations.

It reminded me of a classic leadership study done by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt on decision-making.   They concluded: Successful managers…can be primarily characterized neither as “strong” leaders nor as “permissive” ones. Rather, they are people who maintain a high batting average in accurately assessing the forces that determine what their most appropriate behavior at any given time should be and in actually being able to behave accordingly.  They described these leaders as flexible and insightful.

In addition, an important factor in determining a manager’s decisiveness is how clear they are about the process they use to make a decision.  It’s not how quickly they make it nor, I would add, how loudly and forcefully they say it.

Therefore, when appropriate, there is plenty of room for dialogue and questions.  Couple this with clear communication about how decisions are being made and you’ve got the kind of strength every organization can use!