Death By Policy
By Solutions 21
As a manager, I understand the frustration of insubordination or inappropriate behavior. You can’t have unacceptable behavior run rampant, and anarchy seldom gets the job done. There are other priorities screaming for your time, and a sternly written policy seems to be the shortest distance between what just happened and it never happening again. But what are the long-term, unintended consequences?
Policy madness is an almost imperceptible drift. As organizations scale, complexities can cause people to veer from the company’s original mission. A policy is the most expedient cure. But it discourages conversation. Why should a manager talk to a direct report about the way to act when it’s all been written down? Is it not a manager’s job to enforce compliance with a set of predetermined rules? So, how can you make sure your original intentions stay intact as you grow?
Talk to each other
If there’s a bone to pick, pick it. If there’s a situation to confront, confront it. And when you do, assume that you don’t have all the information and that the “perpetrator” probably has a good reason for their behavior. Even if they don’t, this approach is respectful and builds trust and courage in everyone else. People become less risk-averse because they know you’ll listen to their side.
Crowd-source the policy
As a general rule, people enjoy having a say in decisions that affect them. The practice of letting people determine the rules they live by has precedent, and it can breed immediate buy-in. Ever play “Counter-Strike”? Valve is the company behind that game, and they crowd-sourced their employee handbook. Successive rounds of new hires update it regularly. Useful and effective.
Allowing the actions of one bad egg to “policy-punish” everyone else diminishes your leadership capital and destroys hard-won trust. Appropriately confronting behavior outside of expectations will open the door to a career-changing conversation, one way or the other. And it may just prevent an innocent bystander from restrictions brought on by others who are non-compliant.
Featured Consultant of the Week
McKenna Arras is the Content Development Specialist for Solutions 21. Previously, McKenna specialized in educating military leaders on the acquisition of performance psychology techniques and their application to individual tasks and unit operations. Learn More
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