Chip and Dan Heath wrote an amazing book Switch. In which they describe a phenomenom known as the fundemental attribution error; when leaders assume thier followers are lazy, incompetent or otherwise disinclined to follow direction. While there are certainly those whom these labels apply to it is certainly not true for the majority of your employees. This error usually comes into play when a new policy or procedure is being implimented, a new time sheet, billing protocol or other change in the status quo. Rather than complying your staff seems to be stalling, making errors and otherwise not meeting the new standard. Many leaders will make snap judgements.
The problem is most likley with the leader, the new process is poorly defined, the directions or expectations are unclear. The leader has failed to communicate the process properly. As leaders the single most important thing we can do is to communicate effectively. We often forget that we see a bigger picture than our followers. We have access to information that they do not. Therefore we can make connections they cannot. As leaders we must remember that communication is a two way street, that in addition to sending information we must also recieve and process information from both higher and lower. As leaders we must listen, critically analyze and react to what our subordinates say with the same intensity that we lisen to our own leaders. Our job is to eliminate ambigutiy, share a common vision and in doing so build concensus.
The Heath brothers list numerous ways to help overcome the fundemental attribution error; all deal with steps leaders can do to simplify the process. I believe they miss one very important piece of the solution; communicating need. Working in health care I deal with doctors, nurses, medical assistants, EMTs and administrative people. The vast majority of my healthcare providers are focused on providing great care. They truly care about thier patients and understand the importance of patient care documentation. However, when it comes to other paperwork many tend to fall short. They often view these extra demands on thier time as detracting from thier work, patient care. While administrators see this paperwork as being crucial to the growth and development of the organization. Leadership must explain better the value added to the extra work.
For example as a new platoon leader I found numerous problems with the maintenance of my ambulances. The medics were going though the motions of maintaining thier vehicles. After all they were "medics not mechanics". After numerous issues, I finally came up with a solution and a phrase. The manual for maintaining the vehicles was confusing. So we developed a simple check list and required an initial by each point on the checklist by the medic doing maintenance. We made the required steps easy to understand and comply with. I then tied why vehicle maintenance was important to the medical mission with a simple question, "how many patients can a deadlines ambulance evacuate per hour?" 0.0 patients per hour. This actually had an effect on most of the medics and I started seeing less maintenance issues. The problem wasn't that my medics were lazy or incompetent. The problem was that it wasn't clear to them why a job was important. They viewed maintenance as a detractor from their primary mission of patient care not as an enabler. When I took the time to communicate with the medics I gained concensus.
As leaders we must communicate effectively both up and down. Rather than seeing non-compliance as a lack of motivation or ability we should rather assess if we have effectively communicated first.
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