I am a ‘doer’ by nature – someone who favors action over inaction. As a result, I thrive on working in an environment of calculated risk-taking and swift decision-making. But what if this isn’t someone’s natural predisposition? How can we help colleagues at the start of their leadership journey to develop a bias for action and unlock future excellence?
A call to action
A bias for action comes more naturally to some than others. However, I believe with careful coaching in a psychologically safe working environment it is a trait that we can all be leaders.
As a starting point, creating an environment of trust, shared values, and confidence is essential – colleagues need to know they can act without fear of retaliation or humiliation. Reassure team members you will back them up when things go wrong and coach and empower them to make decisions and take risks. Occasional mistakes are an inevitable consequence of having a bias for action, but decisions are rarely irreversible. The key is for to-be leaders to have the resilience to learn, adapt, and come back stronger.
Maintain momentum and progress by seeking support and assistance as soon as you recognize that you need it so team members can move on to the next stage of work without delay. If necessary, tackle obstacles not within your direct remit to ensure your team keeps progressing.
If an individual has a natural tendency to procrastinate, advise them to start by focusing on relatively low-risk situations and small decisions. Encourage them not to overthink things, to assess problems quickly, and to take decisive action. As they build their ‘risk tolerance’ and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, challenge them to make bigger, bolder decisions.
At a business level, streamline your internal processes to enable an agile response to quick decision-making. Our Greif Business System provides us with a flexible framework, working methods, metrics and governance that support an organizational bias for action.
Defeat analysis paralysis
A specific problem many people experience is ‘analysis paralysis’ – a tendency to overthink problems. They keep amassing data, debating the pros and cons of alternatives, analyzing more data, asking someone else for their opinion… The more they weigh up alternatives and imagine the downsides of each, the more afraid they become to make a decision and make a mistake. And before they know it, the opportunity has gone.
If you see team members failing to take action due to analysis paralysis, remind them that decisive action always beats procrastination. Coach them to keep moving forward, knowing that they have the resilience to deal with whatever happens next.
As an example, I led on the update of our Greif Business System (GBS), which involved bringing together multiple interconnected parts from across our global business into a new framework for working. Balancing processes, tools, people, mindset, and culture was a complex task – and we could very easily still be reviewing, analyzing, and debating today! However, instead, we identified our goals, made key changes, and launched the new system with the knowledge that we could continue to make improvements. We rapidly reaped the benefits of this bias for action.
Nurture intentional leadership
In my experience, intentional leadership and bias for action go hand in hand.
Instill a culture of intentional leadership in your team. Coach colleagues to be really clear about what they want to accomplish, have a plan and work each day to achieve this in a deliberate, purposeful way. Check that they know what they’re doing and why. Urge them to keep an eye on the horizon and not leave things to chance. Encourage them to intervene, take a decision, and act boldly to make things better.
On the flip side, watch out for colleagues in leadership roles who tend to be complacent and react to situations out of habit. Look out for phrases like “We’ve always done it this way” and “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken” – these signal unintentional leadership and are a fast route to underperformance and failure.
Complacent, unintentional leadership has never been more dangerous than in our current times of change, crisis, and disruption. The five-year strategies that were the norm in the past are hopelessly inadequate in our 21st-century VUCA world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. We need to develop a generation of leaders who embrace this and constantly question, evolve, and hold themselves accountable.
Practice consistency
Finally, in encouraging bias for action and intentional leadership, coach your team in the vital importance of consistency.
Explain that the starting point for this is consistency of purpose. Leaders need to identify clear goals, plan how to achieve them, and communicate these plans routinely and clearly to their team. This then translates into consistency of action, mindset, and behavior—colleagues executing with discipline, in the same way, to the same standard.
It is important to be clear that consistency doesn’t mean inflexibility. In fact, when I was a supervisor on the factory floor at the start of my own leadership journey, one of my consistent applications was asking operators how daily routines could be improved. Constructive change should be embraced.
However, the bottom line is that consistency of approach coupled with consistency of hard work leads to long-term results. The more consistent we are as leaders, the more progress we’ll make and the more successful we’ll become over time.
In summary, I believe that it is vital for us to embrace action, intention, and consistency in leadership and coach, inspire, and empower others to do the same. Only by constantly reassessing, refreshing, and changing our own and others’ practices will we create successful, effective organizations that are fit for the future.
