NewsBeat

February 2016 NewsBeat 5 it moves to the leader's own first pass at No. 2: "Here's what I think this means."Then it moves into No. 3: "What do you think?"Those four little words have huge power. As a young manager, still assuming I had to know everything and make every decision, I discovered them almost by accident.But they became central to my approach to leadership. I came to realize that when I asked that question, it opened dialogues with people that 1) produced better tactics than I would have developed alone, and 2) helped them to grow in their own ability to solve problems and create new initiatives.And there's a third and tremendously powerful result: When people join together in deciding what to do rather than just executing tasks they are assigned, they become much more committed to making the plan succeed. It's "our plan," not "your plan."I've seen it again and again — when executing the plan, each member of the group will try much harder to overcome any barriers than if they had not participated in deciding what to do and how to do it. 4. Recognize the boxes within boxes. In organizations of even modest size, there are layers.There's someone at the top who carries responsibility for the overall health, direction, and success of the organization.At the next level, there are people who are responsible for specific parts of the organization's activities — sales, product, finance, etc.At the next level, and maybe many levels below that, are the people who handle the necessary daily work – departments, work groups, teams, and so on.And within those, there are people actually creating the products, selling the products, processing the budgets and invoices, driving trucks, answering phones, and so on.At all of these layers, a person's possibilities are constrained. There's only so much money and time, only a certain number of people, only a certain limited range of available choices.Wherever you are in the organization, you function within one of these boxes. It consists of the expectations your group needs to meet and the possibilities available to the group for doing that.The boundaries are determined by the organization's resources (people and money) and the external conditions you face (e.g. the economy, customer expectations, competitor's actions, etc.).Within your box, you have the people who report to you and the resources available to you. You work within the box and do the best you can. Within that box, you can use Nos. 1, 2, and 3 above to mobilize your team in solving problems and developing opportunities.When you do, you will often find that the first things people suggest are more people or more money. (The latter may take the form of people, equipment, technology, marketing dollars, etc.)As a manager or group leader, you often need to say no to these first suggestions. You know the limits of the box you're in, and it's often your job to remind the people in your group what those constraints are.And, contradictory though it may seem, it's also your job to help them realize there are many creative possibilities available within the box.My favorite analogy for this is a scene in the 1995 movie, Apollo 13.It comes at the point when Mission Control now understands the exact nature of the problem in the space capsule and knows that the astronauts will die in space if it can't be solved.In this scene, a handful of engineers and scientists gather around a table spread with an assortment of objects — parts, tools, pipes, etc. I don't remember the line, but someone says something like this: "That's everything they've got up there. Out of this, we've got to make a solution."And, as history shows, they did. It required the creative use of materials and objects in ways never intended, and it saved the lives of the astronauts.It's up to you, as a manager, to convene this sort of meeting whenever necessary — either around a problem or an opportunity.When you do, you use Nos. 1, 2, and 3 above as you define the problem and invite the team to figure out the best possible solution. Then you invite them to be creative in applying whatever the limited available resources may be.For a few very promising opportunities or very threatening problems, you may need to go outside the box to see if you can get additional resources. This might be from your boss, senior management, or shareholders, banks, or investors, depending on your level in the organization.But most of the time, you will find there are remarkably creative solutions available even within your box, if you use your main resource — the thinking power of the people on your team. With these four principles, you will be amazed at the new paths you can find and the achievements your group can accomplish.They work in routine management as well as in life-or-death situations. They can, in fact, be the basis of a whole career in effective leadership. Author/Contact: Steve Gray is vice president of strategy and innovation at Morris Communications, based in Augusta, Georgia, USA. He previously led the American Press Institute (API) Newspaper Next program. This post is part of the Disruptive Innovation blog at INMA.org. — Reprinted from INMA

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