Do You "Wind Your Watch"? You Should...

A grizzled old airline captain named Joe was called into the chief pilot's office one day and told that he needed to go in for a flight review in the airline's newly installed computerized simulator.    This would serve as his six month check ride as well as allow the airline to evaluate the usefulness of the simulator and its instructors, as Joe was one of the most experienced pilots on the line and had an excellent safety record.

At the appointed time, Joe showed up and after a bit of paperwork was escorted to the simulator.   He "flew" the routine procedures first, and then proceeded to practice the emergency procedures.    The simulator instructors caused all manner of problems for Joe - an engine would quit, instruments would stop functioning, the landing gear would not come down, and so on - in order to test Joe's ability to handle emergency situations safely.  

At the end of the session Joe received near perfect marks.   In fact, the only criticism the young instructors had of the veteran pilot was that whenever an emergency occurred, Joe wouldn't spring into action right away - he would instead wind his watch for a moment.   The instructors felt that this was an odd practice, since the emergency at hand was clearly far more critical than almost anything else.   When they mentioned this to Joe, his response was simply, "Son, I've never accidentally killed anyone while winding my watch and considering the situation at hand."

---

In the often hurried pace of today's business world, leaders are presented new information and asked to make decisions or take actions almost immediately.   Few situations, however, are actually so critical as to truly require immediate action.    Taking a moment to consider not just the most obvious option, but additional alternatives as well, is the mark of a true professional.   Indeed, compounding a dire situation with a bad choice because the person in charge felt that doing something - anything - right now only leads to more emergencies.     Such a process will feed on itself, in what could be referred to as a negative feedback loop.

The next time you find yourself in a situation which seems like immediate action is needed, stop for a moment and "wind your watch" while you mentally take a step back and consider your next steps.   You might find the situation not quite so dire, and find that there is an elegant solution just waiting for you to step back and see it.

I've heard it said that it takes a jerk to have a knee-jerk reaction, and I've found that folks who are thoughtful about their actions are much more pleasant to work with in addition to being better leaders.   What do you think?

They Can Do The Work, But...

If yours is like most organizations, you try very hard to hire only the best and brightest people.   Indeed, hiring can be one of the more risky things to do, financially, with a bad hire potentially costing several times the position's annual salary - therefore making the hiring process all the more critical.

When interviewing for a technical position, ensuring the candidate has the correct technical skills is obviously important.   I'd argue, however, that it's not the most important consideration when evaluating match between the candidate and the position.   Surprising?   It was to me - at least before I had the opportunity some years ago to build a team and observe firsthand the consequences of a bad hire.

The basic problem is that while technical skills (such as specific programming languages, tools, etc.) can be learned to at least a rudimentary level in a short amount of time, other attributes that make a person a great team member cannot.     These attributes are things like attitude, credibility, responsibility, and so on - things which cannot be simply learned by a quick session on Google.   They are instead behaviors; things which are ingrained within our personalities such that changing them is much harder and takes a great deal more time than learning how to use a new app on your iPhone.    These attributes are also what either build up or tear down the bond between team members, and for any non-trivial project the ability of the team to work together is critical.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with someone who set off warning bells; their attitude and mannerisms indicated to me that they have an incredible opportunity to improve just those types of behaviors.   Bright, driven, and exceedingly arrogant, this individual may eventually go on to accomplish amazing things but I would not care to have him on my team today due to the risk to the team's well being that such a "brilliant jerk" would pose.

Identifying the attributes you value for individuals on your team is key, and ensuring that new team members are a good "fit" is critically important - even more so than specific technical skills.   New skills can be learned quickly; new behaviors can take far longer and be far more costly for your organization to teach.

What non-technical attributes do you value most in your coworkers?     How do you develop those attributes within yourself?