Outgrow Middle Management by Osh Dave;

Author:Osh, Dave;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

DISCUSS BEFORE YOU DECIDE

Joan was driving home from the office when her cell phone rang. She didn’t typically take calls while she was driving, but the determined caller kept ringing, so she eventually picked up.

The unusual tone of Warren’s voice alarmed her.

“Joan, have you seen Ken’s email?”

“No, I’m driving, Warren. Can it wait till tomorrow?”

“No!” Warren barked. “Ken just sent an email to a wide distribution that we had agreed to proceed with the China project. He instructed them to proceed with the implementation.”

“Are you kidding, Warren? We actually decided to hold the project until Ken could provide a white paper summarizing the various alternatives and execution plan. The project is just not ready for implementation,” Joan said.

“That was my understanding, too,” replied Warren.

They both kept quiet for a moment. ‘How did this happen?’ thought Joan.

Joan has been the COO of Star West for almost a year. It isn’t the first time she has chaired Star West’s Executive Committee. And, it wasn’t the first time her team left a meeting with completely different, sometimes even opposite, understandings. It wore her out!

“Are you still there?” Warren asked. Warren is Star West’s constantly worried CFO. He has big concerns that things will get out of control when a large project moves forward without an official sign-off.

“Warren, I don’t really get it. Wasn’t it crystal clear that we support the project but we want to assess the three alternatives? Ken didn’t give a presentation, a white paper summary or any kind of proposal. How could he conclude the project had been approved?”

Warren shrugged but Joan couldn’t see it.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow, I will read his email tonight. Thanks for calling.”

The rest of the way home, Joan silently contemplated the situation. ‘What went wrong?’ She thought. ‘How could an agreement by the committee to continue the assessment of the project be interpreted so differently by Ken? This is a complete mess. I must clarify any misunderstandings and announce that the project is still under evaluation.

Once again, the ExCo will be perceived as a dysfunctional team. I wonder if this is a hidden agenda orchestrated by Ken? Or is it my leadership?’ Joan’s thoughts continued to wander while her car crawled slowly in heavy traffic over the Oakland Bay Bridge.

‘Ken either has a personal agenda to manipulate the management team or his passion for the project filters out negative messages. If it is the latter, he missed the message that the project was not ready yet.’

Joan was still analyzing the communication glitch when she arrived home 30 minutes later. She thought, ‘Most likely, the Dialogue was perceived by Ken as a decision because I haven’t made it clear that the committee’s Dialogue had not moved to a firm decision.’

The following morning began with a miserable email exchange between Joan and Ken, escalating the confusion to new levels. Ken claimed that Joan was blocking his initiatives and that they were losing precious time on non-decisive meetings. The gap between the two grew bigger and bigger.

So

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