We need a policy...We need a rule...Really?

First of all, my apologies for the length of time between my last post and this one. between increasing responsibilities at work and the general business around the holidays, I found it hard to find the time to get to this. I sincerely apologize.

Around 15 years ago I was the Administrative Assistant for my local Little League. One of my first jobs as the Administrative Assistant was to re-create the League's Rule Book due to the fact that the 3.5" Floppy Disk it was on (remember those?), got lost. This was also a time before everyone had easy access to a scanner. Thankfully, I had a colleague who had a scanner, the only one in my workplace, and he scanned the 33 page document for me. By the way, that took four attempts and about 3 hours of our time. Once the document was scanned, then I had to use an OCR reader to convert it to MS Word. Once scanned, I had to compare the document to the hard copy of the Rule Book to make sure the language in all of the rules scanned over correctly. there were plenty of mistakes and a tremendous of edits I had to make to the document. In other words, for someone like me who is a limited typist at best, this was a huge project.

Doing this project, however, was also a valuable learning experience for me, and not just for the technical knowledge I gained during the whole scanning, OCR, and editing process. This was also a valuable learning experience from a people management perspective.

What I realized was that this rule book could have easily been reduced by several pages. Here's how. The first 12-15 pages of every Little League Rule Book is virtually the same across all Little Leagues in that those pages are filled with all of the mandatory passages that are required by Little League, Inc., the national organization. After that, the remaining pages are taken up by the rules that are individual to that particular league. As I was making all of the edit, there were some rules that just didn't make sense. Since one of my favorite questions is "why?", once I was finished with this project, I asked some of the more veteran volunteers of the league about why we had this rule, or that rule, and the responses I received began with one of the three following statements:

"That rule is there because a manager one time did......"
"That rule is there because a coach one time did.........."
"That rule is there because a parent one time did........"

Making rules and policies, because one person, at one time, did something not right, unscrupulous, not in the spirit of existing rules, etc., is not a reason to make a rule. No one has a rule in their workplace that states, "You are prohibited form picking up your desk and throwing it out the window." You just know, as a matter of common sense, that  you are not allowed to do that. Now, if someone were to do that, that person would be fired, regardless of the fact that there was not an explicit rule prohibiting that behavior.

From this experience, I learned that when someone says, "We need a policy.", or, "We need a rule." I use that opportunity to ask, "Why?", and before we go about formulating that rule or policy, my "Why?" question, needs to be answered. Here's an example of how all of these rules can be detrimental.

The League had a rule that a player could not be replaced at her position in the field as a result of an error or a misplay. This rule was enacted to prevent Managers and Coaches from further embarrassing the kids in cases of making misplays or errors in the field. This is something I have never understood with Managers and Coaches. I never yelled at a player after the player made an error. Don't you think the player knows that she just made an error? You really need to yell at her to make her realize that? So, the League, instead of communicating its expectations to Managers and Coaches on how the children were to be managed and coached, essentially, made a bunch of rules instead.

I had a player named Cara, who played shortstop for me. She was the best pure hitter I ever coached and she had a great attitude. However, her fielding at times, was not as strong as her hitting. One game, she made three errors on consecutive plays at shortstop. I tried to encourage her as much as I could from the bench, but there she was, at  shortstop, crying a river of tears. I called time out and trotted out to shortstop in order to comfort her. I felt so bad for her. Before I could say anything, she said to me, "Coach, I just want to sit on the bench. Please can I sit on the bench?" It broke my heart to have to tell her that she had to stay in the game, and she had to stay at shortstop. Thank goodness, no other balls were hit to her and we were able to get out of the inning with only two runs scoring and we did go on to win the game.

Now, I should have been able to replace her at shortstop. but I wasn't able to because some manager, coach, parent, etc., did something, dare I say stupid, at one time or another. As a result, an experience that is supposed to be challenging and fun, was turned into a miserable experience for Cara and her teammates.

This is a lesson for business too. We really need to stop with all of the rules and policies that are made because at one time or another, one individual did something wrong. Instead of making a rule, hold the individual accountable for not adhering to behavior expectations. Clearly communicate what your expectations of behavior and performance are. You want people who are committed to doing the right thing, not because there's a rule or a policy, but because they are truly committed to doing the right thing. When you have people who are truly committed, instead of compliant, that is when your organization is poised to move to the next level.

Be well.

Two Phrases you Hear Leaders Say

Leaders influence others through a combination of recognition and accountability. This thought struck me today as I was thinking about one of the times I heard Steve Gilliland speak at a SHRM Conference and he was speaking about his secretary Margaret. He recounted that on the first day they worked together, she told him that she had worked for managers, directors, and high level executives, but, she had never worked for a leader.

I thought about this as I was thinking about all of the people for whom I had worked in my 38 year career in health care and I sort of felt the same way. I have worked for all levels of supervision, but out of that bunch there were few true leaders. People who led through their ability to influence others. In thinking about these few people, I tried to think of what, if any, characteristics, they shared, and I came up with two things they said, when it was appropriate to say them.

The first phrase they used regularly was thank you. Thank you for a job well done, thank you for going out of your way, thank you for pointing that out. They delivered recognition to those people who deserved it and delivered it at the right times. This feedback was sincere in its delivery and never sounded perfunctory. These folks got more mileage out of those two words than I ever thought was possible and they have set an example for me that I try to live up to each day.

The second phrase they used whenever they needed to was, "I'm sorry. I messed up. What can I do to make this right?" When a leader uses this phrase, holding himself or herself accountable for his or her behavior, that leader sets a standard of accountability for those people who are led by him or her. These leaders show their people that they are not perfect, but, they are willing to correct their mistakes and make things as "right" as possible. That self-accountability, enables them to demand, and expect, that same level of self-accountability from their people. From this, a leader can build a culture of accountability throughout his or her entire team.

Two phrases, huge impact. Have you had the experience of working with leaders who used these phrases regularly? I would really like to hear about it.

Be well.