The systematic failure of organisations to enable employees to use their knowledge and experience to understand what is implicitly required.
By Declan Noone
There is one issue that has arisen multiple times over the last number of years as I have moved from life in the military to life as a management consultant with Serrano 99 and as an educator with IE School of Human Science & Technology. It has surprised me with how it directly impacts my degree of frustration. It is the need to be absolutely 100% explicit in detailing to others, the who, what, where, when, why and how of any tasking. The need to go into greater detail on each of those considerations than I would previously expected, and this tends to be regardless of the complexity of the task.
I have had to pause and reflect on why this has caused me such frustration and indeed the impact it has on how I engage with the relevant individual(s), as well as, my mind-set. I have come to realise that it is not their fault that they need more clarity and a more prescriptive description as to the requirements in completing a specific task. It is a systematic failure of organisations to enable employees to develop, what I call the ‘implicit instinct’. That ability fuelled by knowledge and experience to understand what is implicitly required in order to complete a task i.e. what needs to be done, without being told, to ensure that you complete what has been asked of you.
So, I took this ‘implicit instinct’ for granted and this was the cause of my frustration. My next question was ‘what is preventing the development of an ‘implicit instinct’ within organisations?’
- Inadequate leadership development
- Micromanagement
- Poor Organisational culture
- Lack of mentoring
- Pure Outcome orientated focus.
Developing the ‘implicit instinct’ is something the Military do exceptionally well. It is engrained in the Military Decision Making Process and introduced to leaders, at all levels. In the early stages of your Mission Analysis (initial analysis of your task i.e. mission), commanders at all levels list not only what is explicitly expected of them, but also what are the implied tasks that need to be completed in order to support those explicit tasks.
A simple example of this would be a commander stating to his subordinate commanders ‘be prepared to deploy the full unit on operations for 72 hours commencing in two days’. Now of course there is more detail provided but subordinate commanders will go away and identify the implied tasks required of them to meet this requirement. Such factors as:
- Informing their own personnel of the what is happening.
- Ensuring they have the necessary equipment for the task.
- Ensure the timings they give mean the right people are in the right place at the right time.
Leaders, through a structured training and development plan, along with a culture that supports the development of this ‘implicit instinct’ continuously enhance their knowledge and understanding of what is implicit as they progress up through the rank structure. You learn as you go. You make your mistakes, deal with the consequences, log the lessons learned and move on. You are aided by observing those with more experience and supported through an informal mentoring process.
These are the skills of a Positive and Mindful Leader. The time is now, not tomorrow, to begin your leadership evolution. Despite the increasing presence and influence of technology in the workplace, organisations and leaders need to be more human-centred than ever before to be competitive. Competitive for Talent, Customers, Clients, and Innovative products/services. Contact us at Serrano 99 to learn more about our CPD certified Positive leadership programmes.
