The fine line between engaging leadership and enforcing policy

There’s a fine line between engaging leadership and enforcing policy – are you striking the right balance?

Why don’t we ask Oscar Munoz, the embattled CEO of United Airlines? 

Every company needs policies and procedures that guide and inform decisions, to ensure consistency. But at what point do you allow leaders to deviate from those policies to ensure you get a result that wins you raving fans, not billions of dollars wiped off the value of your company? 

Some people in leadership positions enjoy relying on policies and procedures because it keeps things black and white; it removes their responsibility; it makes them feel powerful, while not having to think outside the square.

Other people in leadership positions push policy boundaries so far that they’re not worth the paper they’re written on.    

Neither extreme results in a memorable experience for the customer.

So how do you teach leaders when to engage leadership and when to enforce policy?

If the supervisors (and employees) on duty that day, for United flight UA3411, were your employees, how would you have wanted them to tackle their dilemma?  

It seems that it all starts with questions we might ask ourselves, and questions we might ask others.   

Might the United staff have asked, “What fallback positions can we adopt if one of these randomly chosen customers refuses to deplane?” There is never only one alternative.

Might they have asked, “What other alternatives do we have to get these 4 crew members to Louisville?”.

Sending crew on another airline, questioning the current crew to work a double shift now seems like a small cost compared to the decision made.

And might they have asked themselves how the enactment of their decision would impact the customer service experience for other passengers?  While that one customer had a terrible time of it, it also impacted on the other hundred or so people in that plane, not to mention the millions of people around the world who watched the video footage of a passenger being dragged from their seat later that day…..and all because that passenger said ‘no’ to being randomly selected for offloading.  

“Following established procedures for dealing with situations like this” is not good enough. Leaders need to consider the ramifications of their decisions.  

They need to see the bigger picture, and know when to step in and push policy aside.  

Critical thinking and employing initiative are two of the best skills you can hone as a leader – they’re also two of the best skills you can help develop in people around you.  

Don’t wait for a “United” disaster!  Start asking questions. Start coaching your people today to think critically and use their initiative.

If you’re not sure how to help your people think critically and use their initiative, we can help. Engaging people and helping them bring out their best is what we specialise in.