As a leader, you’re faced daily with decisions big and small. But there’s no question that some of your most important decisions are going to be around taking correction action relative to your goals-specifically your goals as a leader, your goals for your team, and your goals for the organization at large.
But taking corrective action can be tricky. Do it willy-nilly and your leadership will come across as undisciplined, dysfunctional, biased and perhaps even reckless. This is something you cannot afford, particularly given your responsibility and the fact that leaders today are being scrutinized like never before.
Taking correction action through the right approach is vital. And it’s a core part of what our MAP consultants have been coaching leaders and organizations to do for the past 60+ years, using the MAP Management System™. Do it well, and your leadership, and the culture it creates, will be seen as more focused, equitable, trustworthy and productive.
Here are three keys to better your practice around taking corrective action.
1. Use an accountability system. Every corrective action you take should be tied to a process of goals and controls, a system that measures performance, builds alignment among your people, and holds them accountable for results. With each goal set, corrective action is linked to the goal such that you and your people always respond to the outcome, be it with a more challenging target, a course correction, or perhaps the choice to wait or do nothing at the moment. After all, sometimes no action is an option. You may need more time to gather and interpret information to make the best decision possible.
2. Exercise your emotional intelligence. Research shows that EI, or emotional intelligence, can be more important than IQ, which is why countless leaders invest in improving their EI through professional development and coaching. That’s all good and helpful, but what our clients tell us is that the beauty of using an accountability system to take corrective action is that you can rely on facts and data-not your emotions or bias-to make decisions. If you leverage this tool, you’ll find it far easier to not allow your personal thoughts or feelings to creep into decision-making and, consequently, dissuade you from taking necessary corrective action. Your EI will be much easier to exercise, manage and control.
3. Build a culture around correction action. This means you train your people and, in particular, your management team in how to use your accountability system. Teach them best practices around corrective action and reward them for their successes big and small. You’ll know you have an accountability culture when every decision made gets vetted through that accountability system that’s based around effective practice of corrective action, tied to those goals and controls.
Tell us how taking effective corrective action has worked for you?
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Originally published at https://www.mapconsulting.com.
