Dave Seminara, writing in The Wall Street Journal, explained how a county executive in New York, went to a public tennis court to announce the “new rules” for playing during Covid-19. Doubles, she said, is forbidden. Players should only touch their own balls or a family member’s balls. There should be no playing on a court when there are people playing on an adjacent court, even though they might be 35 feet away. She announced this all to three dozen journalists, while standing next to a sign that read “Play at Your Own Risk.”
Over the past couple of years, we have heard enough of these questionable policies and announcements to thoroughly confuse and unsettle most people. As we’ve listened, some of us have thought, “Did they really mean to say that? Have they considered the downstream impact of their words? Have they thought about how difficult that policy might be to enforce? Are they prepared to comply with the policies they are imposing on others?”
This kind of thinking is not confined to global crises, of course. Given the opportunity, pretty much everyone can think of policies that seem to defy logic. Not only do these idealistic but nonsensical regulations confuse people, they reflect poorly on those issuing them. Respect for leaders has already become suspect in many organizations. There’s no point in confirming that suspicion.
Enacting policies that lack clear reasoning impact the work environment three ways. Number one, they confuse, frustrate and even irritate those required to follow them. Number two, they are time consuming, especially when people feel like they’re chasing their tails. Number three, they serve to confirm the assumed level of competence of the person making the announcement. In other words, “We kind of thought he was incompetent. Now we know he is.”
Before announcing new policies and practices, the best leaders think three and four steps ahead. So, before announcing your next decision or diktat, consider the following suggestions:
Listen carefully to those suggesting/demanding the new policy and consider the issue in the larger context.Establish whether the policy is really necessary. Was it born out of emotion or logic? Is the issue behind it the result of a pattern of behavior or a one-time incident?
Seek input. Ask others who will be affected what they think. Explain the regulation and its purpose. Then listen. If little input is forthcoming, avoid fixing a problem that might be nothing more than an anomaly. If you get a lot of input, but only from one or two individuals, work with them to resolve their concerns. There’s no use in dragging those unaffected into the issue.
Make the rule specific. If you can’t make it specific, maybe it shouldn’t be a rule. We have way too many rules as it is. In fact, rules have been winning out over reason for a long time. There’s no point in making the problem worse.
Sleep on it for a few nights. A lot of issues tend to resolve themselves if leaders don’t take action immediately. If you indicate you’re going to think about the issue and gather more information for a few days, most people will respond with patience. The one or two who don’t might have an ulterior motive. If discussion of the issue persists, it’s probably time to examine it more formally.
Run it past trusted colleagues. Take it to a couple of impartial people and ask what they would do. Without having “skin the game,” they will be more likely to provide a balanced read on whether you need to develop and implement the rule or procedure. Offer to do the same when they’re faced with similar situations.
Get others to try to game it. If you do choose to implement a new rule or process, buy a few people a pizza and ask them to list all the ways to circumvent what you have developed. Rules are made to be broken. It is better to think about how to break them before implementation than in the aftermath.
Make the announcement consistent. Announce the policy or procedure in a way that everyone hears exactly the same thing. It is human nature to look for holes in rules one doesn’t like or disagree with. The same person should say the same thing to everyone rather than having several people put their own spin on it. If appropriate, make a short video that can be distributed.
Be prepared to model it, even when it’s uncomfortable. Over the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed elected and appointed officials violate the very rules they announced in order to get their hair done, their nails manicured and meet with their paramours. “Do as I say, not as I do,” doesn’t even work with five-year-olds. Why would it work with adults? Enough said.