Have you ever had to make a tough call? Have you had to make a decision you were sure that some folks would just not understand?
One of the first times I had to let someone go as a boss I stressed about the decision. I jumped through all the hoops. I was as thorough as I could be. When you let a teacher go you can expect a bunch of backlash…right? It was basically a non-event after the hard stuff was over. No one complained. No one yelled.
My boss at the time told me that when nobody complains about a leadership decision…you waited too long.
He’s right. But that doesn’t help me with what I want to know as a leader. I want to know how to know when to make a decision. He didn’t have an answer for me for that one though…
During my time as a Principal…I was also the calculus teacher one period a day. Would you believe that I found my answer there?
If you look at a bell curve you can basically see the effectiveness pattern for most things. If something is left alone to it’s natural tendencies, it (a program, a person, a new idea) starts slow, picks up speed, climbs for a while, max’s out, and then declines.
Most leaders make a decision to do the tough thing after they have seen the peak…after the max. I think this is what my boss was talking about above…the truth is, if we’ve realized that there was a peak, the rest of the world has too. You’ve waited too long. You’ve probably also waited too long to save whatever it is you’re trying to save.
The point we need to be aware of is a lot less obvious. In Calculus we called this point the point of inflection (POI). It is where the second derivative of the function equals zero… It is where the curve of the graph moves from being concave up to concave down…basically, it is where the growth has stopped accelerating and begun to decelerate (I know that there is no such thing as deceleration…and if you thought that when you read that…like I did…you’re a nerd like me).
Here’s the tough part about the Point of Inflection (POI)…There is still growth…The graph is still going up…It’s just not growing as fast.
The time to address an issue is not on the way down…it’s sometime after the point of inflection and before the max
(where the first derivative equals zero…yes I’m a dork)!
Great leaders sense the POI’s and have the courage to address the issue…even if the rest of the world just doesn’t understand. And sometimes, a great leader can cause another POI and continue the growth! The key is avoiding the max by getting things turned around before then.
The courage part is the easy part here…the tough part is actually sensing the POI. This is especially hard if it’s your program, your hire, your idea.
I’ve got some ideas of how to identify POI’s…but I wondered if you had any ideas before we go into it.
What you think? How do you know it’s time to address the issue before it’s too late?
