Barrier
Barrier: Don't let your shutter get stuck
by David Mason - Product Manager at Mozilla
July 28, 2010 at 8:41amContribution Summary
Summary
When Henri Cartier Bresson described his photography, he said "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment". His work, and the two words "Decisive Moment", would change photography forever from the way photographers approached their art, to the way camera manufacturers would develop the technologies from that point on.
Bresson's approach would have been useless if he had a sticky shutter (or maybe a cheap digital camera with shutter lag). The Decisive Moment would have passed him by and his photos would have been ordinary, if not bad. These are the times where action has to be made. Now. Immediately. In business, we are all pieces that make up the whole camera. If, as leaders, we put someone into a position of management we must trust that person with being decisive. The more we second-guess their decisions the more "sticky" they become until they are the sticky shutter.
Let's capture our moments in time and not become sticky shutters.
Bresson's approach would have been useless if he had a sticky shutter (or maybe a cheap digital camera with shutter lag). The Decisive Moment would have passed him by and his photos would have been ordinary, if not bad. These are the times where action has to be made. Now. Immediately. In business, we are all pieces that make up the whole camera. If, as leaders, we put someone into a position of management we must trust that person with being decisive. The more we second-guess their decisions the more "sticky" they become until they are the sticky shutter.
Let's capture our moments in time and not become sticky shutters.
Description
Decision making is what business is all about. The higher up the leadership ladder one goes, the more important the decisions are for the business. However, with the scaling of that ladder many levels should be left behind to those who are put into the management positions below. This doesn't mean you will always agree with the decisions made by those managers, but being able to release yourself from always trying to correct what is perceived as a problem only slows down the mechanics of the business - the gears leading to the shutter.
Its OK to send a camera off for a cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment from time to time to make sure things are moving as smoothly as possible. What is less desirable is opening up the camera every time you are ready to press the shutter button to make sure each cog is doing its job just the way you want it to.
Its OK to send a camera off for a cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment from time to time to make sure things are moving as smoothly as possible. What is less desirable is opening up the camera every time you are ready to press the shutter button to make sure each cog is doing its job just the way you want it to.
Root Causes
This is simply a matter of trust. When we appoint someone in a position of leadership, we should be bestowing trust in that person to make decisions. If we don't trust them to do so, were they the right person for the job? Are we allowing them to be decisive? Do we trust ourselves enough with our appointment choice to let go and allow them to do the job we gave them?
Often this is a matter of filling in positions of trust simply because of a perceived or published hierarchy despite not having the right person to entrust the job to. But why do our hierarchies have to be so rigid?
Often this is a matter of filling in positions of trust simply because of a perceived or published hierarchy despite not having the right person to entrust the job to. But why do our hierarchies have to be so rigid?
Solution
Letting Go - Sometimes it is hard to move up the ladder and entrust others to make the decisions you used to make. Its even harder if they make those decisions differently than you did. However, giving your trust, and letting go of those decisions allows the company to move in new directions (and as much as it hurts, sometimes *better* directions). Trust is the key component to making timely decisions and capturing a moment.
Flexibility - With just a little flexibility we can work around issues of unfilled hierarchy until the right person comes along - or even find that we have been developing that person within the organization all along. Flexibility allows this by spreading our trust around. If we aren't flexible with all areas of our organization we may miss pressing the shutter.
There are many ways we can make sure our organizations are working smoothly and efficiently but trust in the abilities of each other makes sure that when we see the decisive moment our shutter doesn't get stuck.
Flexibility - With just a little flexibility we can work around issues of unfilled hierarchy until the right person comes along - or even find that we have been developing that person within the organization all along. Flexibility allows this by spreading our trust around. If we aren't flexible with all areas of our organization we may miss pressing the shutter.
There are many ways we can make sure our organizations are working smoothly and efficiently but trust in the abilities of each other makes sure that when we see the decisive moment our shutter doesn't get stuck.
Tags
decision making, decisive, trust, hierarchy, flexible, decide
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