Do the right thing. Do it right.

"I kept on looking for a way to take me through the night. I couldn't get it right. I couldn't get it right." - Climax Blues Band


I've already got a stack of ideas lined up for the weekly in depth posts, so picking the right subject for this first post could have been a tricky problem. But when I sat back and thought about what was the one message I really wanted to get across that would sum up my approach to leadership and would get you coming back for more – (or have you heading for the hills never to return) – it became obvious what I should write about.
Over the next few weeks I intend to share my views on the nature of leadership; what I mean by leadership behaviours and whether they are intrinsic or can be developed; the importance of self awareness; the difficulties of delivering sustained change and what to do when you know change is needed but you are too busy to make it happen. But first I want to focus on the two underlying principles that kept me going (and kept me sane) through any number of complex and troublesome projects.
As leaders, or as team members who wish to make excellent leadership behaviours part of our approach to what we do, we are often faced with the need to make decisions, with choices. These choices can be simple, but more often they are complex and making a decision becomes harder, particularly as the consequences of those decisions on ourselves and others increase. When I was involved in such decisions I learned over time to remind myself and others of the old maxim, "KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid". And to me the KISS approach to making complex decisions boiled down to two simple statements: "Do the right thing", then "Do it right".
Looking first at "Do it right." Once you have decided what to do, it is my experience that "doing it right" becomes relatively straightforward. It is a matter of the application of systems and processes, of managing tasks and risks, of executing and controlling - all things which, particularly when you come from an engineering or information systems background as I do, fall fairly and squarely in our comfort zones. However, when it comes to the right thing to do it is a different matter.
There are always options and opinions. First, there will by definition be more than one way in which the particular circumstance can be addressed and the process of selecting the appropriate option is a two stage one:

1. Identify all the things you might do.
2. Select the one thing you will do.

For both stages there will be technical, systemic, financial, environmental, political, etc., etc., factors to be considered and you can guarantee that two things will happen. First, if there are 'n' interested stakeholders, there will be at least 'n+1' opinions on which is the preferred option and why. Second, the more important the decision and the more significant the consequences, the more the political factors will start to dominate the proceedings.
So what can you do as a leader – whether through being in a position of authority or as a personal choice regarding how you intend to make a contribution to the process? It is your role to help others focus on the key issues that should influence the decision and to ignore other information no matter how apparently relevant that information may be. It is your role to help facilitate a decision making process that focuses on facts and evidence and not emotions. It is your role to help others deal with the emotional consequences of the decision to ensure ongoing commitment to the agreed path. And it is your role to ensure that all decisions and commitments are made with clarity and with integrity. If you can achieve all this, you will have done much to ensure that the decision results in "Doing the right thing".
To do this you must:

1. Focus – ask yourself, of all the issues that are being raised, which are the two or three that really make a difference?
2. Focus – ask yourself, for these issues, what are the relevant factors that I need to understand to be able to form my opinion and to be able to influence others?
3. Focus – ask yourself, for those factors, what is the best source of information available to me?
4. Do The Right Thing – ignoring all distractions, form your opinion, test it with your trusted colleagues then do what you must to gain agreement and commitment.
5. Integrity – having done that, ask yourself, "does this still feel right?" if it does go with it. If it doesn't, have the courage to say so and to deal with the consequences.
6. Then "Do It Right".

What do I want you to take away from this? Two things.

1. There are two simple keys to success: "Do the right thing," and "Do it right." And of these, "Do the right thing," is the greater.
2. The path to finding the right thing requires you to: 'Focus' yourself and others on the two or three issues that are key and the relevant information needed to assess those issues; to remain 'Focussed' in order to help others to reach, accept and commit to an agreed outcome; to act with integrity and listen to your inner voice to ensure that you remain committed to "Doing the right thing".

Hindsight is a wonderful aid to decision making. Looking back over the many complex decisions with which I have been involved, there were plenty that we got right, but many where, knowing what I now know, we didn't do the right thing. For some of these it was the result of changes of circumstance or the manifestation of factors which we could not have foreseen at the time of making the decisions. Some were the result of not focussing on the key issues – these instances were part of the learning process by which I came to understand the importance of focus and keeping it simple. And there were some, if I am honest with myself, where we did the wrong thing in circumstances where I ignored that voice inside me that was telling me that this didn't feel right and where, either through a lack of courage or conviction or simply a feeling that I lacked the capability to influence as needed, I chose not to act.
It is part of my ongoing leadership development to choose not to make those mistakes in the future.