Folklore has it that if you want to kill a werewolf, you do it with a silver bullet.  In fact, the story is that a mere threat of being shot with a silver bullet will stop one in its tracks.  Ordinary people are also stopped in their tracks, sometimes with a single word or phrase, or tone of voice. These silver bullets stop productivity in its tracks.

A silver bullet is unique to each of us: it’s whatever way we don’t want people to think, say, or feel about us.  If we’re afraid people will think we’re arrogant or inconsiderate, then any hint that we are being arrogant or inconsiderate can stop us cold. If we’re proud of our honesty and integrity, or our intelligence and open-mindedness, or our principles and values, then we can be brought down by someone suggesting we’re dishonest, stupid, biased, or unprincipled.

Silver bullets are very effective – they always alter our behavior.  I know a manager who won’t ask his boss for anything – he doesn’t want to appear “incompetent”. Another friend doesn’t want to be thought of as “pushy”, so she avoids delegating assignments and does it all herself. An executive says he won’t apologize because he doesn’t want people to think he is “weak”. When we’re hit, or even threatened, by a silver bullet, we stop what we were doing and focus on how to deal with the insult.

The solution?  Get to know your silver bullets. What’s the worst, most offensive thing someone could think, say, or feel about you? What is the most important aspect of your reputation? What is the worst way to be perceived in the workplace? The answers to these questions will reveal potential silver bullets that give others control, steer you toward making reactive decisions, and jeopardize your performance.

Then consider disarming the bullets by “making friends” with them.  One way to do this is by public acknowledging the silver bullet through a closure conversation.  For example, one of my silver bullets is being called or thought of as “stupid” (and I have a Ph.D. to prove I’m not!).  Whenever I have a concern that people might feel or think that, I say something like “I know I might appear stupid at times, and its true that there are many things I am stupid about, but this is not one of them.”  I have even introduced myself to MBA classes making a statement like this just so that it will not be an issue for me.

Silver bullets are never about others, they are about our fears.  Maybe those accusations don’t deserve the power we’ve given to them.

[Adapted from Deadline Busting: How to be a Star Performer in Your Organization by Jeffrey and Laurie Ford]

Visual controls are a public display of the performance data for an individual, group, or system.  The scoreboards you see at sporting events, such as baseball, football, and basketball games, are public displays that let anyone looking at them know the status of the game.  Players and coaches use scoreboards to help them determine whether to make changes, such as calling a timeout, substituting players, or calling different plays.  They are called visual control because they provide feedback on performance in a visual form, thereby allowing for alterations to be made in an attempt to improve performance.

Some years ago, USA Today published the on-time arrival statistics for each of the major airlines.  USA Today had no authority, but they did have the data and they made it public in a chart showing where each airline stood.  Once this information became available, passengers starting making decisions based it and the airlines worked to improve their on-time statistics.  Airlines began accounting for why they were late (understanding what contributed to the lateness and what could be done to correct it) and making changes in their operations to improve their performance in hope that the next time USA Today published the list they would be able to show improvement.

Sometimes you do not have the authority to hold people accountable.  However, if you can make the performance data public through the form of a display or visual control, the ensuing conversations can help increase accountability.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of training the managers of COSI here in Columbus.  They, like most people, were having problems getting all their work done and wanted to know what changes they could make to improve their success rate.  One of the things we talked about was “you can’t get anything done if you don’t have a period of time in which to do it”.  Although this seems self-evident, it isn’t.  People really think there is a way to get everything done, they just haven’t figured it out yet.  Unfortunately, they are wrong, but that’s a topic for a different time.

Ok, if you need a period of time in which to do work, how do you increase the amount of time available?  One way is to cut out unnecessary interruptions (e.g., social calls, bs’ing, etc).  But how do you keep people from interrupting you?  If you are working at your desk and someone asks “Are you available?”, they have already interrupted you.  You could try what a VP in one of my classes did – he removed all the chairs from his office so people who “dropped by” didn’t have any place to sit.  But I think the idea the people at COSI came up may be more practical.

Outside the entrance to their work area, they post a three color traffic light – like the stop lights we are all familiar with.  If the light is green, they are available and can be interrupted.  If its yellow, they are busy and would prefer not to be disturb, but can be if it’s necessary. Red means they are not to be interrupted unless it is a real emergency where life is at stake. Simple, but effective.

What makes it work well at COSI is that everyone abides by the traffic light, so if you want to try something like this, you will want to educate people as to what you are up to.

I have a meeting with some of the managers at COSI in two weeks and will let you know what they say about it now.