Recall a specific situation where you were faced with making a decision; within the context of the information in this module’s reading, describe the process you went through and the outcome you were seeking. How did stakeholder involvement help you make a better decision? If stakeholders were not involved, could they have been? Would that have led to a better resolution? Did you achieve your objective(s)? Identify 3 ways you may use this learning experience to make better decisions in the future.
When I was put in charge of managing the Sortie Support Section, I knew there was a lot to fix. We were responsible for the security, control, and accountability of equipment. However, the section was in a troubled state. The Quality Assurance pass rates were very low and morale was almost non-existent. Not to mention the fact that our customer service reputation was lacking. The support members would greet customers with irritability and slowly retrieve tools. Conflict between my members and our customers was a daily occurrence. I needed to fix it, but wasn't sure how.
While reading a story in this book I first got the idea to implement the outward mindset in my section. The story in the book described how Bill Bartman built a debt collection company that figured out ways to help their clients make money. “They operate from the premise that their clients owe them money precisely because they don’t have enough money to pay them.” (The Arbinger Institute, p.61) This sparked an idea in me to find ways to help our customers and section.
I
started with a dry-erase board and stakeholder involvement. At the front counter where our customers stood to check out their tools, I hung a dry erase board and simply wrote “How can we make your job easier?”. I was fishing for ideas, changes, improvements that we could make. At first there was pessimism and hesitation. Finally, after a week of negative comments and complaints, real suggestions started to flow. We implemented the suggestions and our section began to improve as well as our relationship with our customers. Each time we completed a project, I would write it on the left with a check. Weeks went by and we received more and more suggestions and my team continued implementing them. We started to communicate. Not only, were the customers communicating their ideas with us, we were communicating with each other. Within a few months, we QA pass rates increased and the number of lost tools lessened. Our customers would come in with smiling faces and my Airmen would optimistically greet them while quickly retrieving whatever tools needed. The support Airmen also came up with a myriad of ideas to improve the section and benefit the customers. We shifted our organizational mindset from an inward one, to an outward mindset.
According to Levine (2009), decision-making can be viewed the same way a problem-solving. Decision-making is our way of getting down to the bottom line and the details of the issue. A simple dry erase board was the solution to improving my section and minimizing conflict with the customers. Resolution is a much better resource than compromise since the cost of aftereffect is less. Conflict resolution is a skill that we can learn by cultivating the habit of alternative practices (Levine, 2009). Stakeholder involvement was critical to the success by implementing their ideas for improvement rather than my own.
If those stakeholders hadn’t been involved, my decisions to "fix" the section could have been a waste of time. Levine (2009) asks “does the preliminary vision fit everyone’s view of the outcome” (p.137). By getting the stakeholders input, I understood what vision they each had for an outcome. On the other hand, if we (Support Section) had asked for the customers opinions and then ignored everything then they wouldn’t have trusted us going forward. We made sure to
get their input and act on it. Being flexible in our processes and including all of the stakeholders, whether they cared or not, we were able to roll out a fairly successful solution that allowed better communication and ownership of the processes in the section. Engaging in a process of resolution ignites sparks of creativity, and telling stories puts that creativity into play (Levine, 2009). Levine, S. (2009 ). Getting to resolution: Turning conflict into resolution. (2nd edition). Williston, VT: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
The Arbinger Institute. (2016). The outward mindset seeing beyond ourselves how to change lives and transform organizations. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler .
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