The Ambiguity of ASAP

 

One of the most fulfilling positions I filled during my time as an Airman in the United States Air Force was that of Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Commander of the 92^nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington.

 

I didn’t have a staff to support me, so I “borrowed” my general’s. Actually, they volunteered to support me when I arrived on station. They knew I’d need them before I did. 

 

I was kept pretty busy, physically running around the base, visiting units and people, so I had to use email to ask them for help in completing administrative tasks. I’d often ask them to do something for me ASAP. That means As Soon A Possible, if you don’t know. Most people do know. But what most people don’t know, especially bosses, is the ambiguity of that term.

 

I’d send a note to Technical Sergeant Ramirez, the NCO in charge, with a request ending in “Please take care of this ASAP. Thanks!” I always said “Thanks!” with an exclamation point hoping to inspire some excitement. Most of the time, he or Staff Sergeant Hardy would come to my office, across the hall, and personally tell me that my request had been fulfilled. I always thanked them. They seemed happy to have served me.

 

One day, the Director of Staff, Colonel Larry Jones, came by my office to “chat.” He was a great man and officer. A bit gruff sometimes, but I loved working with him. He was what we called “Straight up.” He started the conversation lauding our support staff. I agreed wholeheartedly. “Do you know how hard they work for you, Chief?” he asked. “For ME, Sir? They don’t work for me. They help me and support me but they’re the general’s staff. I don’t have one.” He replied, “They love you, Chief. And will do anything they have to, to take care of you. They often have more work than they can handle, but when you ask them to do something ASAP, they stop whatever else they’re doing to take care of it and you.” Man, did I ever have an awakening! I didn’t realize that and was grateful that my colonel had brought it to my attention.

 

I invited the staff to join me in my office. I, first, apologized for giving them more work than they already had. And I explained to them that ASAP, to me, really meant as soon as possible, not immediately, but as soon as they could get to it. Being superstars, they had understood it as “now.” I’d thought about this and how to remedy the situation. I suggested that from now on I would be more explicit when asking them to do something. I told them I’d let them know when I need it, not just ASAP, and would gladly hear their suggestions if they couldn’t meet the suspenses. I told them that I appreciated them more than I could tell them. Things worked out better after that. Colonel Jones even thanked me for making the changes.

 

You see, the term, ASAP, is ambiguous. I’ve been late at meeting a suspense before and when I was sounded on it, I told that person that I DID do it as soon as possible. It just wasn’t when he wanted it done. I didn’t feel guilty. He was just ambiguous.

 

If you’re a leader and expect your followers to get done what you need them to do immediately, you’ll probably burn them out without them, or you, realizing it. They’ll give you all they have but it won’t be much soon enough.

 

If you aspire to be an Effective Leader, don’t be ambiguous. Be precise about what you want and when. And always be willing to negotiate the when. Your followers are people, too!

 

Until next time,

 

Be GREAT!

 

You ARE!

 

¡HEIRPOWER!

Take Care of All of Them

 

I hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago. The GOOD one! It took me two weeks to recover. I don’t remember doing anything to hurt it. It just, seemingly, happened. Either way, I had to deal with it. The best thing to do, of course, was to recover from it. So, I did what I could. Now, I’m not a physical therapist of any sort. In fact, I had no idea how to fix it because I’ve never had that type of pain before.

 

Anyway, as I got to thinking about the process of recuperating, I realized that there’s a correlation between how we repair our bodies, maybe our minds, and how we lead. You see, for those two weeks that I was ailing I focused a lot on fixing my knee. At least, getting it back to normal. Normal is different these days, though. You’ll understand one day. Give it about 20 years.

 

It was easy to focus on doing what I needed to do to fix my knee because it hurt. It had my attention from the moment I awakened to the moment I fell asleep. Actually, it hurt while I slept. Anyway, it had my attention. I pretty much HAD to focus on it.

 

What I realized is that as I stretched, worked out, etc, that knee, I neglected the other one, the bad one. I think that’s natural. But in pretty short order the bad one started aching too. Not as badly as the good one, but I started feeling the strain on the bad one because it had to compensate for the good one.

 

Don’t we do that as leaders? Remember the Pareto Principle? It says something like “we spend 80 percent of our time fixing 20 percent of the people.” Something like that. I was investing a lot more time trying to repair the hurt knee while inadvertently putting extra pressure on the other one.

 

As Leaders, when we have a problem or a “problem child,” our inclination will usually be to focus on that. Fix what’s broke. I’m almost okay with that. But what about what’s not broke? What about the 80 percent of the team who are good, even great, workers? Do we neglect them? We usually do. We rationalize that they don’t need our leading or guidance. They’re good to go. Have you ever been on a team or organization where the few get all the attention? And they’re not the most productive ones. The rest of us pull our weight or continue to excel. If it happens often and long enough, eventually, it affects us. And not in a positive way.

 

I remember Old Farts saying that the knees are the first to go. I’m beginning to believe it as I become one. But most of my new aches and pains don’t just happen. They’re the result of wear and tear. Often, in leading, our problems don’t just kick in. They’ve been there for a while, we just didn’t notice or created them through neglect. That’s usually how the knees go. We take them for granted. Until we don’t.

 

We have to deal with the inevitability of time. It will affect all of us. If you aspire to be an Effective Leader, be aware of the time you spend or invest on your people. All of them. Each of them. It’s not as though you can divide your time by the number of folks you lead and invest just that amount in them. They each need to be nurtured. Don’t focus solely on the difficult ones. Be proactive as best you can. Help everyone as they need it so that they don’t become a real pain.

 

Until next time,

 

Be GREAT! 

 

You ARE!

 

¡HEIRPOWER!