(Time to read this Blog is about 90 seconds)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking:
- My quote of the week:
“November 11 is Remembrance Day. Please take a minute to remember and think about those who gave so much so we could live in freedom. Commit to live and work in a way that honours their sacrifice!”
…Donald Cooper
- The most and lest stressful cities in which to live. According to the 2021 ‘Least and Most Stressful Cities Index’, Reykjavik, Iceland, is the world’s least stressful city, followed by Bern, Switzerland, and Helsinki, Finland.
On the other end of the scale, Mumbai, India, was the most stressed city, followed by Lagos, Nigeria, and Manila, Philippines. Others on bottom were New Delhi, India; Baghdad, Iraq; Kabul, Afghanistan; Moscow, Russia; Karachi, Pakistan; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Kiev, Ukraine.
Montreal #12, Vanc # 29, Toronto #30. Houston is the highest ranked US city at 25th.
To check out the full Survey, go to https://vaay.com/en/pages/stressful-cities-index
- Quick Biz Tip. When you’re leading your Team in an ‘Idea Generation Session’ (I call them ‘Idea Fests’), do not allow any negative evaluation or comments. They kill the creative process.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
The danger of ‘consensus management’:
I recently worked with a CEO who believed strongly in ‘consensus management’. The problem was that no decisions were being made. The 15 members of the management and supervisory group couldn’t all agree on what would be done, by whom, by when, measured how…so nothing got done. Out of 47 customer-focused and internal initiatives that were identified a year ago as being key priorities, only three had been completed by the end of the year.
‘Consensus management’ is often adopted by leaders who simply don’t want to make decisions themselves, or who want to share the blame if a decision doesn’t work out. ‘Yes’, you should listen intently to the ideas and opinions of others, but as a leader, ultimately, it’s your job to make decisions, or to delegate the decision making function to someone else, with an agreed completion date.
You’re never going to get agreement from everyone on any important course of action. Your business will grind to a halt if you try to get total consensus. Businesses don’t die from a single shot to the head. They die, slowly but surely, from a thousand uncompleted tasks. Wish it on your competitors.
When everyone has had their say and a decision is made, it’s time for everyone to get on board and do their part. Resistance and sabotage cannot be tolerated. If they can’t get on board, they should get off the train.
That’s it for this week…
Stay safe…live brilliantly!
Donald Cooper
Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability. He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.
[…] Source: Donald Cooper […]