Ready-Fire-Aim

Here I go. First day of blogging. Welcome to all who visit. While this blog focuses on first-line (supervisory) management topics, we hope that managers at all levels (and those who aspire to be managers) will find this blog to be useful as well.

So why ready-fire-aim as a first topic?

There are four ways to approach something new. One is to just hold your nose and jump in without any forethought or planning. In that case, you depend solely on luck. You may land in a bed of clover. Or you may land in a pile of stuff. Unless you're related to a leprechaun, probably not a good way to go.

Second way is to carefully research your change, structure your approach, dot your "i" and cross your "t," talk to everyone you can, sort through advice and counsel, set clear goals, develop a specific action plan, and then get on with it. Good way to go. If done right it can eliminate a lot of potential trouble. You'll be more likely to land in the bed of clover. But the process can also be time consuming. Unfortunately it also provides an excuse for procrastination. After all, it's easier to research and talk about "doing something" than actually doing it.

Third way is best described by the analogy of target shooting. No matter how much time you spend lining up a rifle shot, you'll simply never know the accuracy of your projected path until you fire a round and see where it lands. The third approach suggests you get an approximate location of your target, then go ahead fire. You're not firing blindly because you know roughly where the target is, and the result of your shot will give you feedback on your chosen path.

Fourth way is to balance approaches two and three. Research, get advice, set goals and create action plans until you're fairly certain that you know how to reach your target (ready). When you're comfortable enough to risk it, get going on it (fire). Then check results against the target, adjust the process (aim), and fire again. Continue until you hit the bulls eye (or your bed of clover).

The key to the fourth way is to be comfortable with your risk level before firing by thoroughly understanding the ratio between how well you've prepared (reward) and the potential of what you've overlooked (risk). A key part of that assessment should be a management concept called "downside risk." What's that? Visit us tomorrow. Its my next post.

So here I am on my first day and I just fired off my first post. Not totally unplanned or unprepared (I did get ready). But once I committed to having the blog, I have moved fairly quickly (and fired). What I don't know is how well I aimed. Whether or not I'm on target. If you'll respond by filling out the survey (at the top of the right hand column) and/or sending a comment, that will surely help.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
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