“We will cross the
bridge when it comes”. Often we have heard this phrase from the
Senior Executives in industries, from business Leaders,
Educationists who plan strategies, Captains and Coaches of the
sporting teams, Managers, In-charges etc when pushed to the wall by
relentless questioning about what shall they do under certain
problematic circumstances.
Expressing this famous phrase (‘we will cross the bridge when it
comes’) indicates that the decision maker either does not want
to divulge his strategy any further to the person wanting to enquire
or he does not have one and would decide at the nick of the time as
and what the situation demands. On most occasions it is the latter
which is true and that can be ascertained quite easily through the
face expressions and, or body language of the person making the
statement. It is quite fair to say so when the strategist appears to
have resigned to fate and said this as the last option when the
series of his/her plans could not actually deliver as desired. But
it is not always quite fair if there is no particular strategy, no
specific procedure, no time bound scheme at all and the thought kept
in mind is that we shall do what the situation demands at that
moment.
For most people this itself is a strategy, a method of management, a
procedure they would like to follow under all circumstances by which
they react to the problem on seeing it, formulate an instant
solution, get into all sorts of hurry and implement it quickly. This
is what we all call as Reactive Management style. When someone is
reactive he/she behaves in response to what happens at that
particular moment. On most occasions in life outside our offices we
all do so repeatedly. We react to situations, we respond to
prevailing conditions, we act on the spot, we operate as per the
setting or we function depending upon the state of affairs. In other
words when we follow reactive management method we wait for the
event to show its ugly face and then we jump at the situation,
invent a solution and then try to bury the event as it props up.
There is little doubt that this requires speed, agility, suppleness
and a compulsion if not desire to win the situation under all
conditions. People following the style of reactive management often
develop the ability to think ‘out of box’, decide at the spot and
get into the act quickly. They become innovative and bring into
practice the solutions which have never been heard of before. They
hardly worry about the cost factor. They invent solutions at the
location. They dig wells when water is required. Truly speaking this
is somewhat desirable in today’s Managers. It shows their capability
to act on the situation, ability to catch the problem by the scruff
of its neck and manage it somehow. But if it becomes a routine, a
practice, a methodology to display their skills to handle war like
situations then obviously it should become a cause for concern. At
the same time reactive management style also carries the risk that
the problem buried instantly behaves like a jet of water and erupts
somewhere else in greater force and in oblivion to the set of people
who grounded it earlier. The ball forced in the other court may
boomerang anytime; it may catch the decision maker at the wrong
foot. A disorder somehow adjusted instantly might carry some
undetected symptoms which initially go away as such, but return with
more complex disease. The habit of injecting strong doze of
antibiotics (immediate reactive actions) in every small illness
(business issues, troubles) can injure the body (business)
completely in no time and drain out the finances. A normal business
issue should not be allowed to become critical for the sake of
displaying reactive management skills to solve it.
Reactive management skill is however sure to make most of the bosses
happy, particularly the ones who head businesses not running in a
professional manner. Such instant happiness could be a result of the
method of upbringing of most of us. Nobody wants complications and
most of us refrain from taking interest in the methods our
subordinates apply for solving the problems. We believe in ‘All is
well that ends well’ and seem to be busy elsewhere when someone
tries to explain the hurdles encountered in the process of achieving
the desired result. We often tend to be ‘Happy go lucky’ type. In
short we ourselves promote reactive management style to our
subordinates when we do not sit with them with alternate set of
procedures and / or as an option we give them the liberty of doing
anything unethical or immoral to get rid of a biting issue. Under
such circumstances we often fail to realize the cost implication
when a business problem which is assumed to be satisfactorily
slaughtered by us in the past, returns with a different face and
larger in size.
What should we do then?
There is other side of the each coin. Predictive management style is
the other side of the coin here. If Reactive management is a skill
which most of us develop automatically with experience, the
Predictive management skills needs time, efforts and most
importantly practice.
What is Predictive management? It is skill of curtailing the
problems which might require Reactive management skills to get rid
of them at a later stage. Predictive management involves futuristic
thinking and developing strategies to simply prevent occurrence of
issues which otherwise could grow strong with time and then require
to be slaughtered cruelly rather then wiping them off tenderly
without causing distress and pain. Incidentally Predictive
management skills require deep study of the Reactive management
methods applied earlier on similar issues. It requires root cause
analysis even when a problem is solved using reactive management
skill. What was the origin of the problem? How was it caused? What
could have been done to prevent it altogether? What had to be done
to erase it out? Was it expunged finally? Prudent answers to these
questions if thought scientifically and discussed proactively with
the actual sufferers of that problem can help us in developing
solutions which will atleast impede that problem if not totally
prevent it from occurring again.
Predictive management is a style of management with scientific
approach. It combines the procedures used in the past, gives an
outline for modus operandi, prepares the plot for action, indicates
about our past shortcomings in dealing with that situation, enables
us to judge the entire scenario logically and then provides us with
set of alternative solutions for the changed circumstances.
This style of management has to be evolved with experience. It has
to be developed like a habit. Deep rooted thinking is a necessity
for developing the habit of Predictive management style. It is quite
easy in hindsight to say what could have been done to avoid a
situation which had to be subjected to a reactive management method
in absence of a relevant scheme to handle it. Predictive management
style is as necessary as Reactive management style, rather more
important than it to run a business successfully for a long term.
Why do we have to wait for an unpleasant situation where applying
reactive management skill remains the only solution? When this
question begins to gyrate in our minds during our ‘Thinking
Periods’, we can say we are gradually moving towards attaining the
habit of Predictive thinking. When we sincerely want to avoid
panicky situations, when we start recognizing the ‘wake up calls’
easily, when we are able to see the warnings behind the actual scene
it means we are slowly getting into the mould of predictive
management approach.
Predictive management skills are always better but definitely not at
the cost of loosing all your skills of Reactive management. The
importance of Reactive Management skills cannot be ruled out
completely. Businesses will falter more, if reactive management
skills are given a back seat but at the same time business might
cease to flourish if Predictive management skills are not applied
intelligently. A virgin situation can be tackled through Reactive
management skills but to prevent its repetition in any form
Predictive management skills are essential. Both are necessary in
business but practicing Predictive management skills is more
important than using Reactive management skills as they enable
businesses to sustain success successfully for much longer time.
Business owners and leaders should avoid encouraging the use of
Reactive management skills and at the same time should welcome and
applaud the Predictive management skills.
June 28, 2009
Image under license with Gettyimages.com
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