How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb

Author:Caroline Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-01T16:00:00+00:00

One person that Charles Darwin would probably respect for his efforts to overcome cognitive shortcuts is Nayan, the chief financial officer of a global bank. During the day, Nayan makes complex business decisions about the right way to manage the bank’s finances. At home, he paints Hindu mandalas. His colleagues have nicknamed him “Yoda,” the epitome of wisdom and calm.

As with most senior managers, many of Nayan’s decisions revolve around people issues rather than balance sheets. “When I first joined the bank, I was told that one of my first tasks was to fire someone. The decision about this guy had been made before I came on board, and I was the new line manager, so it fell to me.” It would have been easy for Nayan to just accept that default instruction. After all, he was new, and of course he didn’t want to rock the boat. But despite hearing some strong language about this person’s behavior—he was apparently “arrogant”—it wasn’t clear to Nayan what substantive evidence sat behind that accusation. So he decided to do what he would normally do when making an important decision: he asked a lot of questions.

First, he acknowledged that the default option—to fire the guy—might still be the correct one. “But I wanted to map out all the options.” There was obviously “fire him” and “don’t fire him.” But under the “don’t fire him” option, Nayan mapped out a few different possibilities. “I think people were seeing this as a ‘do nothing’ option. But there were lots of potential ways to improve the situation, like coaching him or moving him to a different role, that didn’t involve him losing his job.”

Then Nayan gathered more information. “I spoke to a cross-section of his co-workers, and asked about his good points and bad points.” What did Nayan discover? “The guy was bright and decisive. Sometimes too decisive. But his team loved him and he was a great mentor to them.” As a result, Nayan believed it would be worth holding on to him if he was willing to do more to build bridges and work collaboratively. “The decision that was handed to me was based on perceptions more than evidence—some of his peers simply didn’t like his style,” Nayan said. When Nayan approached him, he was mortified to discover what people thought of him, and grateful to have a chance to put it right—which he did, within three months.

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