When A Leader Should Fight A Policy
“Sorry. It’s policy.” This comment may be true, but it can also be a sign of a weak leader. Policies are not perfect – especially personnel policies. Leaders need to be willing to stand up and fight when needed.
Most companies have personnel policies, and the larger the company the more rigid the policies usually are. But, the rigidity of the policy does not always make it right.
Leaders fight for what is fair
A Policy Case Study
Early in my career as a leader in a Fortune 50 company, I had a senior leader stand up and fight a policy on my behalf. It was a new personnel policy that was about to keep me from moving my family back to Texas for personal reasons.
My team had just won our company’s highest sales award, but the policy had stipulations in it that would prevent me from taking over a sales team in Texas.
When we appealed the decision, the HR department told my boss that since it was a new policy, they could not let the very first case where the policy was tested be an exception to the new rule. HR said,
“That would set a bad precedent.”
At that point, the Vice President of our division stepped in and challenged the HR department. He fought for an exception and won. Two years later my team in Texas earned the company’s top sales award as well.
My Vice President made the right decision. He made sure I was treated fairly by the company. I stayed with the company another decade, and my teams won multiple awards during that time.
Measuring A Good Policy
Policies are set up for good reasons. Personnel policies are meant to insure people are treated consistently across an organization. Good policies work in a majority of the situations.
The best policies work about 80% of the time. Very few policies can be written to handle all the variables that can occur and that should be considered.
A leader needs to step in when the situation is outside that 80%! There are exceptions to every rule, especially when a leader is dealing with people.
The Courage To Fight
When a leader automatically uses the phrase, “It’s policy”, that is a cop out.
Without thinking the leader falls back on the policy and treats every person and every situation equally. A leader should not be looking to treat people equally. A leader should strive to treat everyone fairly.
When policies are applied to everyone without thought or consideration, that leader has shirked his responsibility to both his people and his company.
Even the best policies will have exceptions (20%). It takes a real leader to recognize when it is time to fight for his people.
An exception does not invalidate the policy. There are exceptions to every rule. A policy is invalidated when the exceptions become the rule. In that case, the policy needs to be reworked.
The Bottom Line:
Even the best personnel policies need to be applied fairly. When a situation challenges a policy, it takes a real leader to step in and think. When the policy is applied without thinking, that is management not leadership.
A leader who falls back on the policy without thinking abdicates his responsibility to his people and the larger organization. Following policy is not always the best solution.
When my Vice President fought for what was fair, he did what was right for me and my family. Therefore he did what was right for the company. I probably would have found another company in Texas to hire me.
When we choose to fight a policy, for the right reasons, we strengthen the trust we have with our people. When our knee jerk reaction is “It’s policy”, trust will erode.
My people need to believe I will fight for them if they fall into that 20%. They need to know I will have to courage to fight for what is fair and not fall back on the idea of equality. I may not always win these fights, but I must be willing to engage in them.
Question:
When was the last time you witnessed a leader fight for someone who fell into that 20%?
This is the corollary of a fearful leader isn’t it? Since I never rose up to the level of reporting directly to a company leader, I will confine myself again to (my immediate) manager. A manager who simply refuses to bat for his or her high performing staff against a departmental or company policy is IMO to be despised. It’s fine to try and fail, but many won’t even CONSIDER trying. An insecure manager of course will never buck the system. As I commented on the other discussion about a fearful leader (manager), I had seen about 25% of my bosses throughout my career behaving in such a cowardly fashion. It was always a big relief (both professionally and emotionally) when they or I left.
It truly is weight off of everyone’s shoulders to work for someone who will take on the fight when it is necessary. Like you said, trying and failing is ok as long as I know the effort was made.
It’s interesting Dave. I left a comment to your discussion on Linked In before I viewed your page here, that basically echoes what you have described and articulated here. I guess I learnt it in the school of hard knocks! Unfortunately too many managers in Corporate America today are not leaders. Incompetence = Insecurity = Maintaining the Status Quo. Over my long work experience although I most often liked my bosses, seldom did they challenge the status quo, they played “safe”. A true leader is one who gives his subordinates credit for good work and takes the heat and rain and shelters his subordinates like an umbrella. That is what I resolved to do and that is what I practice now, running my own organizations. BTW the only boss that I did not like (at Alcon Labs, Fort Worth), tried to get me fired because of my competence and capabilities and stripped me of my group and made me an individual contributor. I worked myself up through the ranks again (under a new boss), developed platform technologies, reestablished my credibility and then left the organization with dignity with the then person at the top requesting me to stay! Footnote: My insecure boss was asked to “retire” long before I chose to leave the organization!
Great story of doing things the right way wins in the long run.