Stephen H Baum Leadership

3 More Seconds for Business Owmers and CEOs

This morning’s conversation with Jim Blasingame on Small Business Advocate radio we discussed the “3 second rule” and delved into the techniques that leaders can try and adapt how they lead to avoid counterproductive behaviors.

As Jim indicated, leaders who rarely bring their people together to share thinking, those who do call a meeting in which they always go first and tell people how to think and what to do are training employees to take orders, not to develop into leaders. It is “parenting at work:” developing people of all ages to their potential. And it just might be, on occasion, that someone else in the room knows something that will change your mind. Finally, how much easier it is to motivate people to do what you want them to do if you first detect how they are thinking and what will motivate them to step up (beside job security)!

But for those who are generally smarter and faster than anyone in the room, those impatient because they can already see several steps ahead,  how to adapt the 3 second rule so it works for them?

Jim and I discussed several “field experiments:”

–       get someone else to propose the agenda

–       get someone else to go first

–       ask first, tell later

–      don’t be the first to fill a vacuum

–       get others to hold a meeting without you and report back what was concluded and what was proposed or decided

–       always ask an employee who brings a problem what is their solution; encourage them never to come again without their own proposal

–       literally, wait a second or two before giving your answers and instructions – ask yourself: have I really connected with them on this topic? Do I know what they would do if left to their own devices? What more can I know from them that might change my view? Can I give them more of a chance to express themselves and see how best to proceed?

– invent other techniques that work for you

Sure. This takes more time. But a few minutes invested this way can save days and a lot of money.

So try the experiments and adapt the approach to what works for you.

That’s just my view. What’s yours?

If you like this post (and others), please tell your colleagues and friends. If not,  tell me.

And remember Jim’s resource-rich website:

Small Business Advocate (brain trust)