Why Bosses Should Tell Employees to Slow Down More Often

Wall Street Journal: Why Bosses Should Tell Employees to Slow Down More Often

Every company wants to do things as quickly as possible. But there are times when you ought to hit the brakes

This is aligned with my personal belief that you sometimes have to go slow to go fast...

Book: The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder

Article quotes:

If you want to win, tapping the brakes at the right times is as important as pushing the pedal to the metal.

Hitting the brakes gives employees time to identify big and small issues that undermine the mission, and to figure out where to focus their efforts.

The trick, of course, is to know when to tap (or slam on) the brakes and when to step on the gas. To that end, our research has uncovered eight occasions when smart bosses urge people to slow down. 

1. Making irreversible big decisions

Leaders should ask themselves whether decisions are “one way” or “two way” doors.

One-way doors are “consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible”

These one-way decisions “must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation

In contrast, two-way doors require less consideration because “they are changeable, reversible,” allowing you to “reopen the door and go back through.”

2. Solving complicated problems

Many business leaders and academic researchers believe that smarter people make faster decisions. Indeed, some research backs that up.

The researchers found that people with higher scores in general intelligence and deep-thinking ability did solve easy tasks faster. But they also found that these people solved difficult problems more slowly—and, significantly, with greater accuracy. The reason for the greater accuracy, they discovered, was that the longer decision times prevented them from prematurely leaping to flawed conclusions.

3. Doing creative work

Skilled leaders know that “efficient creativity” can sometimes be an oxymoron.

There is no quick and easy path to creativity. 

People do poor creative work when forced to be fast, efficient and avoid mistakes

4. Encouraging ethical actions

Convincing people to slow down and fix things—rather than move fast and break things—reduces the odds they will engage in unethical acts.

When participants “read a mission statement that emphasized urgent action over thoughtful consideration,” it nearly quadrupled their odds of committing unethical acts, such as age discrimination.

5. Mitigating biases and stereotypes

If you see something suspicious, say something specific.

6. Reducing destructive friction

Sometimes you have to slow things down to keep employees from doing things that slow things down even more. The way to do that is to make people pause, think and jump through annoying hoops before they can heap additional burdens on others.

A little bureaucratic hassle saved a lot of redundancy, and a lot of money.

7. Connecting with customers

For many customer-facing employees, speed is a two-edged sword: They want to handle as many customers as possible, but speed isn’t always compatible with a great customer experience.

As part of the Dutch government’s “One Against Loneliness Campaign” for seniors, Jumbo experimented with a “chatter checkout” lane for customers at one store. 

8. Enjoying the good things in life

Sometimes, asking your employees to slow down isn’t just good for the company and the bottom line. It’s also good for them.

...slowing down to extend, enjoy and “swish around” positive experiences in your mind is linked to better relationships, mental and physical health, and creative problem-solving. 

by having them make what Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project,” calls a “ta-da list.” Instead of writing a to-do list, leaders can suggest they pause and list their accomplishments—tasks they completed, people they helped and inspired, and ways the team is exceeding expectations.