Don’t get treed by a Chihuahua!

Or, make sure to collect the dots before you try to connect them.

One of the many benefits of writing these blogs is that it keeps me in touch with lots of friends, colleagues and acquaintances I’ve made over my many years in business. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet, and work alongside, people from many different backgrounds, cultures and life experiences.

One of those people is retired U.S. Army Colonel, author, and speaker, Jimmy Blackmon.

Jimmy has had one heck of a life — and he’s not done yet, by the way. He spent thirty years leading soldiers in the Army, including two tours in the Balkans, two tours in Iraq, and two tours in Afghanistan. He’s also a world champion archer, has represented the U.S. Armed Forces in cross-country, and can run a marathon in a shade over 2 hours, 30 mins.

Although he’s no longer part of the Armed Forces, if you check him out on LinkedIn, you’ll see him running or cycling somewhere around the country. In short, he’s about as driven and motivated as any human being you’re ever likely to meet! And these days he puts those experiences and skills to good use by helping businesses build high-performance teams and maximize their potential.

Jimmy once told me this great story about a former Delta Force operator who used to use a metaphor for making decisions without context. He would say, “Don’t get treed by a Chihuahua.”

Jimmy explained, “Context is the reality of the situation around us. Without context, our minds have a tendency to take shortcuts and recognize patterns that aren’t really there; we connect the dots without collecting them first. Overreacting, underreacting, and failing to do anything at all are all symptoms or ‘getting treed’.”

He went on to note, we all make assumptions, form opinions, and make judgments based on our perspective and the information we possess. This is common to all leaders and organizations, but it’s important that we try and reduce the number of false assumptions we make. The key is to try and get as much accurate information as possible before forming opinions and making judgments.

In Jimmy’s former line of work it’s easy to understand just how critical that can be. People are living, and potentially dying, as a result of the decisions made by their leaders.

While the stakes are not nearly as extreme in the business world, there are always consequences to the decisions you make — and the affects can be far reaching. For example, ‘Project A’ getting prioritized over ‘Project B’ could mean you don’t need as many people in one particular area of the business. That’s going to have real impacts on a human and individual level, in addition to the business, so you had better have gathered all of the relevant information and context before coming to that conclusion.

Of course, leaders ultimately have to make what they believe to be the right decisions for the business, but I want to make sure my management team and the people I work closest with are always thinking two or three steps ahead, and have an appreciation of the knock-on impacts and consequences.

That’s one of the reasons why it’s important to make sure you surround yourself with a diverse group of leaders. Not only that, but they need to feel able to voice their own opinions, even if they are contrary to yours, with no fear of reprimand. When leadership teams become nothing more than an echo chamber, that’s when bad decisions get made.

Additionally, and as I’ve said on other occasions, I also like to go outside of both my immediate peer group and direct reports for additional color and perspective. Meaningful insights can be gleaned from anywhere in the organization — and in my experience, those coming from the front line are often the most astute.

In summary, perspective and context are an absolute necessity before making critical decisions. As Jimmy advises, pick up the phone and call your colleagues. Ask the right questions. Communicate clearly and effectively. Care passionately and challenge one another directly. Collect all the dots.

And whatever you do, don’t get treed by a chihuahua, (but if under pressure from a tiger, you better understand that a tiger can comfortably jump 15 feet vertically)!