The Manager's Success Rate.

Off and on over the last few days, I’ve been watching the live camera feed from the Gulf ocean floor at the site of the BP oil spill as crews attempt to install a new containment cap on the well. Over several days, I observed with a mixture of amazement and horror the activities taking place a mile underwater. On one hand, I’m captivated by the dexterity and skill of the remote submersible operators as they manipulate mechanical arms to handle tools and move equipment into place. On the other hand, it has been horrible watching thousands of gallons of oil gush from the uncapped well during the operation.


According to the press coverage over the last number of weeks, bad management decisions may have contributed to the biggest oil spill disaster in history. I’m not going to comment either way on that theory, however watching the attempts to fix the problem has driven home to me the following: When management messes up through poor decisions, it’s the skilled journeymen and women who end up fixing the problem. While we in leadership can point fingers and try to divert blame, the welders, crane operators and mechanical arm controllers have to do their jobs with skill and excellence to stay employed. These individuals are given very little room for error. The crane operator, who snaps a mile long cable with a 10,000 pound piece of gear on the end, will probably not work again on that job.



An acquaintance of mine who was once a manager in BP once told me that when he was hired for his role, his supervisor told him he needed to make decisions or be sacked. He then stated, “The best you will ever achieve as a decision maker is 90% good decisions”. I find a 10% error rate is pretty high. If that percentage is true in real life, then as a leader I have to realize that my error rate can cause a lot of collateral damage. I am going to need a team of great people to support me. While things are going well, I need to build and nurture and encourage that team. One day I may need them to clean up my "train wreck".

Do you find a 10% bad decision rate is acceptable in leadership? If you’re a leader, how would you rank your decision making success rate?