The consequential-and-irreversible gate is the right one, and the most common way it fails is that managers inflate irreversibility to license the intervention they already wanted to make — nearly everything feels one-way in the moment of stepping in. The ownership bank account might be the sharpest idea here, because it explains why the same withdrawal lands so differently from different managers. Do you get people to test reversibility explicitly, or is that a judgement that only develops with reps?
That’s a sharper frame — reversibility isn’t a property of the decision so much as of who’s looking at it. Someone early in their career, with no scar tissue, sees one-way doors everywhere. Lending the perspective that lets them size the door themselves might be the one intervention that builds ownership instead of spending it.
most managers don't even have a threshold, they just react to how uncomfortable the imperfect version makes them feel in the moment... I feel like that discomfort is the real variable driving the decision, more than the actual stakes are.
almost! so they way you have framed it, it kinda implies that the manager thinks they would've done it better, which feels more like an ego thing.. the point I was trying to make was more about discomfort, which I think is slightly different..
A manager doesn't even have to think they'd do a better job IMO..they can actually think the person's approach is totally fine and still feel this urge to jump in because watching someone do it differently is uncomfortable..
Self-aware managers catch themselves in that moment and let it play out anyway.. but the less self-aware ones step in, and then the quality justification usually gets built afterwards because it sounds more rational than "I was uncomfortable watching you do it differently" ... just my 2 cents :)
The consequential-and-irreversible gate is the right one, and the most common way it fails is that managers inflate irreversibility to license the intervention they already wanted to make — nearly everything feels one-way in the moment of stepping in. The ownership bank account might be the sharpest idea here, because it explains why the same withdrawal lands so differently from different managers. Do you get people to test reversibility explicitly, or is that a judgement that only develops with reps?
I find reversibility to be mostly a judgement call, highly influenced by perspective.
What looks reversible to me might look very different for one in my team, afraid of making mistakes in the project he’s given.
In that sense, managing well comes down to giving a broader perspective, so that people can better judge consequentially and reversibility.
That’s a sharper frame — reversibility isn’t a property of the decision so much as of who’s looking at it. Someone early in their career, with no scar tissue, sees one-way doors everywhere. Lending the perspective that lets them size the door themselves might be the one intervention that builds ownership instead of spending it.
most managers don't even have a threshold, they just react to how uncomfortable the imperfect version makes them feel in the moment... I feel like that discomfort is the real variable driving the decision, more than the actual stakes are.
Aaaaah gotcha!
I like it.
Ockham’s razor at its best: the manager steps in because he wants to.
That’s it.
As per Ockham, you might very well be the closest to the truth!
This is an interesting take.
So not “I step in because quality is too low”, but “I can’t stand to witness something I would’ve done better”.
Instinct rather than strategy basically.
Have I got that right?
almost! so they way you have framed it, it kinda implies that the manager thinks they would've done it better, which feels more like an ego thing.. the point I was trying to make was more about discomfort, which I think is slightly different..
A manager doesn't even have to think they'd do a better job IMO..they can actually think the person's approach is totally fine and still feel this urge to jump in because watching someone do it differently is uncomfortable..
Self-aware managers catch themselves in that moment and let it play out anyway.. but the less self-aware ones step in, and then the quality justification usually gets built afterwards because it sounds more rational than "I was uncomfortable watching you do it differently" ... just my 2 cents :)