Focus on Outcomes - Not Self-righteousness

Focus on Outcomes – Not Self-righteousness

‘It is not important that you are right, it is important that things turn out right’

I worked for my Dad for as long as I can remember but I was officially on the payroll when I turned 15.  In what became our family business, I was immediately the ‘S.O.B.’ – which I preferred to define as ‘son of boss.’  Somehow it seemed appropriate to give direction to employees many times my age but it wasn’t without tensions.  Tiremen are not subtle and much of what they said was justified.  So I learned many lessons the hard way and one of them became a guiding principle for my public life.

I would write up work orders for cars, trucks and on-the-road fleet service with step-by-step instructions.  I’d walk the employee through the job and then check on their progress.  Not surprisingly an employee who had done this work much longer than I’d been alive would have their own way of getting the job done yet I’d be furious that they hadn’t followed my instructions.  So my Dad said to me “it is not important that you are right, what is important is that things turn our right.”  If the job gets done correctly the why worry if it wasn’t done my way. 

I adapted this mantra to the local government boards and councils I served on.  If I was outvoted and in the minority, I told myself to remember the public interest: it was more important for it to turn out right than for me to be proven right.  I believed I had a responsibility – in fact I had taken an oath – to act in the public interest and sometimes that meant helping make a decision I disagreed with still work out for the best.

Some of my colleagues grew tired of my ‘turn out right’ comments but I was disappointed how often I felt it needed to be said.  I found some were keen to undermine a majority decision, to snipe at progress or the lack thereof and even seem to be hopeful that a project would go over budget or run late.  It was as if ‘I told you so’ was more important than what was best for the public we served.

There is no denying the political dynamics here but I was naïve enough to want local government to avoid the ‘official opposition’ behaviour that exists with senior governments.  I think politics and enthusiasm won out over logic during my early years in office but perhaps that reality gives me credibility when I advocate for this approach today as I coach Mayors, Councillors and Regional Directors to place the public interest ahead of their own ‘self-righteousness.’ Vote your conscience and then once a decision is made, make the best of it.  Act this way when you’re in the minority and show appreciation and respect to others when you are in the majority.  Whether it was a customer’s new set of tires or the taxpayers’ new bridge, getting the best outcome is always ‘right.’



Check out my website at http://frankleonard.ca/ for information on Local Government and Consulting