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Summary: Leaders often hamper their effectiveness by focusing on solving problems that eventually turn out to be wrong problems. Here is a tool to help you focus on right problems and solve them in right ways.

The 20/60/20 Rule Of Leadership. Don't Go Solving The Wrong Problems By Brent Filson

Several decades ago, a passenger jet approached a Florida airport with pilot and co-pilot struggling to fix what they thought was a malfunctioning landing gear. The landing-gear light was on, signaling that gear was deployed; but both men did not hear it actually deploy.

As men sought to understand whether they had a defective landing-gear light or a defective landing gear -- co-pilot actually taking up a hatch and getting down into wheel well -- aircraft kept losing altitude. Too late, a warning alarm sounded and plane crash, killing all aboard.

Quite possibly that tragedy has subsequently saved many lives. For pilot and co-pilot's actions have been used in flight simulation training programs to demonstrate how NOT to troubleshoot problems in cockpit.

The incident has become known as Landing-gear Fix, a diligent attempt to solve wrong problem. Of course, they had a landing-gear problem on their hands. But unbeknownst to them, they faced a far more serious problem, a pending crash.

The Landing-gear Fix is a leadership lesson. In quest to get results, many leaders often focus on Landing-gear Fixes -- putting their time, resources and talents into solving wrong problems. In fact, it's been my experience working with thousands of leaders during past 20 years that most leaders are either working on wrong problems or working on right problems in wrong ways.

In this issue, I'll give you a tool to avoid getting involved in a leadership Landing-gear Fix. It's a tool that will help you avoid wrong problems and focus on right ones. It's called 20/60/20 rule. And it will save you aggravation and help you avoid wasting time.

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Summary: Leaders are occasionally afflicted by "bad actors", those people who resist and may even sabotage leaders' activities. Here is a five-step process for dealing with bad actors.

Leading Bad Actors To Be Good Performers By Brent Filson

A successful leader told me, "The biggest challenge I've had in my career is dealing with bad actors. Brent, do you have tips on how to do it?"

First, before we can deal with "bad actors", we must define term bad actors. You already have a general idea of what term means. You know I'm not talking about stage and screen actors but those actors you must deal with in meeting your challenges. A bad actor is a person who is not a part of solution but is part of problem. Every leader has to deal with bad actors now and then.

Look at it from perspective of 20/40/20 rule. When you have to lead others to meet a particular challenge, roughly about 20 percent of people will be your ardent cause leaders in getting it done; about 40 percent will be on fence; and about 20 percent won't do -- or at least won't want to do -- what is required. This 20 percent could be called bad actors.

However, being a bad actor can mean different things to different people. From your perspective, bad actors may mean people who are resisting (or even sabotaging) your drive to achieve results.

On other hand, their colleagues might not view them as bad actors but as employees who are standing up to unreasonable demands of your leadership.

Further: "bad actors" may view their actions as heroic, and so wouldn't apply label to themselves. In fact, most bad actors don't think they are bad actors. Your labeling them as such may prompt them to think YOU are a bad actor.

All this begs question, why use term at all? My answer: don't. Words like "bad actors" or "bad characters" can turn out to be self-fulfilling prophecies. At very least, people whom you are labeling may resent your attribution, at worst they may actually like it and purposely and proudly act part.

Instead of calling them "bad actors", "bad characters", etc., I suggest you call them "not-yets." They are "not yet" on your side. This designation avoids emotional value-judgments and helps keep communication open in your relationship with them.

However, make no mistake, you have to do something about not-yets. The not-yets can be innovative, motivational leaders -- against you. Most want company; they need to validate their point of view by convincing others to join them.

There are three things you can do when dealing with not-yets. A. Accept them for what they are. B. Persuade them to change. C. Get rid of them. There is no fourth choice. Let's say, in a hypothetical case, that options A & C are unacceptable. That leaves B: You must persuade them to change.