The 24-hour Rule

There are 1,000’s and 1,000’s of books on leadership and management.  I have an idea that there is just as many courses and training on the topic.

I read the following and thought that this is an excellent rule:

“Ford Motors claims a great deal of its recent success can be traced to its new 24-hour rule.  In "How Ford Profits from Its '24-Hour Rule,'" in Harvard Business Review Onpoint (Summer 2013), Bennie Fowler describes how the 24-hour rule works:

If an employee encounters a problem he is told, ‘You have 24 hours to take a new and emerging issue, try to understand it, and see if you can resolve it yourself....  For problems that can't be solved in 24 hours, we ask people to bring the issue to the table at a meeting of senior managers.’”

It is good to encourage people to take responsibility and not always run to the manager to solve problems.  The way that Ford Motors is doing it, is a subtle and professional approach.