Dealing with a (P) – A (P)roducer or Lone Ranger

A (P)roducer is fast, doesn’t have a lot of time, and is usually under pressure to deal with a crisis. He is generally highly structured, detailoriented and result-oriented.

Now, how does this affect his ability to communicate? And what is the communication style you should adopt in order to effectively communicate with him?

Think about what would happen if you called your (P) boss and said, “Boss, I need you for three hours to discuss a problem.” Would that work? Obviously not. A (P) would almost certainly reply, “Three hours? Fine. How about in October 2012, maybe then I can find three hours. Where the hell am I going to find three hours to talk with you? I have so many crises I can’t even tell you where I’m going to be tomorrow!”

So, how much time can you realistically ask for? Five minutes.

Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes at most. Try to be short.

But first, you must get his attention, and in order to do that, you will probably have to disguise your problem as a crisis rather than a mere problem. Why? Because the (P) is so busy! Since he has more problems than he can solve, he deals only with crises. That means that if your problem is not a crisis, it’s going to have to wait. He will tell you, “Put it on my desk,” and you will never hear about it again; it will just sit there with the three hundred other problems he has on his desk, and it will never get attended to.

On the other hand, if it is a crisis, then for a (P) style manager it is a legitimate cause for concern, and he will give you time.

Next: When you get into his office, do not start your presentation back with Adam and Eve. Start from the end instead of the beginning; in other words, first give him the bottom line. Tell him what your conclusions are. Then give him any supporting material he asks for, and answer questions. The important point is to start from the end– with the decision you have already come up with.

Next, you should tell him that you’re already working on this problem and all you need from him is his approval: “Boss, we have a crisis, and we have very little time to deal with it, and because of that I’ve already come up with a solution. All I need is your approval.”

Why must you phrase it like that? Because if there isn’t any time pressure, or you are not already in the midst of implementing the solution, what will he say? “Put it on my desk.”

If this (P) is a Lone Ranger, you really have to take the initiative, because he’s never going to delegate to you; you’ll have to delegate to yourself. But to avoid taking on unnecessary risks, you’ll still want him to approve what you’re doing.

Thus, your presentation should go something like this: “Boss, we have a crisis, I need fifteen minutes of your time. Here is the problem; here is what I am already doing. I just need your approval so I can finish it.” Done. There you go.

But imagine what would happen if you communicated this way with an (A). Let’s say you call him and say the same thing: “There is a crisis, and I am already midway into implementing the solution.” What’s going to happen? You’ll be fired on the spot! “Who gave you the right to start implementing the solution?” he will shout. “How dare you take initiative without getting my approval?”

With an (A), you can’t do anything without asking permission first. With an (E) boss, too, you’d be fired. Why? Because what you did was not his idea.

So with each style, you have to take a totally different approach.

If you are a (P) type working for an (A), you’ve probably made this mistake. You probably saw a problem and figured out how to solve it; then you went to your boss to tell him how you solved it, and you couldn’t understand why he got apoplectic and jumped down your throat. Well, the answer is, you used a (P) solution for an (A), and the (A) cannot tolerate that style. You have to do it his way.