Tasks vs Decisions

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“But, it seems to me, that accountability is already fixed,” I replied. “The manager makes the decisions and the team member carries it out. Isn’t that the pervasive understanding for everyone?”

“You might think that, but you would be mistaken,” Pablo ventured. “For a company to grow, it cannot be so. If the manager makes all the decisions, eventually, what happens to the speed of decision making?”

“Well, it begins to slow down,” I observed.

“Or stops, when the manager becomes overwhelmed with all the decisions. As the organization grows, there are too many decisions to be made by one person.”

“And?” I prompted.

“For the organization to grow, the manager has to delegate,” Pablo flatly stated.

“But, every manager already knows they have to delegate, happens all the time,” I said.

“No, every manager knows they have to delegate, and they think, what they have to delegate are task assignments. In the delegation of a task, the manager also has to delegate appropriate decision making along with the task.”

“But, shouldn’t the manager reserve the authority for the decisions to be made?” I wanted to know.

“Only, if the manager wants to slow things down, or bring things to a crashing halt,” Pablo chuckled.  “Appropriate decision making has to be delegated along with the task assignment. Most managers, at the end of a delegation meeting, ask ‘Do you understand what to do?’ A more relevant question would be ‘As you work through this task, what decisions do you have to make?’ Every level of work has appropriate decision making.”

“Well, that should get some things off the manager’s plate,” I said.

“Not exactly,” Pablo had a hint of a smirk on his face. “You see, the manager is still accountable for the output of the team member. If the team member underperforms or fails, it is the manager who is accountable. And that changes everything.”

Yesterday is Just a Song

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“How can I plan for next week, when I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow?” Nico asked.

“Are you driven by things that happen, or are you driven by purpose?” I replied.

“Sounds like a trick question,” Nico nodded.

“Not a trick question, but an obvious answer depending on who you are,” I explained. “If you simply react to today’s event to figure out your plan for tomorrow, then, those events will take you where they want to go. And, today will be determined by yesterday. You are simply along for the ride. If you are driven by a purpose, you have something to focus on beyond tomorrow, beyond next week, beyond next year. You will only get what you focus on. You will only get today, what you focus on for tomorrow.”

It’s What People Believe

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“People have a fair, intuitive sense of their own capability,” Pablo said. “And, they yearn for opportunity to exercise their full potential. To do otherwise causes people to wilt. A great deal of a person’s self-esteem, even identity, comes from the value they see in the work that they do.”

“So, the system in which they work has impact on how they behave?” I floated.

“It’s not just the system, it’s what people believe about the system. What we believe, our assumptions, the way we see the world is what drives our behavior. Look, the real question is, if we believe that people want to fully participate at their highest level of capability, spread their wings toward independence, that they do not need a carrot and stick to get on with their work, then what kind of managerial system would we create?”

“This sounds a bit idealistic, don’t you think?” I countered.

“Not at all,” Pablo replied. “This is about hard nosed work. Making decisions and solving problems, tough decisions and difficult problems.”

What Does It Mean?

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“So, when I try to get my team to understand what I mean, I have to look inside, at myself first?” Renata asked.

I nodded. “And making meaning is a bit of sticky wicket,” I replied, using my best croquet analogy.

“How so?”

“When we look inside to figure out what we mean, we are simply asking questions to help us interpret people, things, events, conversations,” I said. “Interpretation helps us understand the meaning. It’s not what the facts are, it’s the way we interpret the facts. And, then you have to ask the question, in relation to what?”

“Explain.”

“For a leader, at any level, it has a great deal to do with the objectives, goals or mission. How do we interpret these facts in relationship to our goals or our mission? That gives us insight into what it means.”

Conversations With Yourself

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“I am trying to figure out how to make my case to the team about our new process,” Renata nodded her head.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Sometimes, the way I say things gets the wrong reaction,” she replied. “I think I mean to say one thing, but they think I mean something else. I need to know better how to talk to them.”

“How are you talking to yourself?” I wanted to know.

“My turn to ask what do you mean?” she chuckled.

“How you talk to yourself, your inner private conversations indicate how you lead yourself. And, how you lead yourself will determine how you lead others. Most conversations are with yourself, often it just happens that other people are in the room.”
—
Homage to Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations

It’s a Great Book

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“I have been reading this book,” Hanna said, a bit frustrated. “It’s called Nine Principles, but I am having difficulty applying it to my executive team.”

“And, that’s a surprise?” I asked. “Is the author of the book in a leadership role?”

“Yes, he runs a very large company,” she replied. “In the same industry as us. That’s why I bought the book.”

“I see,” I said. “Tell me, do you think you are similar enough to the author and the author’s company and circumstances are similar enough to yours, that if you just copied the Nine Principles, you would get the same results?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Hanna said with hope in her voice.

“The pattern for a great leader is rarely the pattern for another,” I said. “Usually when patterns are similar, it is simply a recipe for mediocrity. Mediocre leaders copy mediocre leaders and so the spiral goes. Tell me what is different about your circumstances. Tell me what is different about your team. Tell me what is different about you. That’s the book you should read.”

Keeping Agreements

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“I wish my people would keep the promises they made,” Daniella lamented.

“How well do you keep your promises?” I asked.

“What do you mean,” she wanted to know.

“I was having a beer with a good friend who owned the bar,” I began the story. “As we finished, he reached in his pocket and pulled out some cash to pay for the beers. I asked him why, since he owned the bar, did he have to pay for his own beers? He looked at me and said, ‘I do not want to teach my employees how to steal.'”

I repeated my question. “How well do you keep your promises? The distance in which you keep your agreements, goes a long way to determine how well your team keeps theirs.”

The Follower

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“I want to become a better leader,” Lawrence announced.

“Try becoming a better follower,” I suggested.

“I said Leader, not Follower,” he clarified.

“I heard you correctly. Become a better follower.”

“Follower of what? If I am a follower, who is the leader?” he pressed.

“This is not a chicken and egg game,” I said. “Every organization has its strategic intent. That is what you follow. You become a better leader by being a better follower of strategic intent. Your strength as a leader does not come from your position, but from your competence supporting strategic intent. An organization’s hierarchy does not come from position or power. Its strength comes from a hierarchy of competence.”

What We Can Fix

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“Time to do my annual performance appraisals,” Sarah sighed.

“You know, Deming said you can double the impact of those annual appraisals if you just do them every two years,” I smiled.

“I know, I know,” she agreed. “They just seem so one-sided. The team member sits there and waits for me to deliver the dastardly news that they will complain about to everyone else on the team. By the time I am finished with the bunch, they are depressed and irritated.”

“Instead of delivering nasty news, have you ever asked them how they think they are doing?” I wondered out loud.

“But, what if they have an inflated sense of their own performance?” she replied.

“It’s a starting place. Competent organizations are populated by people who have an accurate self-assessment of their individual competence. It’s a conversation we can have, to talk about expectations, skill development, performance. Those are productive conversations. Those are things we can fix. We cannot fix self-deception.”