Category Archives: Teams

Not About the Box

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It was a shiny new metal box mounted on the wall. A spiffy sign next to the box announced SuGGESTIONS. Luka was proud of the new addition to the wall.

“Hey, Luka,” I said. “Is your suggestion box full yet?”

“I just put it up,” he replied. “I’m trying to get the team to come up with new ideas. It doesn’t seem like people are very engaged in the work we do. I hope this helps.”

“Which comes first?” I asked. “Do you think the suggestion box will get people more engaged? Or do you think people need to be engaged to contribute to the suggestion box?”

Luka gave me a blank stare.

I smiled. “Engagement doesn’t have a lot to do with the box.”

More Control or Less

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“It is very difficult to cede my power as a CEO,” Suzanne shook her head from side to side. “It’s my company, my accountability.”

“You are still accountable. All crumbs lead to the CEO,” I said. “And, what changes when you see your company, not as a hierarchy of power, but, a hierarchy of competence?”

“First of all, I cannot promote people into positions because of their seniority, their loyalty or their current position of power,” she was thinking out loud, knowing I was listening.

“Promote people to a position of what?” I asked.

“A position of authority,” Suzanne replied.

“Authority to do what?” I pressed.

“Authority to make decisions,” she relented.

“Now, we are getting somewhere,” I smiled. “You begin to see your organization through the lens of competence. You cannot promote someone to a position of authority, to make decisions, unless they are competent to make those decisions. If they are competent to make those decisions, are you, as the CEO in more control or less control?”

Guiding Value in Hierarchy

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“But, if I delegate things out to other people, meaning, if I delegate decision making to other people, doesn’t that erode my power, as the CEO?” Suzanne wanted to know.

“If power is that important to you?” I replied.

“Isn’t that why I started this company, built it up from scratch? I am the one who made all the decisions. I am the one who had all the accountability,” she protested.

“And, you still have all the accountability. In the beginning, it was appropriate for you to make all the decisions, there was nobody else around. And, as the number of customers grew from a handful, to a dozen, to a hundred, they demanded your organization grow to accommodate their needs. As your organization grew, through necessity, you had to delegate, first tasks, then decisions. To the point where you now feel a loss of control.”

“And, a loss of power,” Suzanne quickly added.

“And, there is the rub. You see your organization as a hierarchy of power. Don’t kid yourself, the world is biologically ordered into a hierarchy of value. You see the value in your hierarchy as one of power. A power hierarchy begins to weaken the purpose of the organization’s original intent. This is a very serious shift, to understand your organization, not as a power hierarchy, but a hierarchy of competence. And, when you see it that way, what changes?”

The Illusion of Control

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I walked by Suzanne’s office. “Why the long face?” I said.

“Ya know,” she replied, “I thought being CEO would get easier as time went by.”

“And?” I asked.

“But, it’s not. At first, it was great. I was the grand Poo-Bah. Everyone deferred to me. I could snap my fingers and a dozen people jumped. If something went wrong, I could always find someone to blame it on. Dominion over everything. Power over…”

“Go on,” I prompted.

“That was when we were small. The power had an addictive quality. Then we got bigger, things became more structured. Power gave me control, but now I think I am losing both power and control.” Suzanne got quiet.

“Nothing like a little power and the illusion of control,” I smiled.

“Easy for you to say,” she sneered. “I just don’t have the bandwidth to clamp down harder, to get things back in control.”

“Suzanne, what happens to the speed of decision making if all decisions have to go through the CEO?”

She thought, then nodded. “Slows down.”

“Or stops,” I added. “And what happens to the speed of problem solving if all problems have to be solved by the CEO?”

Suzanne picked up the pattern. “Slows down or stops.”

“And what happens to control when decision making slows down? Better or worse?”

She just nodded, pursing her lips.

“It’s counterintuitive,” I said. “The more you clamp down, the less control you have. We misunderstand this concept called delegation. We think delegation is to get some menial tasks off our plate. What we need to delegate are not tasks. What we need to delegate is decision making and problem solving. Only then will we be in greater control.”

Reality Check

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“We started this discussion because I signed off on a project that my team leader believes cannot be done,” Ryker explained. “We identified that, as a manager, I had some self doubt, that perhaps the ringleader might be right.”

I nodded.

“We determined that I had to deal with my own self doubt before I face the team leader,” Ryker continued. “We determined that only after I dealt with my own demons, could I make headway with the team.”

I nodded again. “And, to make headway with the team, what do you have to pay attention to?”

“I think I have to pay attention to the demons each team member has, including the demons the team leader has,” Ryker replied. “I think we have to have a reality check.”

I smiled. “We talked about awareness, we talked about preparation. You have added reality checking.
Reality checking is valuable, especially in the midst of doubt. But, people don’t like to reality check under pressure. So, when do you want to do this reality checking? Before the project gets started?  In the middle of the project when you are already behind schedule?  Or at the end of the project when you have missed the deadline?”

“I think we have to slay the dragon of self doubt first, before the project gets started,” Ryker said. “I know it will take some time, but if we tackle the project with the mindset of self doubt, we will struggle with the obstacles inside the project.”

“Sometimes we have to go slow, so later we can go fast.”

Beating the Status Quo

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“Are you saying that my internal thinking, my doubts as a leader, seeing myself as an imposter, IF I can deal with all of that, the problems in the project will be easier?” Ryker was curious.

“No, the problems in the project will still be difficult,” I replied. “But, if you have doubts in yourself, the problems in the project may be impossible. Slay the imposter first.”

“Slaying the imposter sounds easy and impossible at the same time. Do I just ignore the imposter, pretend it doesn’t exist?” Ryker asked.

“The first step is awareness,” I nodded. “And you are aware. Your stomach relays the message loud and clear. Your stomach wants to win. It tells you to just go with the flow. You have been drifting along in life allowing your stomach to make the tough decisions, mostly to stick with the status quo, do not tackle anything difficult. It wants to lull you back into familiar patterns where there is no conflict.”

“But, the conflict is still there,” Ryker reminded me.

“Yes,” I continued to nod. “Which will win. It’s like two dogs in a fight. Which will win?”

Ryker knew this story. “The dog that wins is the dog I feed.”

Dungeons, Dragons and Demons

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“If I could change the mindset of the ringleader, I could change the mindset of the team,” Ryker thought out loud. “She does not believe we can be successful in the project. It’s a limiting belief in herself.”

“So, she has an internal demon that prevents her from signing on to the project? The very same project that you already promised the customer?” I asked.

“I’m not going back to the customer to renegotiate my commitment,” Ryker was adamant.

“So, let’s talk about internal demons that reside in the mind of your ringleader,” I nodded. “But, before that, let’s talk about the internal demons you have to face.”

“What do you mean?” Ryker was puzzled. “I am not the one confused here. I already signed the contract. I’m fully committed.”

“Yes, but you have doubts,” I smiled. “You are the manager of the team, but you feel it’s important to change the ringleader’s mindset about the project. You feel that not doing so will jeopardize the success of the project. You have doubts about your own leadership ability in the face of the team. You have your own demons to slay. Who is the real leader of your team?”

This put an abrupt halt in the flow of the discussion. Ryker was thinking. “You are right. I do not see myself with the power to pull this off. I mean, I have the authority, but the team has the power.”

“And, what is it about yourself that makes you think this way?” I wanted to know. More accurately, I wanted Ryker to know. “You suggest that changing the mindset of the team’s ringleader has more impact on the team than changing your own mindset. What is the demon that you have to slay?”

Steps to Necessity

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“My question still stands,” Erica was insistent. “How do I get my team to the point where they believe performance is necessary?”

“It starts with competence,” I replied. “We cannot perform at a level where we are not competent. If we are not competent, then, not only will it NOT happen, it cannot be believed to be necessary. So, the first step in believing in the necessity of performance is to build the competence required.”

Erica was a good student. “And, competence is a combination of capability, skill and practiced performance?”

“Moreover,” I responded, “if we have the capability, possess the required skill and practice to the point of habit, then necessity follows. The habit of pace, at quality spec, produces the necessity of performance.”

Broccoli and Power

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“So how do I get my team to the point where they believe in what is necessary? How do I make them believe?” Erica was stumped.

“Indeed,” I said. “If your team doesn’t believe it is necessary, you cannot make them believe. Sure, you can trick them with a bonus or maybe a plaque, but it is still a trick.”

“Like your broccoli story,” Erica remembered, “I have the authority as a parent to command broccoli, but my child has the power to determine if broccoli will be eaten?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “If you feel the need to compel behavior, does that say anything about the power others have over you?”

Nature of Necessity

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“How does necessity work?” Erica wanted to know.

“Think of something in your life that is necessary, nothing complicated, but something you do that is necessary,” I replied.

“Okay, I brush my teeth, not because my mother told me, though that is how I started, but because I believe it is necessary.”

“So, in the beginning, your mother told you, and you followed, not because it was necessary, but because you knew you she would continue to remind you until you complied.”

“And, now,” Erica picked up, “I do it because I believe it is necessary.”

“Now, think about your team. You want them to do something, perform at a pace, and in a way that meets a quality spec, because you believe it is necessary?”

“Yes,” Erica nodded.

“But is your team doing it because you believe it is necessary or because they believe it is necessary?” I prompted.

Erica shrugged. “No, they are only doing it because I told them to do it.”

“And, they will continue to do it as long as you are around to remind them to pick up the pace and pay attention to quality. But, the instant you are gone, they will only do what they believe is necessary. Necessity is not what you believe, it’s what they believe.”