It Started With Pizza

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“You know that pizza party we had last Friday, for all the people on the team who stayed late, helped us get that project shipped?” Henry smiled.

“Yes,” I replied, waiting for the rest of the story.

“That worked so well, I thought I would expand that idea,” he added. “I think, if I offered restaurant gift cards for extra effort, things might perk up around here.”

“I am all for extending appreciation,” I nodded. “Sometimes, pizza goes a long way. But, what do you think will happen with your gift card program?”

“Sometimes, I see people slow walking pieces of projects, no skip in their step, no smiles, no enthusiasm. I thought maybe, if I gave out a few gift cards, this might be a happier place.”

I winced. “If you create a gift card game, do you think it will be a happier place, or do you think you simply create a culture of performance for gift cards?”

Competence and Happiness

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“A new day, a new way?” I asked.

Sophia smirked. “Yes, but this is more difficult than I thought. I mean, I thought I would like this kind of work, I thought I would be good at it.”

“Conventional wisdom,” I said. “Isn’t that the pursuit of happiness? Find something you like and you will be good at it.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I like the work, it’s interesting, but it doesn’t seem to come natural to me,” she said, shaking her head.

“It is possible you have it backwards,” I nodded. “We like activity in which we are competent, not the other way around. Just because you like something doesn’t mean you are competent. Just because you are interested and read a book about basketball does not mean you are a good 3-point shooter. On your way to becoming a good 3-point shooter, which takes practice over practice, as you become competent, you will find your happiness. Those who are competent in their pursuit will find the most satisfaction. Those who are not competent, who did not practice, will soon become disinterested and go another way.”

Bitter Solution

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“It turned out to be a slippery slope,” Noah described. “We had the answer right in front of us. The entire team saw it, but they hesitated.”

“He who hesitates is lost?” I asked.

“I’ll say,” he replied. “The solution to the problem was going to be expensive, with no real way to push off the risk. So, we sat with the problem, we argued about it, complained about it, we pointed fingers at the enemy. All of that, instead of solving the problem.”

“In the end?” I wanted to know.

“In the end, a competitor, who was willing to do the work, swooped in and snatched the contract from our fingers.”

“And your analysis?”

Noah took a breath. “It was like we would rather argue, complain and blame. We would rather sit with the problem than come up with the painful solution we didn’t like. It may have been a bitter pill for our competitor, but they got the contract, and the margin that went with it.”

Never Do That Again

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“Needless to say, we will never do that again,” Charlotte announced.

“Indeed? How so?” I asked.

“I should have seen it coming,” she replied. “We had a similar situation last year that turned out great, though we all attributed it to blind dumb luck. This year, blind dumb luck turned out to be blind, dumb, BAD luck.”

I nodded. “They say experience is the best teacher. Is that not true?”

“Absolutely true. Like I said, we will never do that again.”

I chuckled. “Experience may be the best teacher, but it’s not experience that gets the credit. It’s the way you interpret the experience. And, what you learn, is no better than your interpretation. So, when you do your post mortem debrief, you have to look at the circumstances, the observable events, AND you have to look at your interpretations. That’s where the thinking kicks in.”

Most Important Variable

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“But, shouldn’t we start with the great management books in the literature?” Leonard questioned. “I mean the great management books, not the mediocre, not the lousy ones. Those people have tried and failed, tried again and finally succeeded. Shouldn’t I pay attention to how they did it?”

“How they did it, might be instructive,” I replied. “IF you were in those exact circumstances, at that exact time and IF you were who they were. But you’re not. You expect all things to be equal. Your circumstances are different, your time is different. Most importantly, YOU are different. The cogent variable is not the step-by-step instructions. The most important variable is YOU.”

The Way It Works

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“So you are not so high on reading books about leadership?” Leonard pushed back. “You read books on leadership. Are you saying that I shouldn’t listen to you. After all, you are the teacher.”

I smiled. “Yes, I read books. And, you choose whether to listen to me or not, it’s your choice. I know for a fact that I cannot teach leadership or management. It doesn’t happen that way. I also know, for a fact, that leadership or management can be learned. That’s the way it works.”

Real Life

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“I just read this great new book on leadership,” Leonard reported.

“Great,” I replied. “It’s always good to feed your head with new ideas.”

“No, I mean, this guy really hit the head of the nail. I think this will help me get the to root of some of the problems I experience with my team,” Leonard said. “Do you want me to tell you the ideas?”

“Nope,” I smiled. “Information on how to do something may be helpful, but it’s the application, the implementation that is more important. Rather than you tell me the great ideas in the book, go back to your team and apply those ideas. Next week, you can tell me how the ideas worked in real life.”

Watch What They Do

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“I’m not sure I get it,” said Rolando. “I talked to my team, asked them to explain how they would solve the problem. They gave me really good answers. Almost perfect. I left and came back. They were still struggling with the problem, trying to fix it the old way.”

“If we really want to understand someone,” I replied, “as the leader of the pack, can sit down and have a conversation. We can go really deep. A conversation is very expedient. But, if you really want to understand someone, watch what they do. Often, we can talk a good game, execution is a different story. The best measure of performance is performance.”**
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**Shades of Lee Thayer

Long Term Consequence

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“Clarity, competence, habits, conscientiousness. There’s more?” Mariana asked.

“I told you that making performance necessary was not a simple sleight of hand, or even a hat trick of three,” I said.  “The most powerful element of necessity is consequences. And, I am not talking about pizza for the team for a job well done. Necessity becomes a part of a person’s life.  Long term consequences. Over a decade, the difference in a person’s life has to do with clarity of aim, competence to perform, positive habits that build momentum and conscientiousness to persist toward the goal, in spite of obstacles. That difference is the consequence that matters in our quality of life.

“For you, as a leader, you must surround yourself, build your team with people who see performance as necessary. Not only for your goals, but for their own personal aspirations.”

Conscientiousness

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Mariana counted on her fingers. “Necessity requires clarity, competence and habits,” she nodded.

I smiled. “Did I mention conscientiousness?.** It’s a mental state related to personal responsibility. You would observe conscientiousness in the things a person feels obligated to do, in their persistence to complete a task, to maintain necessary standards.”

“How will I know, if a person is conscientious or not?” Mariana asked.

“It’s there in front of you to observe. Given a task, the person may have a few questions, but they do not procrastinate. They get right to it and work to the end. They will never ask – Is that good enough? If you were clear in the standard, they will know what is good enough.”

“We started this discussion,” Mariana said, “because you told me the reason my team underperformed is because I had not made the performance standard necessary. Making performance necessary must be my accountability.”

I nodded in agreement, before I added one more thing.
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**Conscientiousness is a trait measured by the Big Five Assessment, free version here.