Laying down the paths
Laying down the paths
In high performing teams, people solve problems by having conversations with each other, peer to peer.
The kinds of conversations that you want people to be having are:
“Is this the kind of thing that I should be working on, or would it be better if you did it?”
“Have we thought about how this will impact the customer?”
“If I need to do this, how can I minimise any negative impact on you?”
“What capabilities would we need to develop in order to do this?”
“Who is best placed to make this decision?”
“Did you know someone else tried something similar recently?”
“Is this something that you could teach me, instead of you doing it yourself?”
“How important is this?”
The last one in particular is a great question to overhear. Since there will always be more we could be doing, the relentless drive to prioritise and be doing the most important things is how we deliver great results at a sustainable pace. This makes the best use of our bandwidth - without burning people out.
Because prioritisation is so important, we don’t want to put a bottleneck on our ability to do it. We want it to be something that’s on everybody’s mind, that people call each other to do all the time. And the same is true of all the kinds of questions above - they’re great questions for unlocking powerful collaboration, but they really come into their own when they become part of the organisation’s norms. When they’re not “special occasion” questions but are just a routine part of the conversations that we’re having all the time.
How do we get to that point, where powerful questions are normal?
It starts with managers.
In the first place because there is value in them asking the right kinds of questions. Each time a useful question is asked, someone is helped.
But more than that asking the right questions lays down the path for other people to ask these questions. Everybody within an organisation influences the culture with their behaviour, and managers have a responsibility to use that influence deliberately by speaking and acting in thoughtful and self-aware ways.
Since they are in leadership roles, the authority that comes with their position can add a multiplier to their level of cultural influence, which further underlines the importance of chosing the kinds of conversations they have1.
The more senior they are, the more this applies - part of what makes being a founder such a challenge. It’s a role where you’re always ‘on stage’