Sometimes, it only takes one team member to sink a good idea.
Just one ‘Black Hatter,’ as De Bono might label them, who can see the faults, risks and problems in a big possibility can be influential enough to have us turn our backs on that opportunity.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Our obsessions with chasing…
- perfection in growth and improvement opportunities before we press ‘Go’
- unanimous levels of leadership support before we press ‘Go’
… are wholly unproductive and, at least to a point, irresponsible.
He’s not the world’s most moral role model, but Jeff Bezos (of Amazon fame) is undeniably successful. In this interview, he speaks to the notion of disagreeing but committing anyway.
As Bezos says, “It saves a lot of arguing.”
In a nutshell, high performing cultures don’t fight to be right on every detail and decision. They don’t torpedo ideas because they think they suck or that the person presenting it sucks. They have a cultural habit of disagreeing… and then committing anyway.
Leaders can then say to someone they with, “OK, I’m not crash hot on <insert the thing you definitely don’t want to do>. But, I reckon you’re pretty qualified and possibly smart enough to make it work. I’m going to give you all my help and energy anyway.”
In such a leadership culture, we don’t need to be right. We want the bets of our colleagues to win, even when we think they won’t.
There’s no white anting, undermining or “I told you so” moments six months after you’ve spent six months poisoning another’s work focus.
So, I’ve got three questions for you:
- Could you bet on the vision of a fellow leader, with all your energy and effort, even if you disagree with it?
- Could you ask somebody who disagrees with you, to bet on your idea with all their energy and effort, rather than argue with them?
- Can you stop letting perfection and unanimity prevent you from making valuable progress?
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. There is less than a week before my webinar about transforming your school culture through a Real Schools partnership.
If you’re a school leader and you want to learn more about how a School Culture Partnership can deliver real change for your school, please join me.
Transform Your School Culture | Free webinar
Thursday 31 October 2024
4:00pm AEDT
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