The Myth of the Team.
Ask any good student what project they dislike the most and they will say:
Group work.
The myth of The Team.
Doubly Difficult.
Parachuting in when you have to pack march out - is doubly difficult.
Parachuting in usually does not give the parachutist the skills, fortitude, experience, patience, and perspective to pack march out.
Parachute In.
Anyone can make a decision.
Anyone can make a quick decision.
What matters is what happens next.
Parachute in.
Long march out.
Bosses with Big Egos.
Bosses with big egos and big insecurities interpret any questioning or criticism of the organisation as an attack on them.
It must be repelled at all costs.
Daily Soliloquies.
Imagine hearing a knock at your door, and instead of opening it, giving a soliloquy about knowing who it is, their intentions, what will happen after you open the door, and after they leave?
We do that every day in our judgements of people.
Buridan’s Donkey.
A donkey, equally hungry and thirsty, caught at an equal distance between food and water, would die of hunger or thirst.
But he can be saved by a random nudge one way or the other.
This metaphor is named Buridan’s Donkey,
A worker, equally mortgaged and hollowed, caught an equal distance between wealth and wholeness, would die of homelessness or stress.
But she can be saved.
By the boss sacking her.
Four Million Flights.
‘We’re boarding in groups,’ Qantas announces at the gate.
‘We’re about to begin meal service in ten minutes, so please visit the toilets now, to avoid the trolleys in the aisles.’
Qantas introduced the 737 into service in 1986.
It took forty years and around four million 737 flights using the same technology of people queuing at departure gates and stuck in aisles behind trolleys.
Four million opportunities for staff to identify and implement these simple changes to improve boarding and meal service efficiency.
Never assume that the way something is done by any organisation must be the best way because it’s always been done that way.
You’re Part of It.
“You’re a part of it. You’re the captain, so you’re part of the sell. You’re part of recruiting, you’re part of performance, you’re part of standards. So, you’re part of it. Now if you don’t want to be part of it, don’t be captain. It’s not ‘I’m only being captain if we start winning’. You’re part of the problem; you’re part of the solution is the way I look at it.” - Adam Simpson, AFL Premiership Coach
From the moment you apply for a job, you’re part of whatever ‘It’ is.
The Length of the Boss’s Foot.
In medieval England, the Chancellor had wide discretionary powers in the Court of Chancery.
Unlike the fixed rules of common law courts, Chancery judgments were based on the Chancellor’s personal sense of justice.
Critics complained that this system lacked certainty.
‘Equity varies with the length of the Chancellor’s foot.’
Most workplaces are run by Chancellors.
Kindness Above Everything.
Some bosses tell themselves a story that it’s their job to be cruel.
Only they have the authority and discretion to make the Tough Decisions.
That this is why they are the Boss and get paid the big bucks.
That being tough and upsetting people is almost Virtuous.
Perhaps - but rarely.
The ‘hard’ decision are sometimes hard because they call on the Boss to do something harder than being cruel:
To put kindness above everything.
And to ride out the consequences.
Forgetting and Remembering.
I regularly forget,
And need reminding,
That the first job of a leader is to Define Reality.
Which might mean -
That the first job of a leader is to Remember that you Forget and need to Remember.
Revealing.
Often a boss’s actions reveal less about them - than what is revealed in others’ responses to the boss.
The Big Levers.
The job of management isn’t to direct, control, and review people.
It’s to pull the few big levers so the workers don’t have to pull ten times as many.
It’s to prevent rocks and stones from tumbling down the cliff face onto the workers climbing below.
Sharpened.
We are cut by blows from our enemies’ blunt instruments sharpened with our insecurities.
Moving the Cliché Needle.
Why don’t leadership consultants like to reverse park in ground level car parks?
Because they prefer to circle back, and move the needle, in this space, going forward.
