Field notes
Field Notes
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By focusing on who people want to be, what they want to experience, and where they want to land, leaders give team members something only they can provide. The potential impact of this conversation cannot be overstated.
Many of the most important things in life are free. They just take some time and genuine interest. This special conversation is one of them. Consider having it with each and every person you lead.
Good leaders may even employ one of the idiosyncratic tests popularized by news profiles of eccentric leaders, like whether they defer to others to select the wine at a restaurant or offer to pick up the tab at an interview lunch. But they don’t view the responses as a litmus test for selection. They incorporate every piece of data into the decision-making process without making wild or unfounded inferences from any one act.Leaders who cling to farcical secret tests to determine who should be eliminated from consideration lack the objectivity needed to accurately assess candidates.
Good teams strive to be candid in their discussions and interactions. Quality decisions depend on honest views and frank assessments. Without the ability for team members to be forthright with their opinions, problems fester and opportunities are squandered. Yet very few teams ever attain the promise of absolute candor. The many reasons people edit themselves and choose not to be candid with others are legion.
First and foremost, people instinctively know that candidness can ruffle feathers and create conflict or ill-will. Their desire to be liked and accepted is simply too strong for many people to overcome.
The Paradox of Creativity and Constraint
The vocabulary of justifying hurtful comments is easy to spot because everyone uses them on occasion.
Phrases that precede this bad behavior are commonplace:
“This situation demands I say this.”
“I have no choice but to state what we are all thinking.”
“I’m following your lead here.”
“We are all under a lot of stress and must air our honest views.”
“I’m truly just trying to help here.”
“Sometimes the ends justify the means.”
“You will understand later why I must say this.”
“I know this will come off poorly.”
“I’m in a bad place.”
“My integrity requires me to say this.”
“Tough love is never comfortable.”
“I need to get this off my chest.”
“I’m going to take a chance here.”
“I’m not trying to catch you off guard.”
Those with more status and power keep their colleagues moving in the same direction with more highly coordinated action. Research on social species, from ants to horses, proves that hierarchies are essential for groups to operate effectively. So, the next time some brainchild suggests the organization should move to a totally flat structure, recommend they take a job as a theorist and leave the practice of effectively working together to those who understand that without hierarchy, the trains don’t run.