Permission?

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“But, I want to empower my team,” Nadia explained. “They shouldn’t have to ask permission for every little thing they do.”

“Do you think empowerment is all about permission?” I asked. “Empowerment is such a weasel word. What are you really trying to accomplish?”

“I just want them to know that I trust them, that I have good intentions toward them,” she replied.

“That you trust them in general? Or that you trust them with something specific?” I pressed.

“Trust them in general I guess,” Nadia shook her head. “To trust them with something specific, I would have to know what the specific thing was.”

“Now, you have clarity,” I chuckled. “Trusting someone in general is what makes empowerment such a weasel word. It is only operative under specific circumstances. I would rather replace the word empowerment with two other words, authority and accountability. Under a specific circumstance, you, as a manager and at your discretion, delegate the authority to make a decision. When you delegate the authority, you also delegate the accountability that goes with the decison. You can’t have one without the other.”

Questions and Stupidity

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“Instead of telling my team what to do, you want me to ask them questions?” Eliana confirmed.

I nodded.

“But, won’t that make it seem like I don’t know the answers?” she protested. “I don’t want to look stupid.”

“Better to ask a question, and appear stupid for a little while,” I replied, “than to never ask the question and be stupid for a long time.”

What We Know

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“But, what am I supposed to do with what I know?” Eliana prodded.

“Ask better questions,” I replied.

“Isn’t it easier just to tell the team what to do and how to do it?” she wanted to know.

“Yes, easier, for sure. But, the problems we face today were caused by what we knew yesterday. What we knew yesterday, if we stick to it, will prevent us from solving the problem today. As long as we are stuck in what we knew yesterday, we continue to be part of the problem, today.”

But, I Know the Answer

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“Yes, we have this meeting, once a week, where I get the team together to ask me questions,” Eliana explained. “We bring in pizza, I call it Lunch and Learn.”

“Learning is good,” I nodded. “In that session, what are you learning?”

“I don’t think you understand,” she replied. “They are the ones with questions. I am providing the answers. I am not the one in the meeting who is learning.”

“I think I get that,” I smiled. “They have questions and you know stuff. They come to learn, in learning mode. You stand at the front, in knowing mode.”

“Of course,” Eliana flatly stated. “They are young and I have more experience.”

“But, my question was – what are YOU learning?” I asked. “More importantly, when you are in knowing mode, what are you NOT learning?”

“But, shouldn’t I share my experience of what I know?” Eliana pressed.

“The purpose of experience, or expertise, is not to demonstrate your knowledge (knowing mode). The purpose of experience is sharpen your mind to ask better questions (learning mode). Better questions that lead the team to mission, vision and purpose.”

A Zone of Judgement

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“I tried it,” Bowen shook his head. “I got stuffed. The team resisted. They told me everything was fine, that I was worried about nothing. They said, if my manager wasn’t happy with the team’s output, that was their problem. If my manager didn’t like it, he could just fire the whole team. They thought that was funny, knowing we would never just fire the whole team.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “So, what does that tell you about comfort zones?”

Bowen thought. “Comfort zones infect the way we think. It’s like a habit, so grooved that anything out of the zone must be wrong. The comfort zone looks like a position of judgement, self protecting the way we have always done things.”

“So, while habits help us routinize a process,” I said, “that habit lulls us into a sense of comfort that prevents us from seeing obstacles on the periphery. We ignore those obstacles until they become front and center. So comfortable is our zone, we may continue to deny the obstacle, call it unimportant, maybe not fair.”

Bowen looked straight at me. “I run a fine line. I want to create habits to ensure a consistency of output, that we are doing things the best way, efficiently. But, we also have to watch out that our comfort zone doesn’t cause us to deny new problems or circumstances that require a new response outside of our habit.”

I smiled. “And, how do you imagine getting your team to that point?”

Comfort Zones

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“I call it constructive discontent,” I nodded.

“What do you mean?” Bowen asked.

“You wonder why things don’t improve around your team, you seem to always fall just short of expectations, and you can never figure out why.”

“But, I have a very experienced team,” he said. “They know how things are done around here. There just always seems to be some curve ball that throws us off our game.”

“Sounds like things are comfortable, maybe too easy. Until you get the curve ball? Why do you think the curve ball throws you off your game?”

“It’s unexpected, out of the ordinary, a variance in our routine. When it happens, and it happens regularly, we get off balance, like a deer in the headlights.”

“And, you are not happy about this?” I smiled.

“No,” Bowen frowned. “Most of the time, things run really smooth, but these hiccups in our process seem to constantly put us behind.”

“Perhaps, it is your comfort zone, the comfort zone for the team that prevents an appropriate response to the hiccup. Perhaps, you should create some artificial hiccups, change the pace, increase a quality spec, move the deadline, so your team could practice being out of their comfort zone. Have your team create a stress test exercise, and then, practice. Practice being out of your comfort zone.”

What’s the Problem?

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“You have a look of consternation on your face,” I said.

“Correct,” Adriana replied. “I just got back our survey results on my customer service team. Not so good.”

“What do you understand from the survey?” I wanted to know.

“I know we have the best trained team in the company,” she started. “We constantly go over the process, the rules, the disclaimers. We role play situations to make sure we are following the training. The team does great. They do exactly what they are supposed to do.”

“Where’s the rub?” I asked.

“One of the survey questions asked ‘Did we solve the problem?’ We only solved the problem 23% of the time. So 77% of the time, the customer said no.”

“So, you have very strict guidelines, and your customer service team follows those guidelines with a high level of compliance. Tell me, do you think the guidelines were created to solve customer problems? Let’s look at the first two steps. First, smile when taking a call. Second, use the customer’s first name.”

“Yes, those are important,” Adriana defended. “We want the conversation to be friendly. We want the customer to feel like they are talking to a real person.”

“But, just because I am friendly and know the customer’s first name does not mean I have a solution to their problem.”

Not About the Box

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It was a shiny new metal box mounted on the wall. A spiffy sign next to the box announced SuGGESTIONS. Luka was proud of the new addition to the wall.

“Hey, Luka,” I said. “Is your suggestion box full yet?”

“I just put it up,” he replied. “I’m trying to get the team to come up with new ideas. It doesn’t seem like people are very engaged in the work we do. I hope this helps.”

“Which comes first?” I asked. “Do you think the suggestion box will get people more engaged? Or do you think people need to be engaged to contribute to the suggestion box?”

Luka gave me a blank stare.

I smiled. “Engagement doesn’t have a lot to do with the box.”

Can You See What I See?

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Wesley was happy. “I stayed up most of the night last night, couldn’t sleep. I finally figured out a new process for the way we inspect parts coming off the line. It should speed things up and detect almost all the product defects.”

“Congratulations,” I smiled. “How is the team responding to the new process?”

“Oh, they don’t know about it yet,” Wesley replied. “I have a meeting with them in about ten minutes. I am sure they are going to be enthusiastic about the changes.”

“Quite certain, are you?” I continued to smile.

“I can tell by your question that you think I am overoptimistic about the team’s reaction.”

I chuckled. “Yes. You have a new story to tell the team that is different from the old story the team has been living with. You can see things about this new process that your team may struggle with. And, their old story will support their struggle. Do not underestimate the power of the story people tell themselves. Your new story has to pull the team all the way through the struggle so they begin to see what you see.”

Who Is Driving This Bus?

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“I’m frustrated,” Pauline pouted.

“How so?” I asked.

“I can’t seem to get my team to see things the way I see them,” she nodded.

“Tell me more,” I smiled.

“The team’s priorities seem a bit misguided,” she replied. “I can’t figure out what drives them. They are casual about showing up for work, they knock off early for lunch, they live for the afternoon break and race out at 5p even if we are in the middle of a run.”

“It sounds like what drives you and what drives the team are different,” I said. “So, tell me, what drives you?”

“I’m not really sure,” Pauline wondered out loud. “Definitely different, but I’m not sure I can tell you what drives me.”

“If you cannot figure out what drives you, how can you expect to figure out what drives another person?”