7

THE OTHER INDIVIDUAL SKILLS: BEING TRUE TO THE WORK AND TRUE TO THE COMPANY

The vast majority of us see ourselves as being True to the Work. But doing that when we are working alone is quite different than when we are working with others. It’s more of a challenge to Be True to the Work when working in a team because we often have such different perspectives. The teams that get labelled as “special” are the ones that merge disparate views well. Two of the key proficiencies that help a team achieve this synergy are Being Open to New Information and Exploring the Options.

OUR OPENNESS TO NEW INFORMATION

There is usually far more information available to us than what we take in. Our brain lets in only a portion of the available stimuli. Some of this takes place at a sub-conscious level. Some of it happens consciously when we knowingly make decisions about what to take in and what to ignore.

We can improve our ability to let in more of the relevant information and filter out things that are less relevant. We can train our brain to do a better job of situational analysis (quickly assessing our environment, figuring out what’s going on, and making sense of it). As a result, we will be “seeing beyond images; hearing beyond words; and sensing beyond appearances.”¹

Four tools are particularly useful for training our brain to gather and use information more effectively: Noticing What We Are Seeing, Scanning for Relevant Details, Using Our Senses to Gather Information, and Seeing the Patterns in Information. (Alex Bennet, former Chief Knowledge Officer for the U.S. Department of Navy, was instrumental in developing these tools.²) When folks on a team use these four skills, the team will function at a higher level. What follows are some exercises that can expand our skills in these four areas.

NOTICING WHAT WE ARE SEEING

Most of us multitask more often than we realize. When we sit in a room or walk between buildings, we are deep in thought. At times we may focus on our surrounding environment. More often, though, we don’t. We may be thinking about the meeting we’re about to attend or something our manager just said. Or even that we need to pick up milk at the grocery store on the way home from work. We aren’t actively noticing what’s around us. We’re on automatic pilot, letting our brain decide subconsciously what to let in.

By consciously observing more, we can train our brain to do a better job of noticing what is important. This doesn’t mean that we stop multitasking forever. That’s not something that most people want to do. Rather, we are taking brief breaks from it to teach our brain to do better at filtering on its own.

One way to stretch our capacity to notice more is to practice repetitive observation and recall. Think about a room that you visit regularly (one that you are not in at the moment). Write down every detail you can remember about this room and its contents. Then visit the room and compare your memory to what actually exists. Add items that you missed to your list.

A few days later, repeat this exercise. Without looking at your revised list, recall as much as you can about that room and again write it down. Then return to the room and see if you did any better. Did you remember or forget things that you added from your first return visit? What else did you see on this newest visit that you hadn’t noticed on your first return?

Continue to practice this exercise with different locations. It should begin to improve the amount that you notice and can later recall. And it will translate to enhanced noticing in other aspects of your life. For instance, your team should be able to design a much better game if you notice how a variety of customers do in playing the game and notice what’s going on when they’re having difficulties performing certain commands.

SCANNING FOR RELEVANT DETAILS

Scanning is the act of taking large amounts of data and narrowing them down to the details most relevant for a particular situation. As we train ourselves to notice even more of the information in our environment, we need a better way to retain what is useful and filter out the rest. Scanning is like “speed reading our environment.”³

Practice the art of scanning the next time you are in a room that is new to you. Take a moment to quickly look around and then make a mental snapshot of what you are seeing. Count the number of tables and chairs and how they are positioned. Note colors and textures. Next, close your eyes and mentally document those things. Don’t capture any of this in writing, because this activity is about remembering. As you leave the room, take another quick look around to reinforce the details you scanned earlier. A few days later, when you are in a different physical setting, take a few moments to recall important descriptors of that room. A few months later, see if you can still remember most of those descriptors.

The idea isn’t to go back and double-check and increase the number of details you remember, as you did in the noticing exercise. Here, the goal is to improve your ability to scan an environment quickly, commit relevant descriptors to memory, and be able to recall them later when you need them.

Conduct this exercise regularly when you are in new settings. Over time, you will see an improvement in your ability to scan and determine what to capture in your memory. If members of your team work on improving this skill, your collective abilities will likewise improve.

USING OUR SENSES

Sensing means using as many of our five senses as possible when we gather information. Of course, we have physiological limits. Some of us have permanent visual or hearing impairments. Many of us have a temporarily reduced sense of smell when we have a cold. Putting those limitations aside, it’s safe to say that most of us could make better use of our five senses to take in information.

Increasing our use of sight means more than just seeing things in greater detail; it also means seeing things in relationship to other things. This skill helps us to sort and make sense of data we are taking in.

One way to improve your ability to see things in relation to other things is to look at your surroundings from a positional viewpoint. For instance, when you are looking at the sun, notice both its position in the sky and in relation to the horizon. Now, note the time of day. Store that information in your mind. When you see the sun at that position during a certain time of year, you will be able to approximate the time without looking at your watch.

Notice the buildings and other permanent fixtures at a street corner without looking at the street signs. Commit these fixtures to memory and you will be able to recognize this corner without the aid of the street signs in the future.

Increasing your relational abilities can help you and coworkers with a variety of issues at work. Imagine that you are redesigning a hammer that your company sells. In watching a variety of customers use the existing hammer you suddenly notice that the size of the customer’s hand and length of fingers affects the ability to use the tool well. When you share this insight with your design team you realize that it might make sense to design hammers with a variety of handle lengths and widths to meet the needs of people with different hand sizes. You embark on more research in this area and arrive at an entirely new set of offerings for your company. Chances are that you wouldn’t have noticed this until you improved your ability to see things relationally.

Our hearing also helps us to comprehend what is going on around us. Auditory clues provide all sorts of information that augment the data that we take in visually. Try this exercise: Close your eyes and focus on what you’re hearing. What conversations are going on? Do you hear people walking? Other sounds?

Once you have identified those sounds determine where they are in relation to you without looking. Where are the talking people located? In which direction do you hear footsteps? Are they coming toward you or moving away? Once you are adept at identifying sounds close to you, train yourself to hear more faint sounds.

The following is an additional sensory exercise: The next time you are talking with someone, focus on their non-verbal clues. What does his facial expression imply? Is he sighing or pausing between words? Is he gesturing? What do you think these things mean? Search beyond his words to identify the other signals he is sharing. Only a small portion of what people communicate is through words. The more skilled you become at reading those non-verbal signals the better you will understand other people’s thoughts and feelings.

SEEING THE PATTERNS

Seeing patterns is a vital skill in an environment packed with information. As we expand our ability to notice, to scan, and to take in sensory data, we need a way to quickly analyze all that information. This skill is about noticing patterns. When you are in a group, practice seeing patterns in what people wear. How many are wearing dark colors or short-sleeved shirts? Are there logos on the shirts?

Begin to notice patterns between different rooms in a building or different restaurants.

The next time you are standing in line, instead of focusing on your mobile device, look around and see if you can detect any patterns in what you are seeing. Over time, you should notice an improvement in your ability to see patterns in all sorts of data, including employee or customer satisfaction surveys, problems related to a product you are creating, and other aspects of your work world. Imagine your team using heightened patterning abilities. The teams that do the best are the ones that are made up of people with strong patterning abilities.

Now let’s move on to two tools that can assist your team in analyzing options more effectively.

EXPLORING THE OPTIONS

When we engage in a lively discussion about options we are analyzing, sometimes things move smoothly to common understandings and decisions. The right ideas emerge quickly. The group easily achieves consensus. At other times, that isn’t the case and getting to joint conclusions is more challenging.

We often assume that speed to consensus is desirable. We all have other tasks waiting for us. Additionally, lack of clarity can be uncomfortable. Disagreements can become heated. These unpleasant feelings can encourage us to just plow forward, but sometimes that’s not the best thing to do.

I can offer you a simple process for analyzing and comparing ideas and options in situations when you want to reach consensus and move ahead with one of them, but you’re having a hard time.

SYSTEMATIC BELIEF AND DOUBT

When we support an idea, we notice aspects of it that are better than other ideas, and see the ways it can help us move toward our goals. (Let’s call this “engaging in a Belief Search.”) When we do not support an idea, we tend to look for aspects of that idea that are weak and could mean failure. (Let’s call this a “Doubt Search.”) Using a structured Belief/Doubt approach, we can all engage in both sides together rather than some of us gathering evidence to prove the strength of the idea while others look for evidence that shows its inherent weakness. Doing so helps the group do a better job of evaluating options and making the best choice.

Peter Elbow⁴ originated the idea and, in working with companies over the years, I have evolved it into this activity. It consists of just two steps. First, the whole group engages in the Belief Search. Everyone looks for the parts of the idea that are true and that make it workable. Only after they have done that thoroughly does the whole group move on to engage in a Doubt Search, seeking to uncover the parts of the idea that work against its succeeding.

While engaged in the Belief Search, the group needs to agree not to move on to the Doubt step until everyone can see the significant parts of the idea that are persuasive. The work of this step is to find those areas of strength. First, everyone in the group needs to understand the idea. What evidence supports it? What are its intriguing features? When might this idea be true and useful? The questions we ask should help identify positive aspects of the idea. Those of us who believe in the idea should help others see it from our point of view. And we need to share the evidence and interpretations that led us to those positive interpretations.

Those of us who are skeptical should agree to explore those strengths until we can understand them. That means being willing to listen with an open mind. Team members may not reject the idea until they have succeeded in believing in it. One of the secrets of believing is that we have to invest ourselves in the idea and in liking it. We are not just going along to go along. If we are finding it difficult to agree, we need to keep working at it until we genuinely see the positive points that others see.

Once the group has a full view of the strengths associated with the idea, we move on to the Doubt Search. Now it’s time to critique the idea and explore its flaws. During this step, participants shouldn’t remain so attached to the idea’s strengths that we are unable to see its frailties. Look for aspects of the idea that might make it unworkable. Look for inconsistencies that may have gone unnoticed during the Belief Search. Explore the circumstances under which this idea might be unworkable.

With all participating fully in both the Belief and the Doubt Searches, the discussion becomes a dialogue in which everyone works together to discover the best courses of action. Participants usually discover an idea’s strengths that they weren’t previously seeing, and also uncover weaknesses they hadn’t been aware of. This gives them a more complete picture from which to make the decision. And they listen to each other and both the pros and cons related to the options much better than traditional discussions in which everyone is advocating for their own choices.

Because this process does take time and energy it should be reserved for tasks that are important, and for the options that have the most potential, rather than all the options that have arisen from a brainstorming session. This Belief/Doubt Search can be particularly useful in cases when you don’t have enough hard facts at the beginning of the discussion to form a sound conclusion. One leader I interviewed shared a striking difference between the firm where he currently works and another company in the same industry where he used to work. At his previous workplace, employees believed they were more knowledgeable and capable of great conclusions than others. That view led them to have a higher regard for their own ideas and lower regard for ideas shared by others. This resulted in very little real consideration of ideas shared by others. He struggled to express how suffocating the workplace had been. It undermined the company’s success because employees rarely used their communal brain to examine ideas together. He left and found a company with a very different culture. He is convinced that this openness to ideas of others is crucial to effective collaboration. So am I.

The Belief/Doubt process helps us create that collaborative company culture. It also reduces group-think, a phenomenon in which team members begin to think too much alike and become so supportive of others that we don’t challenge each other to come to great solutions.

WHEN WE NEED SOMETHING MORE: INFORMED REVISIONING

At some point in exploring our options, we may find that none of them fully achieves our objectives. We aren’t thrilled with any of the possibilities. We suspect that continuing the current dialogue in the same direction isn’t likely to lead to a magical solution. However, we are fairly certain that we’ve come up with the most feasible options. This means that starting over isn’t likely to yield better alternatives.

In cases like this, it can help to return to our options and look at them with a new eye. The intent is not to create an entirely new slate of options, but to scrutinize the ones already on the table in a different way, informed by the analysis we already conducted, along with some new thoughts. The ideal is to use this new thinking to arrive at a new option that combines some of the best parts of the existing ideas.

In order to do this, we need to identify and examine the advantages (or upsides) and disadvantages (or downsides) of our options. The following image represents a worksheet you can use to capture the brainstorming and assist you in finding that new option.

First, list each of the options under consideration. Then identify the upsides and downsides of each of those options. Find the most important pluses and minuses of each option.

Now it’s time to get creative and craft a new solution. This solution will integrate as many of the salient upsides from all of those existing options as possible, while minimizing as many significant downsides as you can. You are creating a new option, but not one from scratch. Rather, that new option will re-organize and re-combine important aspects of your previous ideas into new thinking and a new possibility.

It is important to keep in mind that your new solution is not meant to be a compromise between these various options, but instead an inspired integration of aspects that work together to meet your needs.

Image by Eileen Zornow

It might help to see an example of Informed Revisioning. Let’s say you are a leader at a Mexican-fusion fast-food chain. The executives of the chain have decided to expand the number of restaurants. You and three other leaders have the job of determining what type of expansion would be most likely to contribute to the overall success of your company.

After much research, your team has come up with the following three options: expand by increasing the number of your branded, Mexican-fusion restaurants in several already-successful markets; expand by moving into some new geographies and establishing a presence for your chain in those new markets; expand by opening some fast-food burger restaurants in several of your already- successful markets.

You have spent weeks working together on this important project. The whiteboards in your meeting room are full of facts and figures. Piles of paper hold copies of PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets crammed with data, and images. You have conducted exhaustive research.

The four of you have examined the options in detail and you are surprised that despite all of the work you’ve put into it, none of the options rise above the other two as the best. You have even talked about whether you should start over and try to discover another option—one that might stand out more favorably than any of these three. After consideration, however, you agree that going back to the starting place doesn’t seem like it will yield any better or different solutions. You decide to use Informed Revisioning. This is what you come up with:

STEP 1

Identify the upsides and downsides of your three options. You do that and come up with the following options. (For the sake of this example I have identified only two upsides and downsides for each option. When using Informed Revisioning on a real issue, you will likely identify many more than this.)

Option 1: Expand by increasing the number of Mexican-fusion restaurants in several already successful markets.

Upsides include:

   You can use existing supply chains and distribution centers to stock the new restaurants, saving money.

   You can similarly capitalize on existing advertising, saving money in this area as well.

Downsides include:

   People who like your food might already be visiting your restaurants. The new restaurants may cannibalize a lot of business from your current sites.

   You may have set up restaurants in the best locations already, and further expansion in your current markets will not be supported with enough new business to be profitable.

Option 2: Expand by moving into some new geographies and establishing a presence for your chain in those new markets.

Upsides include:

   If some percentage (say, 33 percent) of everyone in the United States likes Mexican-fusion fast food, then you can expand your success by getting 33 percent of a whole new market.

   Adding new markets enables you to get closer to purchasing national advertising, which is often more cost-efficient than localized advertising.

Downsides include:

   You can’t capitalize on existing supply chain and distribution centers, so these costs will be higher.

   When you move into new markets you can’t leverage existing brand awareness and word-of-mouth.

Option 3: Expand by opening several fast-food burger restaurants in several already-successful markets.

Upsides include:

   Even though these restaurants will serve different menu items, you can still use existing supply chains and distribution centers to stock the new restaurants, saving some money.

   You are not cannibalizing current business because you will presumably tap a different audience with these burger restaurants than you do with your Mexican-fusion restaurants.

Downsides include:

   Although you can use your existing supply chain and distribution centers, you need to stock different foods and accessories, increasing your costs and increasing the complexity of managing your inventory.

   Advertising to establish and maintain two brands in these markets will cost more.

Graphic by Eileen Zornow

STEP 2

Craft a new solution that integrates as many of the salient upsides of the three options as possible while minimizing as many significant downsides as you can.

   After examining all of these upsides and downsides it becomes clear that the best solution is to have a multi-pronged approach. You decide to recommend to your executives that:

Engaging in Informed Revisioning helped these leaders see things from a new perspective. This activity helped them see that they didn’t have to just choose one of the three options. It allowed them to come to new conclusions and make strong recommendations to their executives that they wouldn’t otherwise have thought of.

WHEN TO FISH AND WHEN TO CUT BAIT

When we are dealing with constraints such as time, money, or staff resources, it sometimes makes the most sense to just select the best option at-hand and implement it. This is called “satisficing,” a term that was coined in the 1940s by Herbert Simon, a Nobel Prize winner and renowned management expert. Combining the words satisfy and suffice, it describes those situations when an optimal solution is not likely to be found so we go with the best one that we have.

At other times, however, satisficing isn’t the best thing to do. What if Tesla had satisficed when they were trying to build their first all-electric car? If they had stopped before they found the right formula, they might have ended up designing just another very good hybrid rather than the industry-changing car that they built. On the other hand, what if Tesla had spent five more years trying to get the formula right and still had not found the right design? In that case, they might have wished they had satisficed.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Success comes from taking the path of maximum advantage instead of the path of least resistance.”⁵ Unfortunately, there is no easy formula for determining if we are on the cusp of that next amazing product. Often it is best to satisfice because it does the job and we suspect that many more months of work will not yield the result we want.

This concept is an important one for groups making critical decisions that influence directions of a project or an entire company. Although there is no easy way to determine when to “fish” and when to “cut bait,” these decisions are crucially important. If this situation arises, a group needs to discuss whether to keep going or to satisfice.

TIPS FOR BEING TRUE TO THE COMPANY

THE JOURNEY FROM UNDERSTANDING TO BUY-IN

Being True to the Company starts with a clear understanding of the company’s directions and buy-in to those directions. Understanding firm-wide goals and strategies is greatly enhanced when employees have an understanding of the context they are operating within. The more we know about our company’s mission, which includes why the leaders are passionate about that mission, and our history of achievements, failures, and lessons, the more we become vested in helping our company succeed.

Company goals become our own goals not just because we know that achieving them pays our salary. We are willing to work harder to help make the company successful when we see and understand that bigger picture and when leaders treat us as true partners.

Let’s share what this feels like in real life with an example of from one Silicon Valley company.

We launched a new product this year at our company. We knew it would mean an increase in work, but had no idea how much. When the amount of work dawned on us, we were a bit daunted. We thought about saying we just couldn’t do it without some support.

We talked informally to some of our leaders. They helped us realize that the company couldn’t afford to give us more resources. The company was strapped. They candidly shared that giving us more would just take vital resources from another group. It could jeopardize the success of this new product and our company. The company really needed the additional revenue.

Once those leaders shared what was going on, things fell into place. We leveraged our current roles as much as we could. We divided up the tasks in ways that made sense. Part of it was based on our expertise and location, but we didn’t adhere to those roles rigidly. When we needed fresh perspectives or just needed a helping hand, we reallocated the work.

The key was how easy it turned out to be because people bought in completely. Once the leaders entrusted us with information about the real situation, we didn’t have to pull anyone along. Our leaders treated us as respected members of the inner circle. They do that regularly. It sets the tone for successes like this to happen.

LEADERSHIP’S ROLE

When leaders provide employees with enough information about their company and company directions, employees respond positively. It is even better when leaders not only share that information, but also the context and the reasons behind decisions. This gives employees the background they need to make the right decisions about their work. It creates a sense of partnership between them and leaders. This kind of partnership leads to commitment rather than compliance.

Clearly, employees cannot make this happen by themselves. Leaders need to supply the information and context that starts this positive cycle of ownership. But any employee can have a role in helping make it happen by talking with their manager and describing what a big difference this can make.

EMPLOYEE’S ROLE

When leaders are doing their part, they are keeping staff informed and treating them as partners. Strategy and tactics are explained in enough detail to give needed context. Employees’ views are sought on topics that directly affect them.

The employees’ part, in turn, is to keep company goals and strategies in mind when making significant or even small decisions about their work. Quite often there may be conflicts between what is best for a project and what is optimal for the whole company. Doing one’s part means making decisions that support company direction, even when it might change or discontinue the project.

For instance, imagine a fun feature you could add to a product you are designing. Say you work at a toy company that sells a toy car. Several of you come up with the idea of adding remote control to the car.

Employees would enjoy learning enough about this feature to make it work well. Evidence tells you that your customers would love this feature. It sounds good, right? Not if this feature is expensive and takes you in a direction that conflicts with your company’s overall strategy. In this instance, doing the right thing means letting go of this feature. You may be giving up a pet project, but ideally your leaders will recognize your sacrifice for the good of the company.

The following questions are designed to help you ensure that any project fits into and contributes to your company’s goals. You can use some of these questions before you begin a new project to help evaluate the worth of that project in relation to overall company goals. Other questions can be used during your project work to assist you in making the decisions that most benefit your company. You can use these questions on your own or in a group.

1. What are this company’s biggest opportunities right now?
2. What have you learned in the last few years that should affect what you do now and during the next year?
3. How can you help ensure that this company will be thriving three to five years from now?
4. What are the biggest challenges, threats, and constraints facing the company right now? How can you and coworkers assist the company in these areas?
5. How can you help achieve company-wide goals?
6. To which company goal does this project contribute?
7. What needs to happen for this project to contribute to that company goal?
8. Is there executive sponsorship for this project? What do executives expect from it?
9. Regularly ask yourself: What is the bigger picture here? If you make a certain decision what is likely to happen? Will that move you toward that bigger company objective?
10. Who do you need to communicate with or make reports to in order to maximize the project’s success?
11. What type of final review should be conducted at the conclusion of this project to leverage lessons for other projects?