I was leading a workshop last month, and we reached the point where we were working on the participants’ projects. We were working in the STRIDE framework and sharing how to build a high-integrity project that makes the risk-taking transparent to both the team and management.
This is always a big moment in the workshop, because the usual risk a growth leader feels is immense. These feelings are primarily associated with their need to succeed for fear that if they don’t, their cloak of invincibility will be gone and their career trajectory will be reduced. This added pressure keeps really capable leaders on the sidelines, when they could be contributing geometric growth to the firm.
I can remember like yesterday the pressure to overcommit to getting “deals” too early in the program, then having to defend each small investment by revising my “forecast.” This brought the wrong kind of pressure and visibility at the wrong phase of the program. The last thing I needed to think about was keeping up with all the nested assumptions we needed to provide to meet the “number.” Instead, I should have been contributing to solving the core issues in the program.
Using STRIDE to uncover the known unknowns and setting up a reality phase to use experimentation allows the team leader to be upfront and set clear budgeted investments and learning outcomes without the pressure of owning a sales forecast too early in process. We then show them the thoughtful transition from “strategy and tactics” into the “reality” phase of the project, using measured experiments to gain insight into the unknown unknowns.
This transparency allows complete integrity and keeps everyone from participating in a game of “liar’s poker” in order to not lose funding. By assuring the leadership team and the working team that we are synchronized and fully committed to the learning necessary to test if the program is viable, integrity is preserved and the full force of the organization’s resources can stay focused on the real issues that need to be worked. By focusing the team on the most efficient possible experiments, great progress can be made.
One recent workshop participant actually shelved his project, which he deemed as way too conservative after working through the techniques. He realized that they could see much bigger returns using a more assertive approach that had much higher potential benefits. By partitioning the risk, this person felt comfortable building out this new approach.
So how can this be applied at runway level so that our best talent feels safe coming forward?
Let me take this from two viewpoints: that of the team sponsor and team leader.
- Team sponsors are typically senior leaders who have the authority, budget and influence to kick off these programs. Once initiated, they provide guidance and aircover.
- Team leaders are those charged with executing these initiatives at a daily level. Team leaders live the adventure of doing the highly fluid and adaptive work of guiding subject matter experts through the process of value creation.
If you are a senior leader trying to jump start organic innovation and growth, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can task a team and that they’ll simply dig in and execute in the same way they do for the core business. There are deeply ingrained cultural issues that provide resistance and keep your best talent on the sidelines. If you want to see more grassroots work come forward, you need to set the playing field up by putting tools in place and being consistent in their application. This will create an environment where your team will feel safe to take some risk.
Keep in mind: they will watch not what you say, but what you reward. Specifically, it would be helpful to:
- Do a discovery day with an outside resource that can do a diagnostic for you. They will look at the systems you have in place, talk with key leaders and give you a rank-ordered assessment of next steps.
- Socialize the report, and use it to build some momentum by taking concrete actions to activate a project with real budget and outcomes. Make the investment to use a process, because this work is very different than running your core business. You will likely need to look at least several systems including strategy, planning, project selection and rewards systems. Take personal steps to remove barriers and add transparency.
- Activate a project, with the intent of doing up to three in the first year. This is portfolio work, and if you only do one, it will put immense pressure on that one becoming a success. This is a perfect recipe for the “Big Miss.”
Most importantly, use a structured approach to develop the project, drive authenticity and partition risk. A good place to start are my posts here, here and here.
So as team leader what actions can you take?
- Be uncompromising in ferreting out risk in assumptions. Demonstrate that it’s ok to expose vulnerabilities so the whole team can get to work on them.
- Ruthlessly establish the rigor to test these gaps in understanding fast and inexpensively. Use something like this 5x5x5 approach.
- Work with your sponsor to be sure they understand that you are on the same page. Full transparency should yield full support – the only true way to make a mistake is to bury an issue.
There is growth embedded in every firm that only your team can bring forward. The real question from their viewpoint is this: is it better to be seen as bold and taking risks or better at optimizing the core?
By doing some consistent work on culture shifting and innovation systems, a reliable value creation engine will get embedded into your firm. Once you have it, this capability keeps on paying for itself forward and leaders (like the person in my workshop) will be emboldened to raise the stakes.
If you’d like to have a discussion, feel free to give me a call at 847-651-1014 or use this link to set up a 20-minute, (no-strings-attached) consult.
