Leadership is language
The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don't
Pitch
Few of us realize that our language in the workplace inhibits creative problem-solving and escalates uncertainty and stress. In both high-pressure situations and everyday scenarios, in each meeting and email, we have the opportunity to empower our colleagues by using the right words.
In Leadership is Language, Former US navy captain David Marquet expands on his bestselling leadership book Turn the Ship Around! and shows managers and leaders the next step in their development: how to enable their team through communication.
Marquet outlines a set of principles and tools that help leaders inspire their people to take responsibility and address challenges without waiting to be told what to do, highlighting how small changes in language can lead to dramatic changes in a team's success and happiness.
Source : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42774083-leadership-is-language
Infographic
Notes
Santa Fé
A system over which had little control
What we could control
How we talked to each other
Starting with me
Changing the way we communicated, changed the culture
Changing ours words changed our world
Replaced
Reactive language
Convince, coerce, comply, conform
WITH Proactive language of intent & commitment to action
A language of "prove & perform"
With a language of "Improve & learn"
A language of invulnerability & certainty
With a language of vulnerability & curiosity
Sink of El Faro
Used an old playbook
A real danger to use old thinking in new situations
Language of the captain
Binary affirmations
"You know what I'm saying"
"It's going to be between these 2, right ?"
Justifying decision
"Should work out OK"
No vulnerability displayed
Emotions are necessary for decision-making
They were programmed for
Obeyed the clock when they should have controlled the clock
The captain coerced the crew into compliance instead of collaboration
The crew complied instead of having made their own commitment
They continued to follow a monolithic plan instead of having completed 1 section at a time
They were in prove mode instead of improve mode
They conformed to their roles instead of connected with each other
The new playbook
6 new leadership principles :
Control the clock instead of obeying the clock
Collaborate instead of coercing
Commitment rather than compliance
Complete defined goals instead of continuing work indefinitely
Improve outcomes rather than prove ability
Connect with people instead of conforming to your role
Diverge first
Allow each member to make his/her guess before being influenced
Greatest possible diversity of thought
WISDOM OF THE CROWD
2 different kind of work
Decision-making (Thinking)
Bluework
"How do you see it ?"
"What can we do better ?"
Execution (Doing)
Redwork
"Get it done!"
"Make it happen"
We are all both Redworkers and Blueworkers
Differences between Redwork & Bluework
The problem is that the language we use is only about doing, not thinking
1) Control the clock : exiting redwork
Bluework allows us to adapt
But you have no chance to do bluework if you don't control the clock
1) Make a pause possible
Instead of preempting one
Invite a pause
Examples : score 1 to 5
"We need to make quota today": 1"I'll be coming by at twelve to check on you": 3"I'm a bit nervous about the storm. we are going to start work, but we will revisit this decision at twelve" : 5
2) Give the pause a name
"Time-out"
"Hands-off"
Raise a hand
...
3) Call a pause
Instead of pressing on with redwork
4) Preplan the next pause
Instead of relying on someone to signal 1
Metacognition
Thinking about our thinking
By preplanning next pause
Knowing that a pause is coming allows teams to focus 100 percent on the work
Allow leaders to resist the trap of becoming "good idea fairies"
"If you are on the team and see something unexpected, it's your responsibility to call a pause"
Attention points
Team in redwork want to continue in redwork
The team relies on the leader either to preplan the length of redwork and the moment to exit it
2) Collaborate : into the bluework
Let the doers be the deciders -> move from coercion to collaboration
1) Vote first, Then discuss
Conduct anonymous blind electronic polling
Ask probabilistic questions instead of binary ones
Use probability cards
"How strongly do you believe we should launch on time?"
1 : totally disagree
99 : totally agree
Use dot voting
Use fist to five voting
2) Be curious, not compelling
Seek first to understand, Then to be understoodLEADERS SPEAK LAST
Ask better questions
Instead of | Try |
Question stacking | One and done |
Teaching moment | A learning moment |
Dirty question | Clean one` |
Binary questions | Start with what / how |
Self-affirming | Self-education |
Jumping into the future | Start with present, past then future |
"Before I tell you what I think we should do, what would you do if I weren't there
3) Invite dissent rather than drive consensus
Use dissent cards
In a ratio of five to one if you have a red card
You have to dissent
The card makes it safe and necessary to do so
Fear in many organizations
Dissent = disharmony
Is to be avoided
In organizations that practice dissent
Where people are dissenting with the best interests fo the organization
And where people respond to dissenters with curiosity
Dissent creates a sense of excitement and energy
Instead of arguing with dissenter
And explaining why he is wrong
Ask curious questions
"What's behind what you are saying ?"
"Can you tell us more about that ?"
Invite for dissent
"Paul you've presented your case. I'd like to invite someone to challenge that position"
4) Give information, not instructions
From "Park there" to "I see a parking spot there"
A leader's obligation is to listen to the dissenters
3) Commit
1) Commit to learn, Not (just) Do
Develop hypothesis to test rather than making decisions to execute
2) Commit actions, not beliefs
Once the decision is made don't try to convince dissenters
3) Chunk it small but do it all
Separate the decision-maker from the decision evaluator :
Junior as the decision-maker
Senior as the decision-evaluator
4) Complete : the end of Redwork
Completion mark the end of a period of redwork
It means thinking of work in terms of smaller chunks of production work (redwork)
It serves to proactively control the clock
Exiting us from redwork Launching us into bluework
1) Chunk work for frequent completes early (Few completes late)
At the beginning of a project : shorter redwork periods and more frequent bluework periods to bias toward learning and improving
Completes invites Celebrate
Complete is an interruption to redwork
The cost of managing by metrics
Workers seek to meet only the minimum requirements
2) Celebrate with, NOT For
Celebrating For :
Usual sentences :
"Good job"
"I m so proud of you"
Here :
Setting myself up as the judge
Transference of the reward to us rather than leaving it with the person
To celebrate with (not for)
Don't | But |
Evaluate | Observe |
Judge | Observe |
Praise | Prize |
"I saw that the proposal went out yesterday. Thank you. That will allow the client to look at it before the weekend"
Use Descriptive statements
It can start with "I see", I" noticed", "It looks like"
3) Focus on behavior, not characteristics
Be conscious about how even positive feedback can have negative consequences it delivered improperly
4) Focus on Journey, Not destination
Invite people to tell their story
"Tell me what key decisions you needed to make"
"Tell me more about..."
We need to hear the story behind the achievement
5) Improve : completing the cycle
Aim for discontinuous improvement
Improvement process (aka learning process) is a stairway not a ramp
"Be good" self vs "Get better" self
Be good
Wants to feel
Competent
Effective
Credible
"I didn't anything wrong"
"I would do it the same next time"
"I've been doing this a long time"
Get better
"What could we do differently ?"
"Employees with the autonomy to decide how to go about solving problems and achieving goals innovate"
1) Forward, Not Backward
"What do we want to do differently next time ?"
2) Outward, not inward
Focusing on others instead of oneself
"What could we do better serve our customers ?"
3) Process, not people
"How could this be done better ?"
4) Achieve excellence, Not avoid errors
Improve pits the "get better" self against the "be good"
6) Connect : enabling play
Play is about caring
What people think
Caring how they feel
Caring for their personal goals
1) Flatten the power gradient
Power Gradient : The amount of social distance there is between one person and another
Examples : Meeting doesn't start until the most senior person shows up
Censoring of information is directly proportionate to it
From
"I've been doing this longer than you"
"Im the boss here"
To
"We need to decide about this"
"Your opinion matters here"
2) Admit you don't know
It's hard to connect with a Know-it-all
If a boss says "I don't know..."
It allows junior to say
"I know..."
"How about this...?"
3) Be vulnerable
It reduces Power gradient
"How is everyone feeling about this ?"
"I think I m moving away from excited toward worried"
4) Trust first
Your trust in people will affect their behavior
They will work harder
Stay longer
Unlock more discretionary effort
Never underestimate the power of fear to distort common sense in environments with a strong culture of control and compliance
"Cheat sheet"
2 different work modes
Redwork : active production
Mindset : prove
Bluework
Mindset : improve
Within these 2 modes :
Starting in redwork...
Transition from redwork to bluework with
CONTROL THE CLOCK, not obey the clock
COMPLETE not continue
While in bluework
COLLABORATE, not coerce with the goal to : IMPROVE, not prove
Transition from blue work back to redwork with : COMMIT not comply
And use the enabling play CONNECT not conform
Mind map
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