Yesterday during practice 34 with a team of two, soon becoming three, and someday ONE, we had one of our best practices in nearly three years of work. We are transitioning power in a successful system and this is real, hard, work – always is. Transitions are hard; transitions involving power harder still. Transitions when the system is experiencing a pinnacle of success – crazy HARD. Why? ‘Cause when successful systems transition so many feel like they’ve got a say and so many feel they’ve got so much to lose.
Yesterday we prepared for bringing our third wheel into practice 35 and making him feel like the third, very needed, wheel on a tricycle instead of the third wheel on a bike. Do you see the difference? We want our third wheel to feel his addition is critical, positive, and designed to make us go faster. So, we gotta prepare accordingly. You see, when you add new members to any team it matters a great deal how you “on-board” them so to speak. And, it matters how you communicate the change to those who’ve been there all along too. Transitions, of any kind, are hard ’cause we humans don’t naturally like to change. We like it when others do the changin’; ourselves, not so much. As we prepared for our addition yesterday and role played a bit, I noticed one of my clients, as he put it, was “bringing his guns.” Nothing wrong with this. You can always start by bringing the pain, so to speak, when integrating another into your tribe – just point them properly.
Point your guns at you.
Ask your new partner hard questions directed at you, not him or her. Ask them what they think you need to work on to be a better partner. Ask them to tell you more when they play it safe and start to ease into telling you the truth. Stay curious about what you might learn regardless the delivery. Ask them to really bring it as you begin to get uncomfortable seeing and hearing something you’ve been blind to. Illuminating your blind spot is so much harder than exposing your partner to their own. Bring your guns and point them at you, friend. Get comfortable bringing the pain to you; others, not so much. The best among us, didn’t get there without going through a lot of pain along their way. The best got in the habit early and often of asking for the truth a lot more than telling it. Turns out seeking feedback is the breakfast of champions; shooting it down, not so much. Good.
Yesterday, during practice 34, we redirected our aim for practice 35, so to speak. Our practice was productive. Our transition will go better as a result. Next to nobody in this large, successful system will know any difference – three will. And, there’s another reason why transitioning power is so hard. Those in power gotta understand the physics of building trust in the boardroom and not take anything for granted. Assume less, my powerful leader. Asssume less and practice more. Good. You and your system may have just gotten better. That is if you’ve mastered the skill of extrapolating your learning from here to your real, hard, work over there. You getting this?
Good…
BUILT TO LEAD 