Fire and forget, is a familiar term if you operate in military flying circles. In the old day’s, a pilot would have to train his eyes and aircraft on the target and keep them there for as long as he fired the machine gun or missile.
Today, pilots fire and forget.
The missile has the intelligence to know where it’s going. The pilot can fire, forget, and train his eyes on the next mission or enemy aircraft. Leaders, oftentimes, assume they can hire and forget. They assume because of experience, industry knowledge, or simple laziness, they can hire pre – loaded heat seekers and target hits will follow. This would be great if it were true. Sadly, this doesn’t work so well with humans.
Humans are NOT hire and forget.
We want to belong. Not some of us – all of us. We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We never bring our best when left a lone. We all want to feel included, needed, and, oddly, claim our autonomy in the same breath. Yes, we’ve got issues. We are not machines and do not perform well when left unattended. Hire and forget will NOT work.
Remember, a collection of individuals, teams, and leaders do not become ONE with common knowledge, common experience, and enough time together. We become ONE on rare occasion. We become ONE when someone has the clarity, conviction, confidence, and the competence to transform with them. They become ONE when one is willing to lead the charge and practice toward this purpose. Oneness is where the heart of performance lives for any and all human systems.
Want a team of heat seeking missiles? Forget the notion of hire and forget and sell out to the notion of becoming BTL. Embrace BTL team practice as a bolted on discipline. Do the work within and with your team. Create a culture that promotes belonging and becoming. Am I speaking your language or talking French?
Live hard. Love harder…
BUILT TO LEAD 