Oh, hey there. ๐
Long time no see. How have you been? And if youโre new here, welcome! Iโm grateful to have your attention. ๐
A few months ago, I wrote that I wasnโt sure there were going to be new posts here but โif there are, itโs because I truly had something I couldnโt help but say.โ
I find myself again with some things to say.
I have been using LinkedIn regularly as a way to express them for a couple of reasons:
Iโm working on making my writing and thinking more concise.
I loved learning recently about how LinkedIn drives their long-term mission through the algorithm itself, and how it aligns with my own mission of being helpful to those I can help.
So, the plan for now has been to post there daily something you can read in a couple of minutes of your time.
Yesterday, however, a friend suggested I use this newsletter as a sort of digest for those postsโhe gets my newsletter but he doesnโt spend time on LinkedIn, and said heโs been missing my content. (Thanks, Andrรฉ ๐)
Thereโs probably a significant enough group of my subscribers in the same category (Substack, !LinkedIn) so I thought, what the hellโwhy not experiment?1
What follows is my top 3 posts from last week. If you enjoy them, Iโd be super grateful if you hit the โค๏ธ button here to signal this format is a good idea, and that I should I keep doing it. Or just let me know in the comments what could make it more useful to you. ๐
The journey is on.
Most managers are lost when it comes to improving the performance of their direct reports.
The easy explanation is that theyโre either not good enough, or they donโt care enough. Sorry to say, but thatโs lazy and if thatโs youโyouโre not doing your job.
Hereโs the 20% that gets you 80% of the way thereโฆ
First and foremost:
Make yourself lead from a clean energy place of trust, belief, and compassion. Itโll show. Humbly question your own beliefs about the person, and give them the benefit of the doubt. Youโd like the same in return.
Then:
1๏ธโฃ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป (๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐โ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ).
Engage in 1:1 conversation where you ask your direct to play back their own understanding of everything that needs to be clear. Too often we think weโre clear but weโre absolutely not.
2๏ธโฃ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐.
Someone whoโs afraid of screwing up will *never* perform. When the amygdala in our brain is activated, even with low-grade constant stress, the prefrontal cortex is dimmed. Itโs like working drunk.
3๏ธโฃ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด (๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป, ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐).
Avoid falling into the advice trap in your well-intentioned urgency to help. Ask questions that help the other person make their own connections, and come to their own โahaโ moments. Thatโs how learning (magic) happens, and performance improves.
Invest in these for a few weeks and you might be surprised by what unfolds.
Now that hiring is slowly becoming fashionable againโฆ are we going to do a better job at it this time around?
If youโre on a tight budget (as you probably are), you have no choice but to be a lot more effective.
Here's the 80/20 that made a gigantic difference for me hiring in the past:
1๏ธโฃ ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐
Hiring is not a problem to be solved. Itโs a golden opportunity to build a phenomenal team. It must be designed. Dedicate the time, attention, and care required to build a hiring *system* that consistently produces great hires. That means design, measurement, and continuous iteration.
2๏ธโฃ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ
The very best results I had were always in close partnership with Talent Acquisition people who loved recruiting. If you donโt have them in-house, or youโre competing for their bandwidth, make a solid case for engaging with an external party that works in an embedded model. the rec hub. are best in class in this and have been great partners to me in the past.
3๏ธโฃ ๐๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐
Be unapologetically and fearlessly authentic when interviewing candidates. Tell them the good, the bad, and the ugly. The right people want to solve problems, not go where everything is amazing. Anything less makes a bad marriage much more likely. The wrong hire has the potential to rot everything good you already have.
4๏ธโฃ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ๐
The values of a company are almost completely dictated by the values of its top leadership. Whatever they are, own up to them and be straight up with the candidate. Donโt pretend to be something youโre not. Itโs disrespectful, dishonest, and thatโs a movie never ends well.
5๏ธโฃ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
Hire learning machines, instead of obsessing about those who have โdone it before.โ Past experience can be helpful, but it backfires a lotโhabits and arrogance prevent many people from adapting to a new reality. Plus, with all due respect, if youโre a โnobody startupโ without the name recognition, why would you close yourself off to a gigantic swath of talent that is out there?
Scaling yourself is having high confidence that everyone else will make high quality decisions, frequently.
Not the decisions YOU would make, necessarily. But high quality, highly aligned decisions.
How? These four things can help:
1๏ธโฃ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
You just donโt, because itโs a complex adaptive system. You have an โillusion of controlโ which helps you sleep at night (helpful), but itโs an illusion nonetheless (and that's OK). Chaos, however, does not necessarily follow from lack of control.
2๏ธโฃ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐.
Especially with your directs, communicate not only the output (the decision itself) but also the process (the thinking behind it). It helps disseminate it and also creates the opportunity for you to get feedback and improve your thinking, not just that one particular decision.
3๏ธโฃ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป-๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ณ๐๐น, ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ.
Remember: absolute freedom is paralyzing. Principles prune the available options from the get-go, and prevent good people from going down bad rabbit holes, wasting time, energy, and money.
4๏ธโฃ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ: โ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ, ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ป?โ
Youโll be amazed by what youโll learn.
At the end of the day, I always go back to the wisdom of former Sun Microsystems CEO, Scott McNealy:
"๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต '๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ' ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต."
What's your own top tip for increasing the quality of decisions in your org?
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Until next week, have a good one! ๐
Itโs a safe-to-fail experiment, anyway.