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May 2 - May 5, 2022
Whenever I’m interviewed as a founder of the company, people ask me about key customers. They want marquee company names and people who are willing to vouch for us.”
“Okay, unless someone is holding something back, I think I’ve heard all the opinions in the room. And we are probably not going to agree completely, which is fine, because there is no science here. I’m going to set the number based on your input, and we are going to stick with that number.”
No one could deny that in twenty minutes the team had made more progress than they normally did during a month of meetings. Over the next hour they drilled down on the issue of new customers, discussing what each person, from marketing to finance to engineering, would need to do to make eighteen deals possible.
“During the next two weeks I am going to be pretty intolerant of behavior that demonstrates an absence of trust, or a focus on individual ego. I will be encouraging conflict, driving for clear commitments, and expecting all of you to hold each other accountable. I will be calling out bad behavior when I see it, and I’d like to see you doing the same. We don’t have time to waste.”
“It’s not about what I want. It’s about you. You have to decide what is more important: helping the team win or advancing your career.”
“What I’m trying to ask you is whether you think this team is as important to you as the teams you lead, your departments.”
“Yes, your first team. And all of this relates to the last dysfunction—putting team results ahead of individual issues. Your first team has to be this one.” She looked around the room to make it clear that she was referring to the executive staff. “As strongly as we feel about our own people and as wonderful as that is for them, it simply cannot come at the expense of the loyalty and commitment we have to the group of people sitting here today.”
The fact is, Carlos is a vice president of the company, and he needs to prioritize better according to what we agreed to do, and he needs to challenge people in the organization who are not responding to his requests.”
Some people are hard to hold accountable because they are so helpful. Others because they get defensive. Others because they are intimidating. I don’t think it’s easy to hold anyone accountable, not even your own kids.”
“I want all of you challenging each other about what you are doing, how you are spending your time, whether you are making enough progress.”
“But we have to push in a way that doesn’t piss people off.” His statement sounded like a question, so Kathryn responded. “Absolutely. Push with respect, and under the assumption that the other person is probably doing the right thing. But push anyway. And never hold back.”
“Mikey, you don't seem to respect your colleagues. You aren't willing to open up to them. During meetings, you have an extremely distracting and demotivating impact on all of them. Including me.”
Though it always amazed her, Kathryn knew from past experience that the departure of even the most difficult employees provoked some degree of mourning and self-doubt among their peers.
Anyway, my staff came to me a number of times complaining about Fred. I listened carefully and even spoke to Fred half-heartedly about adjusting his behavior. But I mostly ignored them because I could tell that they resented his skills. More importantly, I was not about to come down on my top performer.”
“Are you saying that Fred's behavior alone hurt the production of the group by 50 percent?” “No. Not Fred's behavior.” People seemed confused. “My tolerance of his behavior. Listen, they fired the right person.”
“But I can assure you that we're going to find the right person. That means everyone here will be interviewing candidates and pushing to find someone who can demonstrate trust, engage in conflict, commit to group decisions, hold their peers accountable, and focus on the results of the team, not their own ego.”
“You are fighting. But about issues. That's your job. Otherwise, you leave it to your people to try to solve problems that they can't solve. They want you to hash this stuff out so they can get clear direction from us.”
Over the next two weeks, Kathryn began to push her team harder than ever before around their behavior. She chided Martin for eroding trust by appearing smug during meetings. She forced Carlos to confront the team about their lack of responsiveness to customer issues. And she spent more than one late night with Jan and Nick, working through budget battles that had to be fought.
Ironically, they rarely discussed the notion of teamwork directly, which Kathryn interpreted as a sign that they were making progress. Two observations that Kathryn made during breaks and meals told her she was right. First, the team seemed to stay together, choosing not to go off on their own as they had at previous off-sites. Second, they were noisier than they had ever been, and one of the most prevalent sounds that could be heard among them was laughter.
