Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

by Liz Wiseman

Multipliers create safety, but they also maintain pressure for a reality-based, rigorous debate. Multipliers make sure everyone is wearing a seat belt because they are about to put their foot on the accelerator.

When the group moves too quickly toward agreement, Multipliers often step back and ask someone to argue the other point of view.

By arguing from the opposite, or a different point of view, the individuals 1) see the issues from another person’s perspective, developing deeper empathy and understanding, 2) have to argue against themselves, surfacing the problems and pitfalls in their opening position, 3) find new alternatives that elicit the best ideas from the competing options, and 4) separate themselves from a position. When the final decision is reached, it no longer has an owner or advocate. The group owns the final position.

Create Safety for Best Thinking (The Yin) Demand Rigor (The Yang) • Share their view last after hearing other people’s views • Ask the hard questions • Encourage others to take an opposing stand • Challenge the underlying assumptions • Encourage all points of view • Look for evidence in the data • Focus on the facts • Look at the issue from multiple perspectives • Depersonalize the issues and keep it unemotional • Attack the issues, not the people • Look beyond organizational hierarchy and job titles • Ask “why” repeatedly until the root cause is unearthed • Equally debate both sides of the issue

After the issue has been debated, Multipliers let people know the next step in the decision-making process. They summarize the key ideas and outcomes of the debate, and they let people know what to expect next. They address such questions as: Are we making the decision right now or do we need more information? Is this a team decision or will the leader make the final call? If it is a team decision, how will we

resolve any differing views? Has anything that has surfaced in the debate altered the decision-making process?

Multipliers let people know what will be done with their thinking and their work. With this sense of closure, people around them are assured that their discretionary effort won’t be wasted, and they are likely to give 100 percent the next time.

At times, they may seek the full consensus of the group; however, our research shows that they are equally comfortable making the final decision.

ASK THE HARD QUESTION. Ask the question that will get at the core of the issue and the decision. Ask the

question that will confront underlying

assumptions. Pose the question to your team and then stop. Instead of following up with your views, ask for theirs. 2. ASK FOR EVIDENCE. When someone offers an opinion, don’t let it rest on anecdote. Ask for the evidence. Look for more than one data point. Ask them to identify a cluster of data or a trend. Make it a norm so people come into debates armed with the data—an entire box if necessary. 3. ASK EVERYONE. Reach beyond the dominant voices to gather in and hear all views and all data. You might find that the softer voices belong to the analytical minds who are often mos...

ASK PEOPLE TO SWITCH POSITIONS. Invite people to consider the issue from another point of view. It will reduce personal attachment and increase collective ownership.

As you rethink your role as a leader, you will come to see that your greatest contribution might depend on your ability to ask the right question, not have the right answer. You will see that all great thinking starts with a provocative question and a rich debate, whether it is in the mind of one person or an entire community.

As Margaret Mead famously said,

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

DECISION MAKERS decide efficiently with a small inner circle, but they leave the broader organization in the dark to debate the soundness of the decision instead of executing it. DEBATE MAKERS engage people in debating the issues up front, which leads to sound decisions that people understand and can execute efficiently. The Three Practices of the Debate Maker 1. Frame the Issue

Define the question • Form the team • Assemble the data • Frame the decision 2. Spark the Debate • Create safety for best thinking • Demand rigor 3. Drive a Sound Decision • Reclarify the decision-making process • Make the decision • Communicate the decision and rationale Becoming a Debate Maker Make a debate with four asks: 1) Ask the hard question, 2) ask for evidence, 3) ask everyone, 4) ask people to switch. Leveraging Resources

1. As a leader, you can have a very strong opinion but also facilitate debate that creates room for other people’s views. Data is the key. 2. Debate Makers are equally comfortable being the decision maker in the end. They are not only consensus-driven leaders.

3. Rigorous debate doesn’t break down a team; it builds the team and makes

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

You might ask yourself: How would I coach if I could never step out on the playing field? How would I lead if I couldn’t jump in and take over? How would I respond to a performance gap if I were a Multiplier? Multipliers understand that their role is to invest, to teach, and to coach, and they

keep the accountability for the play with the players. By doing so, they create organizations that can win without them on the field. Let’s now explore the discipline of the Investor and how Multipliers create organizations that can perform and win, not only without them on the field but long after their direct influence has ended.

“A leader is someone who helps others lead.”

Clarifying the role that you will play as a leader actually gives people more ownership, not less. They then understand the nature of your involvement and when and how you will invest in their success.

When people are given ownership for only a piece of something larger, they tend to optimize that portion, limiting their thinking to this immediate domain. When people are given ownership for the whole, they stretch their thinking and challenge themselves to go beyond their scope.

growth is by asking people to stretch and do something they’ve never done before.

Never give someone an A-W-K without an F-I-X. Don’t just identify the problem; find a solution.

Multipliers never do anything for their people that their people can do for themselves.

When we let nature take its course and allow people to experience the natural consequences of their actions, they learn most rapidly and most profoundly.

When we protect people from

experiencing the natural ramifications of their actions, we s...

Real intelligence gets developed through experimentation and ...

Multipliers have a core belief that people

are smart and will figure things out. So it makes sense that they operate as Investors, giving ownership that keeps rolling back to other people.

Through investing in others, Multipliers generate independence in others. They create organizations that can sustain performance without their direct involvement. When the organization is truly autonomous, these leaders have earned the right to step away. When they leave, they leave a legacy.

Whether accidental or not, Diminishers are costly to organizations. They might be superstars themselves, but they quickly become the boundary factor

that limits the growth of their organizations.

When you delegate, you probably let people know what you are expecting of them. Take this to the next level and let people know that they (not you) are in charge and accountable. Tell them how you will stay engaged and support them, but that they remain in charge.

Give them charge of something that requires them to stretch beyond their current

capabilities. Start with ownership for the current scope of their role, and then take it up one level. Look for ways to uplevel their responsibility and give them a job that they aren’t yet fully qualified for. 2. LET NATURE TAKE ITS COURSE. Nature is the most powerful teacher.

HAPPEN. Don’t jump in and fix

an assignment so it doesn’t fail. Don’t take over a meeting because someone isn’t handling it well. Let the person experience a degree of failure. 2. TALK ABOUT IT. Be available to help someone learn from the failure. Be standing by after a failed meeting or lost sales deal to help them get up, brush off the sand, and talk about what happened. Ask great questions and avoid the ever-diminishing “I told you so.” 3. FOCUS ON NEXT TIME. Help them find a way to be successful next time. Give them a way out and a path forward. If they’ve just botched an important sales call, ask them how they’ll handle a similar situation with another customer in their pipeline.

Not only are there natural consequences to our mistakes,...

consequences to good decisions. Allow people to experience the full force of their successes. Step out of the way, give them credit, and let them r...

ASK FOR THE F-I-X. Many people are promoted into management positions because they are natural problem solvers. So, when someone brings you a problem, it is only natural for you to want to fix it. And chances are, people will expect you to because you so often do. In that split second before you respond, recall Kerry Patterson marching into the office of his intern and demanding she do more than just point out awkward se...

What solution(s) do you see to this problem?

How would you propose we solve

this? What would you like to do to fix this?

Most important, don’t assume responsibility for fixing the problem. Put the problem back on their desk and encourage them to stretch further. When some...

When someone is stuck and asks you for your opinion, it can be ha...