Monthly Archives: November 2018

Book Notes : Tribal Leadership

Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book looks at tribes and how there are different levels of them which can be identified by the language which they use.  The higher the stage the better the performance.  A tribe can be at multiple stages at the same time.  It comes down to language and behavior in the tribe.  The stages have to be progressed in order – there is no way to short cut or jump stages.

Stage Mood Theme
5 Innocent wonderment “Life is great”
4 Tribal Pride “We’re great (and your not)”
3 Lone Worrier “I’m great (and your not)”
2 Apathetic Victim “My life sucks”
1 Despairing hostility “Life sucks”
Stage 1 – Life sucks

Summary

  • A person feels alienated
  • A group of such people express desperate hostility

Progressing from stage 1

  • Spending time with people who are in a later stage
  • Encourage the person to realise how life itself works
  • Encourage the cutting of ties with other people in stage 1

Success looks like

  • He will move from life sucks to more personal my life sucks with more specifics on why life sucks not a generalisation
  • Will exhibit passive apathy – this is positive but appears as a step backwards to the uninformed
  • Cuts ties with others at stage 1
Stage 2 – My life sucks

Summary

  • Others lives seem to be working but mine does not
  • In a group they feel like apathetic victims

Progressing from stage 2

  • Encourage the making of friends (dyadic relationships)
  • Highlight the positive impact the person is having and the areas that they have potential to develop in a positive way.
  • Assign projects which such a person can do well in a short time.  Excessive nagging or follow-up will reinforce stage 2 so should be avoided.

Success looks like

  • Will start showing off success using I’m great language.
  • Many sentences will start with “I”
  • Will exhibit a lone warrior spirit “What’s wrong with them?” “If they tried they’d succeed”
Stage 3 – I’m great (and you’re not)

Summary

  • Connection are dyadic (two-person) relationships
  • The language is “I’m great” and in the background “and your not”
  • Competition to outperform each other and put each other down – often under the veil of humor.

Progressing from stage 3

  • Encourage people to work on projects that are bigger than anything that can be done alone requiring partnership.
  • Highlight that success has come through his own efforts but that going forward is going to require a totally different style – aka what brought you here is not enough to move you forward.
  • Highlight people already operating at Stage Four.
  • When the person complains that he doesn’t have time and that others aren’t as good (the two chief gribes at Stage 3), show that he has crafted his work life so that no one can really contribute to him.
  • Tell stories about how you transitioned to Stage Four.
  • Coach that power does not come from knowledge but from networking and there is more leverage in wisdom than in information.  Compliment his success and emphasises that you’re on their side.  Also help them notice that the goal requires getting more done than is possible alone, no matter how smart and talented they are.
  • Encourage the use of transparency and over communication.
  • Encourage the formation of triads

Success looks like

  • Start to use “we” not “I”.  Will point to the team, not themselves.
  • Will actively form triads, and expand their network
  • Will work less and get more done
  • Complaints about “not enough time” and “no one is as good” will cease.
  • Results for the area accountable will increase by at least 30%
  • Will communicate with transparency
  • Will communicate more information and more often
Leadership Epiphany
  • When people realise they have not achieved what they thought, the victories were only personal not tribal.
  • An attempt to achieve tribal victories using Stage Three approaches which does not work
  • Eventually there is a realisation that Stage Three is self defeating and that tribal successes are enduring and satisfying for everyone.
  • At Stage Three power is felt as a zero-sum game, where as at Stage Four power is abundant: the more you give to others, the more you get back.
  • The only real goal is the betterment of the tribe.  Ironically by doing this they achieve what they wanted from Stage Three: esteem, respect, loyalty, legacy and enduring success.
Core Values and Noble Cause
  • Core values are “principles without which life wouldn’t be worth living”
  • There are two ways to seek core values.  The first is for a Tribal Leader to tell a vision-laden story, which triggers others to tell similar stories about their values
  • The second way is to ask questions such as “What are you proud of?” and ask three to five open-ended questions
  • The Tribal Leader’s goal is to find shared values that unite the tribe.
  • A noble cause is what the tribe is “shooting for”.  There are two ways to find a tribe’s noble cause.  The first is to keep asking, “in service of what?”
  • The second ways is to ask the Big Four Questions of people in the tribe.  They are
    • What’s working well?
    • What’s not working?
    • What can we do to make the things that aren’t working, work?
    • Is there anything else?
  • The goal of determining values and a noble cause isn’t agreement, it is alignment which produces coordination action married with passionate resolve.
  • Everything not consistent with the core values and noble cause needs to be reworked or pruned.
  • “What activities will express our values and reach towards our noble cause?”
Stage 4 – We’re great (and you’re not)

Summary

  • Everything flows from the teams values and noble cause
  • “What do we want?” – an outcome not a goal
    • A goal implies we are failing and need to achieve something to survive
    • An outcome is building on the existing success
  • “What do we have?” – a set of behaviours of who would do what
    • Sometimes it needs an external pair of eyes to highlight what you already have
    • “Do we have enough assets for the outcome?”  If not what is an interim outcome?
  • “Will the behaviour produce the outcomes?”, if not what do you need

Progressing from stage 4

  • Stabalise at Stage Four by ensuring relationships based on values and mutual self-interest of current projects
  • Encourage the formation of triads
  • Explore the teams core values, nobel course, outcomes that would inspire the team, its assets, and then its behaviours.  Encourage working with more people.
  • Once stably at Stage Four encourage the team to take advantage of market conditions and make history
  • Recruit others to the tribe who share the values of the group’s strategy.
  • When the team hits difficulties, point people to others for solutions.  Encourage them not to solve problems – that promotes “I’m great (and you’re not)”.
  • Review what is working well, what is not and what cand the team do to make things that are not working well work.

Success looks like

  • “life is great” language rather than “we’re great (and your not)”
  • Will seek out ever more challenging projects
  • Will have a diverse network.
  • Will spend time based on the tribes core values and noble cause.
  • Will appear to be an embodiment of the tribe’s strategy and values.
Stage 5 – Life is great

Summary

  • Life is great
  • Larger reach than a single tribe or company
  • No competition

Book Notes : The New One Minute Manager

The New One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Spencer Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People who feel good about themselves produce good results

Three steps
  1. Goals
  2. Praise
  3. Re-direction
Goals
  1. Plan the goals together and describe them briefly
  2. Have people write out each of their goals, with due date, on a single page
  3. Ask them to review their most important goals each day
  4. Look at what you’re doing to check they match with your goals
  5. If the task is not aligned to the goal re-think what you are doing to reach your goal earlier

Take a minute to look at your goals.  Then look at what you are doing and see if it matches your goals.

Praise

Help people reach their potential.  Catch them doing something right.

  1. Praise someone as soon as possible
  2. Let people know what they did right – be specific
  3. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right and how it helps.

Pause for a moment so they can appreciate the praise

  1. Encourage them to do more of the same
  2. Make it clear that you have confidence in them and support their success
Re-direct
  1. Re-direct people as soon as there is room for improvement
  2. Confirm the facts first  and review the mistakes together – be specific
  3. Express how you feel and the impact on results

Pause for a moment so they can appreciate the problem

  1. Remember to let them know that they are better than their mistakes and you think well of them as a person
  2. Remind them you have confidence and trust in them and support their success
  3. Relise that when the re-direct is over its over

Everyone is a winner.  Some people are disguised as losers, don’t let their appearance fool you.

Book Notes : Remote

Remote: Office Not Required by David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book provides an overview of remote working and provides suggestions on how to overcome some of the common problems and also highlights the potential problems of people over working.

  • The time is right for remote work
    • Why work doesn’t happen at work – there are far more distractions at work than at home
    • Stop commuting your life away – 45 minutes each way is 7.5hrs per week in a car
    • It’s the technology, stupid – for quite a few jobs technology means we are no longer stuck in the office
    • Escaping 9am–5pm – its the work that matters not the clock time, you need to adjust but working asynchronously has some advantages
    • End of city monopoly – there is now no longer a need to live in expensive cities for work
    • The new luxury – flexibility means that people don’t have to work at home but can travel etc
    • Talent isn’t bound by the hubs – this means you open yourself up to more talent from more places
    • It’s not about the money – any financial savings are a bonus but not the motivator
    • But saving is always nice – savings on commuting etc for both the individual and the company
    • Not all or nothing – remote does not need to meet fully remote but could just mean a day or part of the day working from elsewhere
    • Still a trade-off – there are advantages and disadvantages which should be weighed up
    • You’re probably already doing it – its likely you have external accountants or lawyers who already work remote from yourselves.
  • Dealing with excuses
    • Magic only happens when we’re all in a room – there are some times when being together is useful but delivering the work is really the aim
    • If I can’t see them, how do I know they’re working? – you have to hire people you trust and then it does not matter if you see them or not if they are delivering the work
    • People’s homes are full of distractions – so are offices
    • Only the office can be secure – there are now tools to let you work remotely which are likely to be more secure than office based ones
    • Who will answer the phone? – remote does not mean there are no commitments, such as the phone being staffed 9-5, this just takes coordination
    • Big business doesn’t do it, so why should we? – big businesses are slow and set in their ways
    • Others would get jealous – why not let everyone do it
    • What about culture? – this does not just spread by in person communication so it will still exist
    • I need an answer now! – your likely to have a better response time than before without the office distractions
    • But I’ll lose control – this is very Theory X thinking and if that is the type of organisation you wan this won’t work anyway
    • We paid a lot of money for this office – sunk cost fallacy
    • That wouldn’t work for our size or industry – it has and does work in different size and type of industry
  • How to collaborate remotely
    • Thou shalt overlap – to ensure there is cover when needed
    • Seeing is believing – there are tools which you can use to collaborate remotely which are different but the results are as good as in office collaboration
    • All out in the open – tools make it open for people to see what is going on
    • The virtual water cooler – this is a quality break with your co-workers, everyone needs it
    • Forward motion – there needs to be more explicit communication which would happen by osmosis in regular organisations but this can be overcome by a weekly email or similar
    • The work is what matters – it is easier to compare based on what is being produced
    • Not just for people who are out of town – everyone can be remote, even if it is just from the coffee shop down the street
    • Disaster ready – this is distributed by design meaning that things such as power cuts impact very few people
    • Easy on the M&Ms – meetings and managers – working remotely reduces the pressure to fill a day with meetings
  • Beware the dragons
    • Cabin fever – people feeling isolated and alone
    • Check-in, check-out – its very easy to work too much and so its more important to limit working time
    • Ergonomic basics – having suitable office desk etc for your posture etc
    • Mind the gut – its very easy to put on weight working remotely
    • The lone outpost – having a single remote worker makes it very hard for them, its better to do it by team or department
    • Working with clients – let your clients know where you are so they don’t expect you to be near their office
    • Taxes, accounting, laws, oh my! – hire a specialist to help you deal with this
  • Hiring and keeping the best
    • It’s a big world – remote working opens you to hiring people from all over the world
    • Life moves on – remote working allows people to move without having to change job
    • Keep the good times going – if you have a bad character employee you should treat them the same if they were sat next to you
    • Seeking a human – helping people do things in a human way, like hobbies or sightseeing
    • No parlor tricks – its the work that matters to look and hire for it
    • The cost of thriving – you should not pay people less who work remotely
    • Great remote workers are simply great workers – remote working makes poor performers more visible
    • On writing well – good and clear written communication is very important when hiring a remote worker
    • Test project – give people a test project to see how they actually get on
    • Meeting them in person – its still important to meet people important as part of the job interview
    • Contractors know the drill – they are used to remote working
  • Managing remote workers
    • When’s the right time to go remote? – start early in the company and if you are already passed that then start small with a team
    • Stop managing the chairs – this is actually managing on results rather than on time spent on a chair
    • Meetups and sprints – meeting in person is important 2 or more times per year
    • Lessons from open source – intrinsically motivates, out in the open, meet up regularly
    • Level the playing field – treat remote and local workers equally, not as second class
    • One-on-ones – are really important, perhaps video or telephone call
    • Remove the roadblocks – just let people get on with working their own way
    • Be on the lookout for overwork, not underwork – because getting to work is easy people can easily over work and care must be taken to prevent too much of this
    • Using scarcity to your advantage – by having less time together (e.g.) this makes the time more precious and people use it more wisely
  • Life as a remote worker
    • Building a routine – so that you don’t over work
    • Morning remote, afternoon local – make a routing that works for you
    • Compute different – to separate work and home life
    • Working alone in a crowd – such as in a coffee shop to give you a community
    • Staying motivated – is sometimes hard but one to ones should support and sometimes a break helps regain focus
    • Nomadic freedom – with great internet everywhere you can move around quite freely without any problems
    • A change of scenery – gives you a different perspective on things
    • Family time – with less commute and flexibility means more time with family
    • No extra space at home – use a cafe, co-working space or a shed in the garden
    • Making sure you’re not ignored – people who produce quality don’t get ignored

Book Notes : Up the Organization

Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits by Robert Townsend
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is from 1970 but there are things which most organisations don’t do today even though they are trying to build “Theory Y” type organisations.  The book is also novel as each chapter is presented in alphabetical order.

  • Advertising – fire your existing agency and find a new one and make it fun
  • Assistants-to and make-working – fire them, they just get in the way
  • Big wheels in little companies – great leaders of big companies can kill small ones
  • Boss, How to retire the – say your going to retire multiple times a long way out so that the organisation can prepare and structure itself.  When they retire make sure they don’t spend a lot of time at head quarters.
  • Budgets – should be decided by the people who have to deliver them.  Use terms such as better or worse than budget, not higher or lower which can be confusing.  Include a contingency in your external budget so that you have room to move.
  • Call yourself up – pretend to be your own customer but don’t call rank, listen to how things work for real customers.
  • Chairman of the executive committee – it means nothing, so use it – a complaint handled by the “executive committee” will be taken better than “customer retention”.  The executive committee and the chairman can play very useful role.
  • Compromise and king Solomon – When you give in give in all of the way and when you win try to win all the way so responsibility lies squarely on you.
  • Computers and their priests – Computer technicians are complicators not simplifiers.
  • Conference board: what others did, don’t – when big businesses agree then it is already old news so look for something better.
  • Conflict within the organisation – a good manager does not try to eliminate conflict but does try to prevent it wasting too much time.
  • Contacts – if you want to make a contact just approach them directly instead of going via someone else
  • Controllers and accounting – don’t change the accounting system as this change produces inconsistency.
  • Conviction vs. ego – “are you trying to do something worth while here?” or “are you trying to just build another monument to some diseased ego?”
  • Decisions – all decisions should be made as low in the organisation as possible.
  • Delegation of authority – when negotiating pick someone two layers lower than you who would be more impacted by the bad contract, set an acceptable bounds for this person, tell the company who you are negotiating with that what ever your chosen person negotiates is what you’ll agree to (so there is no going over their head).
  • Directors, board of: the backseat drivers – they have never done anything useful as they can’t know enough about the business.  Have a mix of outsiders and insiders on the board.  Keep lawyers, bankers, investment bankers off the board where possible.
  • Disobedience and its necessity – any manager who conducts a plan which he feels is defective is at fault – he must put forward his reasons, insist on the plan being changed and tender his resignation instead of causing the downfall.
  • Do it – sometimes its best not to tell people in advance as people will kill your idea, sometimes its best to just get on and do it.
  • Employment contracts and why not – they loose the people they are designed to hold and keep the people you want to get rid of.
  • Epaulets for the chief executive – a good chief executive will knock off the niceties, a bad one will accept all the kudos as ego massage.
  • Excellence: or what the hell are you doing here? – if its not excellent it won’t be fun
  • Excuses – eliminate peoples excuses for failure.  Go out and ask how you can help.
  • Expense accounts: Theory X disease – Be honest, even if everyone else is not.  Fire the people checking and start to build a Theory Y company.
  • Fairness, justice and other oddities – Judge base on performance alone.  Reward outstanding performers, don’t reward underachievers.
  • Family Baggage – Spouses who are pushy for their partner to get promoted or earn more.  Money, if sought directly, is almost never gained but as a byproduct of some worthwhile objective or result which is sought and achieved for its own sake.
  • Firing people – Some times it needs to be done for the good of the organisation
  • Geography, respect for – Absentee management if fatal.  The larger the distance the more difficult it is to support.
  • Gifts from suppliers – don’t accept anything
  • Going a little bit public – the value based on a small volume of stock traded is fictitious and is not worth the hassle.
  • Headhunters – provide a large amount of feedback on each candidate to help them find more suitable candidates for you.
  • Hubris, The sin of – This is the sin of acting cocky when things are going well.
  • Incentive compensation and profit sharing 
    • Employees must have sufficient salary to not need to worry about making ends meet.
    • Using Unsatisfactory = 0%, Satisfactory = x% and Outstanding = 2x% distribute the discretionary salary.
    • Bonus checks should be handed out by the line manager.
    • No one should be penalised for things outside of their control
    • Fat cat perks should not be deducted impacting bonus calculations
  • Indirection: Don’t neglect it – Give people flexibility to get things done their way
  • Institution, On not becoming an – For any form in the company the chief executive must be the first to use it personally.  Have someone who is responsible for highlighting pointless processes.
  • Investment bankers – Keep at least one spare lined up so you are not stuck.
  • Investors: Keeping them informed – A nominated investor is allowed to come in one day and ask any question of anyone who they wanted, including the chief.  The investor would return a report which was then corrected and sent to all the directors and investors.  This saved time and produced a good internal document as well.
  • Job descriptions – strait jackets – job should be able to continually change
  • Killing things, V.P in charge of – It is easy to start, hard to stop so its best to have someone who can stop things when they are no longer a good idea.
  • Labor unions – create a Theory Y organisation so they are not needed.  If you have one deal with them openly and honestly.
  • Lawyers can be liabilities – a good lawyer will give you his home phone, travel and work weekend when needed but an unsuitable one wont.
  • Leadership – True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.
  • Management and “Top” management – Top management should be like owl – hooting when management heads in the wrong direction.
  • Management consultants – one person shows are effective the institutions are disasters.
  • Marketing – take a group of top employees and some from the ad agency and spent some time away talking with them and relaxing.  This will give time and space for important conversations.
  • Mars, Man from – Think about problems like someone from a different planet to give you a better view of what you should do.
  • Meetings – should be as few as possible with as few participants.  If a meeting is important enough to have one meeting it is likely to be important enough to have two so people get time to think.
  • Memorandum, The last – don’t have any
  • Mergers, conglobulations, and join failures 
    • Joint ventures are always bad.  At worst both parents neglect the stepchild.  At best one parent does all the work and gives up half the reward and feels cheated.
    • Acquisitions and mergers should be avoided.  If they do then continue to run your bussiness as if no change will happen (as it might not).  To set up a committee to come up with a proposal which will exclude the chief executive until the last minute to prevent distractions.
  • Message to chief executives – Your people aren’t lazy and incompetent.  They just look that way.  They’re beaten by all the overlapping and interlocking policies, rules and systems encrusting your company.
  • Mistakes – Admit your own mistakes openly and joyfully.
  • Mistresses – results in creativity in peoples expense account
  • Moonlighting – usually mean the salary isn’t enough to cover living expenses
  • Moving the head office – Get someone to arrange this for you and give them the task to make it standardised,  If it is on time, works reasonably well and cries die within 30 days it will have been a success.
  • Nepotism, The smell of – keep family out of the work place
  • No-No’s
    • Reserved parking spaces
    • Special stationary for the boss
    • Bells and buzzers
    • Company psychiatrists (unless they only report to patients)
    • Outside directorships and trusteeships for the chief executive.
    • Company plane, golf club, big office, three secretaries…
    • Conning people
    • Social relationships within the firm
    • Hiring unless people are already over worked
    • Trade associations (could lead to price fixing)
    • Conventions
    • Greed
  • Objectives – what is the organisation aiming to do, simply
  • Office hours – whenever you want
  • Organisation charts : rigor mortis – don’t you need to be nimble
  • People – Try to build a Theory Y organisation where there is freedom and responsibility.
  • Personnel (People vs.) – fire the department and just have the paperwork with payroll
  • Planning, Long-Range: A Happening – Planning is handled by the boss, not a “planner”
  • Policy manuals – Don’t bother.
  • P.R. Department, Abolition of – let the top ten people speak for the company if needed.  They are just honest, pretend your ablest competitor is listening, don’t forecast earnings.
  • President’s salary (Is he really worth $250,000?) – take a modest salary and with shares if the company grows it is win win.
  • Promises – keep them
  • Promotions, From within – As long as there is someone 50% then promote internally and they will grow the other 50% quicker than an external hire.
  • Public accounts and the audit committee – the audit committee should ask things such as “Has anyone pressed you to do anything you-re reluctant to do?” “Is there any subject or incident that for any reason you didn’t include or didn’t give proper weight to in the audit report that you’d like to discuss orally now?”
  • Purchasing department – fire them, trust people to get what they need
  • Putting on weight – a sure sign of frustration
  • Racism – stamping it out is a process and not an act, it takes effort over time
  • Reorganisaing – should be done rarely, be well planned and swift.
  • Retirement, Mandarotry – retire the chief executive every five or six years.
  • Salary review: Annual encounter group – between annual reviews you have to acknowledge that at all times people are either over or under paid and there is nothing which can be done about it right then.
  • Salesmen – 20% always produce 80%.  Have a commission structure which is fair.
  • Secrecy : A child’s garden of diseases – What I’m doing is so horrible I don’t dare tell you or I don’t trust you (any more).
  • Secretary, Freedom from a – have a good pool of staff services rather than a dedicated secretary as this produces much more value for all.
  • Small companies – don’t take on big company structure too early it is a burden
  • Staff services – great service different people can use to get things done
  • Stockholders – turn as management and employees into stockholders because this makes the customer important.
  • Stock options and democracy – Give everyone options
  • Tax advice – you are looking for someone passionate not some suit
  • Teams, Two-Man – Good and Bad – Sometimes a pair of people are the right for a single role as they will have different strengths.
  • Telephone operators – make them feel special
  • Thanks – a really neglected form of compensation
  • Time: Three Thoughts on it – companies should be fun, new people need time to learn and systems take time to bed in – people are quick with torpedoes, some meetings should be leisurely and some brief stand for the latter.
  • Titles are handy tools – these are physiological promotions and good sales for menial jobs
  • Too much vs too little – space should be on the tight side, people should be a bit over stretched, money should be tight.  Constraints breed creativity.
  • Training – only way to learn is on the job
  • Underpaid – resign with the reason underpaid, reapply for your old job with the salary you feel you are deserved – you will be the best applicant.  If you can’t be rehired because of regulations this is not a company you would want to work for.
  • Vacation policy: go when you please – no reasonable person will abuse this freedom, your worst job will be making sure people take the time off they need.
  • Wearing out your welcome – if the chief executive doesn’t retire gracefully after five or six years throw him out

Rate your boss

  1. Available – If I have a problem I can’t solve, he is there.  But he is forceful in making me do my level best to bring in solutions, not problems.
  2. Inclusive – Quick to let me in on information or people who might be useful to me or stimulating or of long-term professional interest.
  3. Humorous – Has a full measure of the Comic Spirit in his make-up.  Laughs even harder when joke’s on him.
  4. Fair – And concerned about me and how I’m doing.  Gives credit where credit is due, but holds me to my promises.
  5. Decisive – Determined to get at those little unimportant decisions which can tie up organisations for days.
  6. Humble – Admits his own mistakes openly – learns from them and expects his people to do the same.
  7. Objective – Knows the apparently important (like a visiting director) from  the truly important (a meeting of his own people) and goes where he is needed.
  8. Tough – Won’t let top management or important outsiders waste his time or people’s time.  Is more jealous of his people’s time than he is of his own.
  9. Effective – Teaches me to bring him m mistakes with what I’ve learned and done about them.  Teaches me not to interrupt him with possible good news on which no action is needed.
  10. Patient – Knows when to bite the bullet until I solve my own problem.

Book Notes : Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The main learning – write everything you have to do down unless the task takes less than 2 minutes in which case do it immediately.  Get it all out of your head.

The five steps to mastering work flow

  1. capture what has our attention
  2. clarify what each item means and what to do about it
  3. organise the results
  4. reflect on the options
  5. engage in chosen result