Another Bit Of "Normalcy"
There’s been lots of talk about “new normals” and the massive changes that we’ve seen in just the past couple of years. Whether it be the disruptions economically, politically, culturally, or whatever, we’ve been on a massive pace of change that seemingly resets expectations on a weekly (if not daily) basis.
This past week, I was helping coordinate a return-to-office process where I work.
It was a welcome divergence from two-dimensional Zoom meetings and remote interactions.
I have been surprised that our recent forced remote work environment has been as successful as it is. It’s no secret that I work in technology & one benefit of my specialty is that you can do the work almost anywhere.
That said, as Ken Schwaber (one of the pioneers in the Agile Scrum community) has been quoted as saying: “The best communication is face to face, with communications occurring through facial expression, body language, intonation, and words. When a whiteboard is thrown in and the teams work out design as a group, the communication bandwidth absolutely sizzles.”
While we can do much of our technology work remotely, there is an unmistakable value to the face-to-face interactions from both a professional and social/emotional standpoint.
It was good to have some interpersonal interactions this week and, while I’m going to continue working remotely most of the time, it is good to see some return to a bit of “normalcy”.
The thing for all of us to keep in mind is that this return is to a new and different “normal” and the paces & types of changes are likely to continue.
It just again highlights the truism that “Change is the only Constant.”
- A decision looms and there are questions for who has the authority to make it (and will be accountable for the outcome).
- Some issue manifests and there is a debate across groups for who “owns” it.
- There are multiple “important” things that “have to get done”, but there is little clear priority assessed.
- Without clear accountability, credit and blame are most often misplaced.
- Lacking a decision-maker, situations fester (and usually worsen).
- Absent clear priorities, actions are enacted tactically (instead of strategically) usually as a response to escalations.
These situations usually occur due to poor attempts at delegation! Leaders, in their attempts to scale, work to off-load day-to-day responsibilities ostensibly to enable them to act in a more strategic fashion.
By addressing these three concerns out of order, leaders usually set the stage for the challenges that occur.
Accountability
Who is ultimately responsible? The truly accountable person is unable to delegate that accountability. Whether it is to customers, shareholders, a board of directors, or whomever, the actual accountable person who has to answer the question or deliver the promise must be identified first!
Regardless of your scale or level of delegation, this is often the Owner or Chief Executive.
Harry Truman is credited with the sign on his desk: “The Buck Stops Here”.
Identify who is accountable for portions of the organization, set goals/measures, and follow up on the results of how they are met. Just understand that ultimately accountability really cannot be delegated. (With the perks come the problems!)
Ownership
Once accountability is determined, ownership is much easier identified. Since accountability requires the power to make decisions directing the outcome, that individual should be the decision-maker.
Co-ownership situations or structures with “dotted-line” decision-making ultimately lead to conflict.
Again, if we are asking someone to take accountability, we should trust their judgment to exercise ownership of the major decisions that will affect the outcome. If we are unwilling to empower someone to make the decisions, it is disingenuous to hold them accountable for the results.
Ultimately, that is just a mechanism for setting up a culture of blame. It is the anathema of a successful organization.
Prioritization
Determining priority is a value-based decision acknowledging that resources (time, money, talent, etc) are limited.
The individual who is accountable for the outcome and empowered as the owner making decisions should be the one making decisions of priority.
Wrap-up
- Do you have them in the right order?
- How is that affecting your organization?
For those checking out the book reviews, I reviewed E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. You can check out my notes at this link.
Keep a lookout as I just finished One Million Followers by Brendan Kane and will be posting my notes for that one soon.
Other Links
First comes the builders and creators .. then comes the explainers 💛☀️
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) July 17, 2021
Perform an SEO Audit w/ Google Search Console
Google Search Console (GSC) is one of those tools from Google/Alphabet that has a wide number of uses & packs an immense value-punch if you take the time to use (and utilize it). If you’re doing SEO for your website/business, it’ll pay dividends to learn how GSC can help you improve your SEO and, thereby, attract the attention (and traffic) of your target audience.
Added bonus: (5 SEO Techniques for 2021)
If you’re working on SEO, go ahead and check out these hints from Techcrunch. As a high-traffic site among the technology set, they have one of the most solid content models (both self-produced & community-produced) of the bunch.
GaryV (IG) on Playing & Winning
If you’ve been around for a while, you know I’m a Gary Vaynerchuk fan. There are few speakers who talk more about trying fresh things & increasing your “at-bats” to find your way. He has gotten “Try-Inspect-Adapt-Pivot” embedded into the DNA of his business model and it shows!
Forsyth County & Agri-Tourism
I grew up on a farm and, during Covid-19, tried my hand at gardening. Notably, what I do is extremely small-scale, but kudos to our local leadership for recognizing that agriculture needs multiple avenues & value streams to operate and succeed today. Whether it be connections, sales, content, or whatever, there is more to success in agriculture today than simply what goes “in the ground”.
