Punks in Suits: How to lead the workplace reformation
We are on the cusp of a revolution in how we utilise the talent of people in our oganisations. "Punks in Suits" addresses the challenges and opportunities faced by today's leaders, and in these interviews she gets deeper in to these topics with other thought-leaders and experts, adding their perspectives and experiences to your thinking. Each interview is particularly pertinent to a specific chapter of the book although feel free to listen at your own pace.
Punks in Suits: How to lead the workplace reformation
Chapter 2: Anarchy in the workplace: Healing the Crisis in Trust - A conversation with David Marquet
David Marquet is a former US Nuclear Submarine captain and best-selling author of Turn the Ship Around and Leadership is Language. I quote him throughout the book as he has extraordinary personal experience of the power of making some of the changes I describe. He rethought his leadership style and pushed authority down through his crew because he felt deeply that one brain (his) could not be as intelligent as all the brain on board combined.
In our conversation we discuss trust and what trust means, the difference between red work and blue work and he even gives a sneak peak into what he's writing about next. During the interview David shows me an old photo of a foreman in a factory and he talks through what the image shows and what it represents so you'll hear him refer to that.
Key points:
Red work tends to be physical and is ‘allergic’ to variability. Blue work is about thinking and making decisions. The organisation was designed to divide people into thinkers and doers. The people doing the work aren’t the people deciding about the work. It must be coercive.
If you can get over the seduction of power and every decision doesn’t hinge on you your life is infinitely better AND your business can better compete in today’s market.
We can now engage everyone in the thinking at certain times. Rather than some people being thinkers and others doers, we all sometimes think and then all sometimes do.
Trust doesn’t mean people will get decisions right. Trust means that a person says what they mean and mean what they say, and that their intent is to make a good decision. We tend to believe that trust also means that a person can look into the future and has all the knowledge and ability in the world and therefore their decision will be the right one. But none of us can do that.
Asking if people are sure, or if they know they are right, is problematic. Instead talk about ideas in a probabilistic way. E.g. “There is a 10% chance it will work so it’s worth trying”. This gives people permission to share ideas they wouldn’t normally share.
Your ideas will be stronger if you air them to groups. Even Newton and Einstein made mistakes and learnt from others.
You have to give up all feeling of competence. When you want to ‘be good’ you avoid challenges and feedback.
Stand beside yourself as an observer or as your own coach so you are less attached to your ego when assessing your performance and areas for growth.