As a Bruce Lee worshiper, I use his teachings to approach my work life.

1st, Bruce Lee on “correct posture:”

Correct posture 1 = To be “mechanically favorable for the next move:”

What does “favourable” mean in the people, systems, and processes of my business?

How agile are they?

Which of those can I afford to lose?

Correct posture 2 = Maintains a “poker body” that reveals no more of its intended movements:

Do my actions distract?

Am I showing more than what’s needed in a sales pitch?

Am I probing too much when I meet someone new?

Am I under-sharing when trying to poach a superstar?

Correct posture 3 = Create tension most favorable to quick reaction and high coordination:

What combo of metrics (e.g. sales per hour + NPS?) empower us to choose quicker AND better?

How long does it take us to argue ferociously and effectively?

Are we uncomfortable enough?

Or folks wouldn’t go all in, even though the majority picked a decision? “It’s a bad decision. I am not part of this.”

There are two dynamics at play here.

1st, consent vs consensus:
When we try to get everyone to approve/agree, we are trying to get consensus. With consensus everyone must be “for” the decision. Consensus exposes judgements and assumes shared accountability.

More often than not, what we need is to empower those accountable to make better decisions. We want to better understand the choices and to rally behind the decision. This is consent. Consent does not require agreement, affirmation or even preference. As long as no one objects, a consent is made.

Hence the key is know when to ask for which.

#bossbetter actions:
1) Ask- Who is ultimately accountable? Is it everyone? Or just an individual/a team?
2) Express what is needed (consensus or consent) at the start of the discussion:
“This is about John’s store. Our goal of this debate is to share our observations and to challenge the ideas so John and his team can make the most informed decision.”

Next up: Convey vs convince, I will convey that idea to you next week.

Translation: Culture = Fluff X Actions

Let’s look at the culture of “taking ownership”/“accountability.” A concrete action to clarify this fluffy value could be:
“Bring up issues to others swiftly when things start to go FUBR*.”

Here’s a crowd favourite- “Great teamwork.”
How might great teams behave?
– They disagree and debate on ideas rather than personalities.
– When a decision is made, everyone goes all-in to execute decision, regardless of his/her initial point of view.

We can define culture “top-down” by spelling out the specific behaviours of the values and norms. We can also reconstruct culture from “the ground up” by investigating into existing behaviours:
– Managers always pick up the trash on the floor. Why? Because we take pride in being detail-oriented. 

And one of the behaviors that tells you a lot about a team is cursing:

“When do people swear? How come?”
“Is it a terminable offense? When is it not? To whom it is not?”