PITA 003
April Fool’s Day means HATS!
TOPIC 1:
Creating psychological safety - when everyone disagrees with the boss, but still likes them
Not an intervention
Arrange sessions discussing alternative ideas
Accelerate book
Motivation mapping for the boss - what are they trying to achieve?
Open anonymous forum, if the boss is strong enough, or externally facilitated
Radical Candor book
Aesop’s fable of Who Will Bell the Cat? - do it together
‘If we only have opinion, we’ll go with mine” Steven Elop, ie challenge with data.
Also: go to a segmented roadmap, so you break down the strategy into segments owned by others as SMEs.
Externalise it - make it the team’s strategy as a whole, not his/her personal strategy decision
Also - just coz most of the team think they’re wrong doesn’t mean that _are_ wrong :-) Finding safe ways to [in]validate it helps everybody.
Strategy vs tactics
Remove emotion from it where possible
Radical Acceptance talk from MTP (Making Smarter Decisions with Mental Models by Andy Ayim)
perhaps find a person with "no stake" in the strategy and who has the bosses trust and have them communicate to the boss how shitty their strategy is
Translate strategy into OKRS… to highlight deployment ‘issues’
People under “the boss” should also try and encourage a more creative and autonomous environment, hopefully showing “the boss” the power of experience and knowledge coming from the specialists in each team. Try and encourage/suggest design thinking as well.
TOPIC 2:
When your design and engineering team work really well together - are you still useful?
Good job! Now move from tactical to strategic
Maybe it’s a change from looking in (within the team) to looking out?
Intercom has a good framing of 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years - move away from the immediate
Move to more research
Ask harder questions
Have more fun / mess with your team
It gives you room to innovate
Is everyone happy?
When you take your next role, who will take over, and do they have the skills?
TOPIC 3:
How to win business folks over and help them understand /prioritise data (notably folks that cannot conceptualise it without seeing it in a UI or Visualisation tool)
Create virtual currency for your team - BBC becomes $Bees; HSBC becomes $HSBucks, etc
Tell a story - Jeff Veen did a great job of this at MTP (Crafting a Creative Culture by Jeff Veen)
Effective Storytelling to Motivate and Align Your Team by Anna Marie Clifton
Tell Better Stories - Donna Lichaw on The Product Experience , or if you prefer, her book
a bonus on Story points (and whichever points you’re using): https://medium.com/serious-scrum/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-explain-story-points-a8ef01c816fb
TOPIC 4:
Mentoring: sounds relevant in tough times to >> how to get started
Encourage mentorship from outside the team/organisation
Let the mentee lead the conversion, be open to non-work subjects (esp. now)
Try becoming a mentor in external environments/programmes as well
People don’t want to talk so much about work right now!
Not coming with an agenda / being non-judgemental
Not giving direct advice but leading them in a direction / to a conclusion
Be “friends” with your mentor - takes the pressure off and mentees should volunteer to help