[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Leadership]] - People: Michael Schrage - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXEsv75-jeg --- ## Summary - The most important question leaders must ask themselves, What's most important to the organization? - Understand where value is truly created - Align on the actions that lead to the desired results. - The challenge isn't identifying and managing goals, but rather the management of the tension and sometimes conflicts between them. - [[Goals may change, but they must always be understood]]. - [[Always return to centre]]. When in doubt, ask (and remind) yourself what matters most to the organization, to the team and to you. - [[It's alright not to get it all right]]. [[It's not about perfect. It's about effort.]] ## Notes ### Understanding value - The most important question leaders and managers need to ask themselves when planning, "what's most important to the organization?"" - "Where is value really created?" For us (internally) and for users (externally). - What kind of performance leads to those kinds of outcomes? - ### Alignment and tension - The team must align on the "means" and the "ends" - the "action" and the "results" - The challenge isn't really identifying and managing these goals, but rather, the tensions and sometimes conflicts between them. - [[Goals must adapt to the realities of momentum]]. - [[Goals may change, but they must always be understood]]. - Be wary of "pathological" goals. Things that may make sense in the moment, but actually have a negative effect on larger goals. - Align your goals, both big and small, towards your vision. - Goals must be adjusted to the tensions of dynamic requirements. The challenge is balance resources. Do enough to honour effort and preserve impact. Do not dilute impact by doing too much too soon. - Tension always exists in between goals, and the planning of goals. - The wrangling of the dynamism of goals and actions is the most important unspoken work that leaders must do. ### What matters most - [[Experience matters most]]. - Always return to centre. When in doubt. centre yourself on the vision. What's most important for the organization, the team and you? - Perceived productivity (e.g. having high throughput) may actually be harmful, even if it solves immediate problems. The actions may have produced a poor experience (e.g. the feelings of being rushed) or misunderstandings confusions in the wake of chaos. - You're never going to get it all right. [[It's alright not to get it all right]]. [[It's not about perfect. It's about effort.]] - If you pick the wrong goals, "you may end up with perverse outcomes because you're incentivizing perverse behaviours". "KPI doesn't just stand for 'key performance indicator'. It stands for 'key performance incentive'" - Make sure you're recognizing and rewarding the right things. ## Original ![[When business goals backfire - How to adjust for unintended consequences-1.jpg]] ![[When business goals backfire - How to adjust for unintended consequences-2.jpg]] ![[When business goals backfire - How to adjust for unintended consequences-3.jpg]]