Let Your Leaders Cook!

Happy Friday,

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”- General George Patton.

Patton wasn’t some leadership pundit. He was a leader who repeatedly proved that giving his reports a clear ‘what ’ and trusting them to figure out the ‘how’ produced superior results in the most high-stakes environment imaginable (combat).

It’s a gutsy decision to empower execution rather than micromanage and over-control. Patton understood that people tend to rise to the occasion when they’re given ownership.

Combat is a bit more consequential than anything an engineering organization faces, so you’d think leaders would embrace Patton's approach and be more trusting of their team. But most aren't.

Why?

I'll throw up three possibilities: 1) There's an innate human desire to control risk; 2) most engineering firms are led by engineers, who aren’t trained to take risks. They’re trained for precision, analysis, risk reduction, and certainty: 3) CYA and the fear of being second-guessed, because just about everyone answers to someone...

Patton’s approach of letting those closest to the action make their own decisions reeks of uncertainty, the polar opposite of engineering instincts.

As a consequence, engineering organizations are naturally inclined to over-encumber themselves with bureaucratic controls that shackle independent decision-making. Not because more controls deliver superior outcomes; they don’t. But because it feels right, and is more easily defensible and less risky than trust and empowerment.

Unfortunately, adding more controls yields diminishing returns and quickly becomes counterproductive, i.e., you make less money. When every action is prescribed, measured, and controlled, no one has agency, no one takes ownership, and ingenuity and decisiveness become rare rather than the norm. People just keep their heads down and follow the prescription, whether it makes sense or not.

A business is not an engineering project. The marketplace is dynamic, and competitors are constantly trying to put you out of business (meeting with your talent and clients). Business success requires decisive and continuous risk-taking, not caretaking. A fact that has never been truer than right now.

Punchline: Organizations move at the speed of trust, i.e., the speed of their decision-making and execution. Prudent controls have their place, but only if they exist to enable performance, not replace judgment. You either trust your people, or you don't. If you do, unshackle and empower them. Give them agency and let them cook. If you don't, well...

Hope you have a terrific weekend!

Dave

Feedback and blowback are always welcome: dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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