really hard decisions; 29 lessons about leadership learnt from gardening

i used to own an allotment garden for three years. in year one i tended it with weekly, if not daily, love. it gave me immeasurable pleasure. in year two i gave it quarterly, if not monthly, love. it gave me some pleasure after a long battle with overgrown weeds and unruly plants. in year three, i went to the allotment five times and every single day that i wasn’t there, was a stressor in the back of my mind. the untended soil and the tenacious weeds haunted me. in year four i didn’t rent a patch again. my stress was gone but my disappointment still lingers.

the interesting part about my allotment garden is that my yield in year one was the poorest out of all three years. the best yield and the healthiest crops happened in year two.

many variables play into this but for the sake of simplicity let’s remove all variables that impact an actual garden and let’s extrapolate some lessons that can apply to business:

• plants grow better when allowed to take root on their own terms: over- tending is a real thing and it causes poor yield.
• battles with weeds and unruly plants bring about a satisfaction.
• a bountiful yield can still be had inbetween a measure of unruliness: perfection is not required.

the second half of this year has called for a sequence of really hard decisions that we’ve had to make in the company. there’s a definite pattern that we’ve followed in making each of them. i’ve broken these down into 29 points. some of these things we’ve done really badly. some of these things we’ve done really well. it’s a definite process of falling forwards for the company …

1. admit wrong: as in *really* own it

hard decisions arise because of problems. you are always part of the problem. own it fully and be open about owning it. own it with your clients. own it with your team. just own it. the entire series of events that will follow after this point up will be set up for greater success. owning a problem and your contribution to it makes people want to work with you to fix it. it’s hard. but seriously, own it.

2. have conversations

before deciding on any action, schedule a face-to-face conversation with as many people involved in the situation as you possibly can. use this conversation as a place to own the issue. once you’ve owned it, ask one simple question: “what do you want me to do about this?” and then keep quiet. it will be hard. you will not agree with everything the person will say. you will be surprised at what comes out. you will want to defend. don’t. shoosh. that’s all.

3. ask wide open questions that allow for insights which can’t be anticipated

after shooshing for as long as possible, ask questions. ask wide-open questions. make expansive statements: “expand on that for me.” “tell me more about that.” “i find that interesting. why do you feel this way?”

4. listen

shoosh again. allow the wide-open questions and statements to work their magic. allow the words to simply be what they are when the other person voices them.

5. state your action plan

in the midst of problems, people crave leadership. state your action plan with clarity and boldness.

6. recognise the iceberg underneath the ice cap

i once asked a number of CEOs over lunch about firing people and one person at the table said: “never ever underestimate the fuckberg hiding under what’s visible. if you think you need to fire someone, act on it with urgency and uncover the huge iceberg of issues underneath the surface as soon as possible.” beautiful and highly memorable french that will always stay with me. ;)

7. look after the company as the number one priority

if there is no company, there is no team. it is critical to look after the company before the individuals in the situation. this is the hardest thing for any single individual inside a company to understand because their deepest needs seemingly aren’t met at the exact time when company health is placed above their own needs and wants.

8. look after my own state of being

hard decisions can be all-consuming. they can and most likely will suck every single ounce of your energy and time. if you allow it. don’t. a few consistents for me have been green smoothies in the morning, running, journalling, taking one solid block of 24 hours off every week and going for regular counselling sessions with a life coach.

9. look after my leadership team

my leadership team come before my entire team. this is not unfair. if my leadership team is unhealthy, my entire team is unhealthy. so the root of the issue and the solution always goes back to the leadership team. my weekly connects and my honest conversations are non-negotiables here. at the moment we are also working through lencioni’s material on organisational health.

10. look after our clients

this responsibility lies primarily in the hands of the team and i need to trust them but i always make sure that i remain connected and engaged with important people inside each client account. my measure of health with clients is based on our ability to have frank conversations with each other that aren’t destructive. can i tell them when they are not playing fair? can they tell me when we are not making nice?

11. look after my enablers inside the team

there are always people on a team who have greater sway than others. sometimes they are aware of it. sometimes they need gentle nudges that remind them of their influence. this is particularly important inside periods where tough decisions are being made. i’m always monitoring the influence these enablers are exerting. sometimes it’s positive. sometimes it’s very disabling and needs management.

12. look after my individual team players

individual players on teams are important. they get thrown during periods of hard decision-making. very often in unexpected ways and by things you never anticipated. be available. reach out. even to the ones who deliberately ignore you or don’t know how to respond to you.

13. identify the issue landscape

there are always three layers to any issue: the immediate issue, the process and system component of the issue and the individual/people component. only addressing one or two of these issues means the entire issue has not yet been resolved. handle each piece. it’s critical to dealing with the root.

14. identify the issues that need to be zero’ed in on

not everything needs attention. decide what really does. simple.

15. identify the peripheral issues

the peripheral issues are no less important but they are for another day. list them, note them down. return to them. but not today.

16. determine the flywheel effect as far as possible

issues are like having babies: determine whether it’s twins, triplets or a string of 8 children your particular issue will have. make plans accordingly.

17. tackle the problem head-on

design a plan. execute the plan. wash. rinse. repeat. for as long as needed until it is *truly* resolved.

18. have the frank honest conversations

teams shy away from these. and yet when they are had, magic happens. be frank. tell people where and how they’ve messed up. give them your perspective. ask for theirs. you’d be surprised at how this approach shows you the individuals on the team who are aware enough to understand their role within a problem and those who aren’t. the problem starts solving it itself at this juncture.

19. have the group conversation

teams sense in unison when things are happening. never ever hide anything. address what is happening. allow the team to ask questions.

20. redesign the mess

issues are messy. they always will be. come prepared to clean up. bring a design-centred thought process to the situation. redesign the process, the system and the team.

21. identify where individuals have been silenced and disempowered

issues start way before they actually manifest. think back to the iceberg analogy above. the victims inside issues are always individuals: they generally do not feel that they can voice their opinion and so they keep quiet and the issue grows in their disempowered state. get these people ranting, swearing and voicing what’s hiding inside their brains as soon as possible. i find it refreshing when my team members feel comfortable enough to swear in my company when the swearing is a pure expression of their frustration at wanting things to be better.

22. empower towards action

do not let the ranting carry on indefinitely. let it be heard and then request action. steer the team towards this. i’m reaching a place now where i’m not allowing conversations to end unless they’ve included action steps.

23. rebuild

issues break things. they need to be rebuilt. they will not rebuild themselves. they need to be deliberately rebuilt by the entire team. rebuild trust. rebuild reputation. rebuild performance track records. rebuild conversation patterns. rebuild where there is fear.

24. recalculate the time

issues take time and have a long-lasting impact. if you think it will have an impact for 3 months and it will take a month to rebuild; plan instead for there to be a delayed reaction that lasts for double the amount of time you’ve planned and know that rebuilding will be a continual process from this point onwards. the scar will always be there.

25. recalculate the expense

if you think the issue cost you x. multiple x by 3. it’s really that simple. it will always cost more.

26. review the maintenance plan

make sure, really sure you fully answer the question: “how can we make sure this is prevented as much as possible moving forward?”. and when you think you’ve answered it. answer it again. and again.

27. create wins

sales. new channel partners. investment rounds. motion forward. create it. deliberately. the team needs this inside the pain.

28. reflect

one of the things that has made me proudest in the last few weeks is how collectively we created a case study from the issues we’ve faced as a company, and we’ve allowed everyone to learn together. we’ve done deep introspection. we’ve owned the entire process, all 29 of these steps and we’re moving forward stronger, better, wiser and a little more wide-eyed.

29. laugh as an organisation

oh my. leslie, our CFO, has started ending her letters to the bank with “love, leslie”. daphne, our partner manager has gone on a mac power cable investigation adventure. tracey, our COO, has upgraded her underwear to big girl panties on ecstasy. the deployment team have decided they are now a wolf pack. regular howling can be heard. jon is wardrobe optimising: matching his broken foot cast and his shirts. the sales team are dating sugar and ring central. go figure ;). we’re having fun people. lots of it. issues or no issues. we’re regularly cracking up around here.

back to my allotment garden: the strawberries taught me a secret.

if you want a huge crop of red, juicy, sun-ripened strawberries, trail the offshoots into new soil. the plants will take care of the rest.

teams are much the same … once the trail has been laid in new soil, fruit grows.