Three Ways to Build a Team That Doesn’t Wait for Permission
Ken Blanchard tells a powerful story that I included in my first book, We’re All In:
Horst Schulze was one of the founders of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels. During his time leading the company, after orientation and extensive training, every employee was given a $2,000 discretionary fund they could use to solve a customer problem without telling anyone, not even their boss.
Schulze loved collecting stories about people who used that empowerment to make a difference. One was about a businessman staying at a Ritz-Carlton property in Atlanta. That day, he had to fly from Atlanta to Los Angeles and then on to Hawaii because the next day he was giving a major speech to his international company. On his way to the airport, he discovered he had left his laptop behind, which held all the PowerPoints for his presentation. He tried to change his flights, but he could not. So, he called the hotel, told them which room he had been in, and asked that Housekeeping overnight the computer to him with guaranteed delivery by 10 the next morning, because he needed it for his one o’clock speech.
The next day Schulze was wandering around the hotel, as he often did. When he got to Housekeeping, he asked, “Where’s Mary?” Her co-workers told him she was in Hawaii. When he asked what she was doing there, he was told, “A guest left his computer in his room, and he needs it for a speech today at one o’clock, and Mary doesn’t trust overnight carrier services.”
Mary received a commendation upon her return the next day.
Why Mary Did Not Wait for Permission
The fifth of our Big 6 Leadership Principles® is When in Charge, Take Charge. Being in charge means accepting the responsibility entrusted to you and acting accordingly, and that does not mean being out front barking orders. In most cases, taking charge means empowering people. I included Mary’s story in the book as an example of empowerment built on trust.
When in charge, All-In Adaptive Leaders take charge. They have a strong bias for action, because they know the intent and have confidence their leaders will underwrite honest mistakes. In the absence of specific guidance, these leaders act within Mission and Intent.
As you’ll no doubt recall from my earlier articles, the fundamental building blocks for setting the Azimuth are Mission and Intent. When team members understand these, they instinctively know what to do. They are far more likely to act instead of react. Rather than waste precious time seeking permission, they take action to achieve the objectives set out in the Mission and Intent.
Waiting for Someone to Write the Rule
Conversely, in the Level Five Culture of Commitment, trust is the watchword, and the decision tree is right side up. That means most of the decisions in the organization are made at the lowest level (imagine a fir tree as opposed to a palm tree).
All-In Adaptive Leaders cannot be afraid to take charge, and they understand that mistakes come with the territory. Your key task as that leader is to pull together the right people for your team and create a bias for action within your organization.
Below, I share what it takes for your people to act the way Mary did: execute per a Mission and Intent they understand well enough to act on in the absence of specific guidance, with clear limits on the decisions each level can make, and leaders who treat an honest mistake as a teachable moment. To read the rest of this article, visit this link.
Enjoy the journey!
