In Chapter 9 of Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t, Marquet provides several examples of using the new plays. As a reminder, the plays in the new playbook are:
- Control The Clock
- Collaborate
- Commit
- Complete
- Improve
- Connect
Each of these plays are powerful; however, the combination of the plays is where the real power is. For example, controlling the clock — calling a pause — allows a person or team time to think. During that pause, if they surface issues that are addressed the post-industrial plays of collaboration and improving are in evidence. Leveraging short iterations so that work can be demonstrated and inspected combines the control the clock, complete, and connect plays. Iterative planning, a hallmark of agile, combines control the clock and commit plays.
One of the most interesting ideas to me during this reread is how to apply the plays at an individual level outside of work. I was recently purchasing a major appliance. The salesperson was rolling through the options quickly ticking them off pushing the ones they wanted to sell and rushing past the two that I wanted. One possible response to this behavior is to erupt and possibly storm out and drive to Columbus (3 hours) to buy the appliance. Instead, I held up my hand and told the person to stop and went to the loo. During the pause, I decided on a course that did not include further driving (unless necessary). When I returned I reoriented the conversation to focus on the two items I wanted and then asked for the total price. After a few seconds of spluttering, we settled on the price and delivery date. What struck me is less the sequence of events, but rather that Marquet’s book had made this a conscious approach. I took a step back and replanned.
Another interesting idea in the chapter is classifying verbs as industrial and post-industrial. If we accept the premise of the book that the words we use have an impact on those around us, then it is easy to see how some verbs belong in each playbook. I went to the web and grabbed some ads for Scrum Master jobs. They used a confusing mixture of industrial and post-industrial verbs ro describe the job. Examples of the verbs used include:
- Facilitate – post-industrial
- Create and deliver – industrial
- Responsible for – industrial
- Ensure methods are followed – industrial
- Guide and coach – post-industrial
Do the job descriptions describe a servant leader, methodology police, or some weird mixture – servant police? The idea that leadership is a function of language is dead on. The words we use impact what people hear and how people behave. As a leader, step back and consider your words.
Leaders will use the six plays to launch and enable teams to make decisions and surface risks and fears. The alternative is to revert to bullying and manipulation – even if it is done tacitly.
Note: we have two weeks left in this re-read. I am thinking about diving into Daniel Vacanti’s new book, Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability, Volume II: Advanced Topics. Thoughts?
Previous installments of our re-read of Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t (buy a copy)!
Week 1: Logistics, Introduction, Foreword – https://bit.ly/3sTqyu3
Week 2: El Faro – https://bit.ly/3RnkUue
Week 3: The New Playbook – https://bit.ly/3Llgmki
Week 4: Control the Clock – https://bit.ly/45UFp5Z
Week 5: Collaborate – https://bit.ly/3PzFiXI
Week 6: Commit – https://bit.ly/46DMmsF
Week 7: Complete – https://bit.ly/47aTDQe
Week 8: Improve – https://bit.ly/3FMT1Vw
Week 9: Connect – https://bit.ly/3QW05Wj
