Chapter 5 of Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t is titled, Leaving Bluework Behind: Commit. Whether you classify thinking as System Two thinking or bluework, at some point you have to cross the barrier from contemplation to doing. Chapter Five focuses on reducing the barrier between thinking and action. The process that bridges that barrier is commitment. The author begins the chapter by making the distinction between commitment and coercion.
I have been thinking about Marquet’s use of the word coercion in the Language of Leadership. At least for me, the word coercion brings to mind someone exerting pressure in an obvious fashion. When working on a loading dock during college, I had a boss who loved to scream at everyone unless they jumped and then asked how high. I hated that job. Coercion in the workplace is usually much more subtle and nuanced. I listened to a manager explain why they wanted something. They ended the monologue with “That is just the way it is. You need to get going and make it happen. Are there any questions?” They thought they were being collaborative by ending the statement with a question. They also did not see the statements as coercive. In private, I asked the manager if the team had a choice or even a voice in the decision they were being told to execute. They pointed out that they were part of the team so, in their mind, yes they had a voice and the manager was that voice and they were committing the team. No yelling, screaming, or threats, but this is coercion. Marquet states, “Compliance makes following procedure, the guiding star. Commitment makes achieving the intended objective of the procedure, the guiding star.“
Through the first half of this book, I am struck by the need to be careful in how we use words; they matter.
Commitment (by the people doing the work – not the one telling them to do it) reduces the effort needed to transition from deciding into doing. The barrier is reduced by connecting a decision to action by harnessing our internal drive to succeed. Committing sets us into action to implement the decisions. Getting things done is the heart of all work scenarios.
As with the previous chapter, Marquet identifies several options for executing the commit play:
- Commit to learn, not just do.
- Commit actions, not beliefs.
- Chunk it small, but do it all.
All three options are important; however, commit actions, not beliefs struck me during this read of the book. What is the outcome of a decision? One word, action. Asking for people to commit to a belief does not necessarily translate into action. Beliefs are interesting and can impact engagement, but when asking for commitment you are looking for someone to do something changing what they believe is not required. The collaborate play in the last chapter generates alignment on a course of action; the commit play aligns activity.
The idea of “chunking it small, but doing it all” fits into the framework of my agile mindset. Breaking work into smaller chunks is a classic refinement and planning technique; however, the technique is used less frequently for decisions. Organizations typically commit to large initiatives as if they were a monolith (with little collaboration) and then plow on even if things go sideways. In the last chapter, we discussed the need for periodic pauses so that teams can shift from doing to thinking. Leverage those pauses as time to inspect and adapt what you are doing as well as inspecting and adapting what you will commit to next.
Committing is a bridge between blue work and red work; between deciding and doing. We often get trapped into a version of commitment that suggests everyone needs to be a true believer. In the end, it is better to commit to a plan of action and move on to making that happen. To make the idea of commit and moving on work for the “non” true believers, pause to inspect and adapt regularly. Recommitting with more context makes the process more flexible and palatable for those with reservations.
Pausing to inspect, adapt, and recommit periodically helps to disrupt the problem of escalating commitment. Ahh, if the Captain of the El Faro had embraced the concept of “chunk it small, but do it all” perhaps the crew would have survived. The Captain would have given himself permission to decide on the course multiple times rather than make the decision once and then defend it until death.
Marquet suggests that at the end of blue work, as we commit, we ask two questions:
- “What are we going to do?”
- “What are we going to learn?”
As an experiment this week, ask what we will learn for each commitment you make.
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
