Leadership Nudge™ – CERTIFY, DON’T BRIEF
You are in charge of a team and about to engage in a major operation or evolution- a very important crane lift, or surgical procedure, or an airplane taking off, or, for us on USS Santa Fe, starting up the reactor. You gather the team together to do a briefing. You review each person’s responsibilities. And at the end you say, “Hey, how are you doing? Any questions? Do you understand?” Everyone understands and nods. Then you go and do the operation.
Well, don’t do that. Instead, cancel all your briefings. The problem is briefings are very passive for all of the participants. The only person really involved is the person leading the briefing. Instead of doing a briefing, do a certification.
A certification is different from a briefing in two key ways. Number 1, the participants say what their responsibilities will be during the operation. They talk about what they might be looking for, the key decisions that they might have to make. They talk about their understanding of the sequence of events during the operation.
And then number 2, the person in charge makes the decision that the team is ready to move forward. So number 1 is from the participants up. And number 2, there’s a decision that you’re ready to move forward with the operation.
Our Leadership Nudge to you this week is this:
Have your team tell you their responsibilities and then you make the decision to proceed. Certify your team, don’t brief!
Let us know what how it goes!
Enroll for the Leadership Nudge™ – www.davidmarquet.com
