Saying what you intend to do incorporates the best of the communications that happen with permission-based environments and the best of ownership and a bias for action that happens with a “just do it” environment. Here’s David with more.
When it comes to communication structures, most organizations are not playing with a full deck.
I was talking with Carol, who works for large financial institution. She’s a product owner in Wales. And she told me a story where she was getting frustrated where she needed to get permission from everybody in the world to make things happen. And it was slowing things down.
And this is one of the problems with permission-based organizations.
So she said, now I just get ask for forgiveness. So in other words, what she’s done . . . is the organization has forced her to make this decision. Do I want to “ask for permission” (Level 4), or my only other option is “just do it and ask for forgiveness” (Level 6). Neither of these are optimal choices, but in the organization and in the culture they don’t even realize that there is a much more powerful position, level five, “strive for five,” which is saying what you intend to do. It gets the best of the communications that happen with “permission” and the best of ownership and a bias for action that happens with “just do it.” But we don’t even realize, most organizations don’t realize they’re missing a card so they’re just playing with a deck that looks like this. They’re not playing with a full deck.
I’m David Marquet. That’s your Leadership Nudge.
