Using the Escalation Button
Productivity, Innovation, and Career Paths
Welcome to The Emmet - a newsletter for Knowledge Workers everywhere.
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PRODUCTIVITY
Flowtime v Pomodoro
There are plenty of productivity apps around for the Knowledge Worker. Flowtime is a bit different because it claims to cater for different tasks and different worker types. Read more here about Flowtime (and there are links to Pomodoro) to find out more.
INNOVATION
Where Does Your Innovation Team Sit?
It sits inside an existing business unit.
It is a division within an existing unit specifically for innovations.
It sits in R&D.
It reports to a dedicated, senior staff function with direct responsibility and a line of sight to the top leadership.
It is a standalone division.
It reports directly to the CEO.
It is a “permissionless” structure - everyone is involved.
SUPPORT
Does Your Team Know Where the Escalation Button Is?
Team members often struggle with a task and feel that they need to persist until it is resolved. I love that the team member displays such a level of tenacity. Still, there is always a stage when a higher authority needs to be brought in to seek a speedier resolution.
There are many ways that a resolution can be applied. Maybe the task needs more resources assigned to it. Perhaps there is an easier way to do the job. Perhaps influence needs to be brought in to jump the queue.
So many things for the good can happen when an issue is escalated.
Team Members can be reluctant to escalate either because:
They don’t want to bother
They don’t want to appear incompetent
Both beliefs are dangerous and need to be removed from the team members’ thinking.
All team members need to know where the escalation button is and how to press it.
They need to be assured that they are not judged when an issue is escalated.
Any team leader should be keen to receive escalations. It points to opportunities to improve and maybe learning instances to share.
Better to receive a timely escalation rather than an irretrievable surprise
MEETINGS
The McDonald’s Trick
Try this with your colleagues when trying to decide where to eat for lunch and no one has any ideas. Recommend McDonald’s.
Everyone will unanimously agree that McDonald’s is not an option, and better lunch suggestions emerge.
The same goes for groups of people at work. The next time a project is being discussed in its early stages, grab a marker, go to the board, and throw something up there. The idea will probably be stupid, but that’s good! As per the McDonald’s Theory, it will trigger the group into action.
"Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect." — Raymond Joseph Teller
TEAMWORK
The User Manual
When joining a new team, learning how your colleagues operate is part of the new learning. How do people prefer to communicate? What are their goals? What does collaboration look like? Usually, you learn over time. But creating a User Manual highlighting how people prefer to work can help.
A User Manual can also give the team insight into your leadership style. The team’s manuals can also help guide group dynamics and coach individuals in the manner that’s most helpful to them.
Here’s how to create a team User Manual:
Pick a collaborative platform. Housing all Manuals in a shared digital location makes references and updating them easier, so select any shared platform (Google doc, Intranet location, or visual medium like Miro).
Create questions teams want to know about one another.
Here’s some ideas:
My superpowers are:
What I need in order to make a decision:
I’m most engaged at work when…
I prefer feedback…
Teamwork to me looks like…
How I like to be communicated with…
What it looks like when I disagree…
Give teams time to write, digest, and share back. It’s important for established team members to be able to read each other’s manual, and then feedback their own observations.
Ask how the team can support each other. As people share back, consider asking follow-up questions. Something like:
“What does that look like for you?”
“What does an example of [that] look like?”
“What can the team signal boost?”
“How can the team help you achieve [that]?”
Update on a regular basis. Use the Manuals as living documents, and dedicate team time for updates and conversation. Team members may very well have different responses to questions after working together after one month, three months, six months, and so on.
Randoms
Treat your Career as a River, Not a ladder
Leverage - More Than 50 Levers Created by the One Person
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Visit me at www.malcombrown.com.au
