Turning the Dial - How small actions can have big impact

Leaders often underestimate how much activity is generated from their actions.  The higher up in the organization you go, the larger the impact that leader can have.  A small idea or suggestion can turn into a huge lift needed by the team.  It’s rarely the intent of the leader which is why we need to be cognizant of the effect. 

Imagine an old radio dial.  If a leader turns the dial just a little bit, the center, where the leader is, stays in place.  But the farther you are from the center, it moves quite a bit. Sometimes it feels like a whirlwind way out there!  In Kim Scott’s book, Radical Candor, she describes this as hanging on to the end of a rope someone is spinning in a circle over their head.  Woohoo! 

In this video with Mike Rother, he refers to doing a gemba with a vice president at a company and how everything the VP says or points to would generate activity.  He jokes that even looking at something could generate a project! 

As leaders, we have to be careful about how much unnecessary activity we generate with simple acts or even comments.  This activity can be wasteful especially if it causes teams to go too fast or work on something that is not a priority. Maybe it is intentional...you want that project to speed up their timeline but consider the consequences of doing so.  What else does the team have on their plate?  What will suffer as a result?  

As a mom, I’ve become more aware of how my comments impact my kids.  Reminding my daughter that her room is really messy and she needs to clean it right before bedtime creates a stressful environment. Not the best thing before bed and she has shared with me how NOT helpful this is.   

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PRACTICE

Leaders:

• Use kata questions to learn more from your team instead of inadvertently telling them what you think they should do 

• Be mindful of your comments and actions on your team and the effect they may have.   

• Be aware of unintended consequences that originated from something you did or said. 

Parents:

• Consider your tone or the situation before telling your child to do something – unveiling the laundry list is not helpful right before bed or school. 

• Use kata questions to get kids engaged in what needs to be done.  They might have a better way of doing it.  They just need the space and a little coaching to come up with it.   

• Keep in mind how much we ask of our kids and whether or not we give them the tools or support to keep up with the demand.  We keep our kids pretty busy these days with activities and expectations.