YOU CAN'T CHECK LIST YOUR WAY TO EXCELLENCE

I wish check lists were more helpful.  I wish Standard Practice Manuals worked too. Certainly a lot of time goes into them--writing, revising, jazzing them up a little, putting them on lines. Checklists can be good teaching tools, but maybe, I don't really mean that.

The downside of Checklists is that they:

l.  Prescribe behavior and teach people to do ONLY what is on the list.      
    Opportunities are missed and corrective action isn't taken.

2. Thinking is put on the back burner as the list is automatically followed.

3. People become numb to the list tacked on the backroom bulletin board  
    or the hospital door.  

4. Lists are too detailed and create a fatigue and an insult to people doing the
    detailed work.

5. There are too many lists--even lists of lists.

So?  Give them up?  No-- research shows they help in terms of quality of performance. But don't be blind to their overuse. The fatigue of too many, and the motivation- killing nature of most checklist approaches is deadening. Take them seriously and design them well or throw them all away and see what happens.  Most your people are trained by observing others performing live. So model well from the top and checklists aren't needed.
  

LYING FALLOW IS A NEEDED ACTIVITY--IF YOU HAVE TO CALL IT ONE

I just finished a three day hiatus from the world.
My husband was visiting adult kids and I had the house to myself.
I decided to do nothing that was a task or a goal.

I cleared my calendar and did just enough to feel comfortable not doing anything--I know you know what I mean.

I meandered through books and magazines and back to books.
I spent more time just sitting in front of a fire with coffee than I thought I would. I think it's called day dreaming.  I read two books that pertained to nothing.  And I solved a creative problem with a book I've written but not yet published. I kept resisting calling it "done". Now I know why.

Please learn how to sequester yourself for this kind of "lying fallow".
It's not as easy as it sounds.  It takes time to quit twitching from being addicted
to purposeful action.

Your mind and soul need this refreshment, this emptiness.
It can't work on what needs to happen if you keep it engaged in purpose all the time.  Your brain needs some freedom to solve a problem for you or to come up with a new idea.  

This is a challenge. At least find a sandwich shop or restaurant where you can hang out for an hour or two without being seen. Many execs us traveling alone for this mental break. A long flight alone is perfect. But I suggest the three day sequester. If it makes you feel better, it has a purpose. It allows you time to become more fluid, more creative, not to mention--rested.  Your company deserves your mind and soul at their best.

THINKING, DECIDING, ACTING---KEEP THEM SEPARATE

I got quite a bit of response about my last writing on "firing your team".
"How could I ever do that in one fell swoop? I'd be sued."
"I am not settling. I'm collaborating and compassionate."
"Everyone has flaws. So do I".

The idea of setting high standards and holding your people to them or getting better people in those roles seems to have brought out the most cautious and compassionate side of leaders who responded. I was once named Mother Teresa by a CEO so I know the tendency to keep seeing potential, rather than reality.

But the responses made me think about a dynamic I see in executive leaders.
They often confuse, "thinking, deciding and acting as one thing in one moment of time.  If I think about it, I have to decide.  If I decide, I have to act immediately.  This then leads to not thinking. Some top leaders get stuck in thinking but most are stuck in action mode as their default.

So do yourself a favor and begin to separate these processes even if you have them take place in one meeting. It's almost like a gavel is needed to make sure you don't confuse them.

So about firing your whole team:

THINK--In your imagination wipe the slate clean.  Talk with a consultant or HR leader.  Who would you be relieved to see go?  Who does it scare you to think of losing?  What is missing to round out your capacity?  What new skill needs to be present at your table.  JUST THINKING. Allowing insight. New perspective. Radical ideas.

DECIDE--Given your thoughts about firing your whole team, what do you now know?  What decisions need to be made?  Who can be developed to higher performance?  Who probably leaves to move to a different role or company?
Where have you lowered standards too far in order to accommodate? Decide on what seems to hold true for you.

ACT--Plan out action to support decisions AFTER sitting with the decisions for
awhile.  Then think about how to take action.  Should you do development conversations with your whole team?  Should you only take action on the one most important decision? If you have large action to take, should you proceed slowly or all at once. Who do you need for support?  Do not press the ACT button until you are grounded in your own gut. Ever. 

Most top leaders have to act quickly, often pushed by events.  Even so, separate thinking, deciding and acting. I think it will serve you well 

THINK ABOUT FIRING YOUR WHOLE TEAM--

It's a New Year.  Think about firing your whole team.  Who would you hire to replace them?  Who would you keep?  Why?  What missing talent and skill would you welcome?  How do you need to be challenged?  Do you have two possible successors reporting to you?  Can you articulate the new positions you might create?

If you can't answer these questions, then you have adapted to your team and it's thermostat for success.  You've gotten comfortable.  It's so tempting to get comfortable when the work itself is so difficult, but you can't afford comfort.

Set the standards and skills for a new team and then assess if you can raise the level of your present team to meet them.  That's what development is about.
An A plus player can get better.  Even Tom Brady can be traded.
DO NOT SETTLE.