The complicated parts of leadership: Eliminate chaos

Introduction

“How can I trust you? You keep telling me about a new direction every other month” 

My report after the 3rd organizational pivot within three months.

Background

I was dumbstruck – there was nothing I could say. As a line manager, I was responsible for delivering the message even though I didn’t make some of these decisions. Yet, I was on the verge of losing a team member for something beyond my control.

She was approaching her third year as a software engineer, but none of the products she had worked on had made it to production. It was a comedy of errors: some products were cut due to business pivots, some were rebuilt from scratch due to missed expectations, and others were thrown into disarray after botched reorganizations. She had joined my team seeking stability.

So, here we were again, déjà vu: another business pivot and another need to change the team’s charter. I understood her displeasure but could do little to address her concern. As a line manager, I was also struggling with the incessant directional churn.

Organizational chaos arises  

The organization found its origins in the rapid amalgamation of three different groups. The original product team got fused with talent from two disparate sources: engineers from a related but discontinued product and new leadership from a different domain.

As expected, the organization went through Tuckman’s five stages of group development. Unfortunately, the organization hit a roadblock during the storming phase due to a few setbacks. Some key leaders left the organization, a few seniors disagreed with the proposed vision, and a wave of demotivation spread through the ranks, bringing about a defeatist attitude that infected peers.

Alas, the new organizational leaders had scant domain knowledge and had to rely on the recalcitrant tenured experts to vet and validate assumptions. This dearth of domain knowledge meant a couple of false starts – some lessons had to be relearned while exploring opportunities in the unfamiliar terrain. 

We devoted our efforts in the first month to the unifying strategic bet that united the organization on a common objective. Six weeks, during an all-hands meeting, we were informed to shift our focus entirely to Project B, which was a complete deviation from Project A. Two months later, all managers were instructed to communicate to their respective teams that we were returning to Project A and abandoning Project B.

That last flip-flop broke the camel’s back for my report; she quit shortly afterwards.

What is your chaos score?

This incident shows how chaotic decisions from higher-level leadership can capsize an organization. However, this behaviour is not limited to executives alone – I have seen senior individual contributors and line managers wreak havoc by flip-flopping their teams.

Disagree? Here are some common examples of chaos-creating behaviours:

1. Reversing decisions at the last minute.
2. Talking problems to death – repeating the same meeting weekly with no clear outcomes.
3. Surprising a partner team with an unexpected high-priority ask and/or escalating up the chain to disrupt their roadmap.
4. Having too many projects in flight.
5. Vacillating on a whim and letting problems fester.
6. Not laying out a clear vision or strategy.

Avoiding Chaos

Usually, turmoil is inadvertently caused by well-intentioned but inexperienced folks. 

Imagine a child playing with a yo-yo; with a slight flick, the child adroitly makes the yo-yo go through different motions. Don’t lead your organization like a child with a yo-yo, making the entire organization dance to your whims. The whiplash might be imperceptible to you but thunderous to those at the receiving end.

The following tips help to ensure stability and minimize ripple effects.

Note: Occasionally, chaos finds its roots in team dysfunction or self-serving behaviour. That requires a different set of remediations.

Tips for avoiding flip-flopping

• Use systems thinking to predict potential 2nd-order and 3rd-order outcomes of your ideas. Doing this well will prevent vacillation and enable you to persevere through challenges.
• Have clear, measurable goals for outcomes.
• Run effective meetings: have agendas, reiterate decisions, and send out meeting notes with details and action items. 
• Identify and empower decision-makers in contentious situations.
• When in doubt, act; when in doubt, overcommunicate.
• Remember Chesterton’s fence before kicking off reforms.
• Minimize the project-to-engineer ratio: your team might be thrashing if the ratio of projects to engineers is > 0.3. Such teams spend much time managing the work in progress (WIP) and coordinating several moving parts.

Conclusion

Are you a stabilizer or a disruptor? Has the org gotten more predictable since you started?

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