Early one morning our team was called to the conference room for a Zoom call. The executives on the call gave the directive to decrease the churn rate by 10% by the end of the quarter. They expressed their faith in our abilities. "I know you might think it is impossible to meet that number, especially with such a small team. But if you synergize, you can't help but succeed!"
The Manager parroted the CEO, "You heard the boss. We can't do this without synergy."
"Synergize? What does that even mean?" I mumbled under my breath.
"I have no idea." murmured my neighbor.
"OK, huddle up." said the manager. "This is the plan. If any of you don't lift your share, this will never work. So I expect 110% from each of you!"
"Oh, that's how Synergy happens. It comes from not understanding what 100% means." said my neighbor wryly.
The Boss tasked out their plan. Pointing at each team member, "You do this by then, then you do this, then... Hey, are you writing this down? You will be held accountable if you don't do your part. So make sure you don't drop the ball!"
The Boss made sure the team knew their marching orders. The team looked at the plan and quietly murmured, "This is stupid. I would have..."
They got a 3% decrease at the end of the month.
"This is not working! Did you guys do what you were supposed to?!!"
They spent the next three hours reviewing the plan to see where the fault lay.
It was a colossal waste of time. Everyone did exactly what they were told, when they were told to do it.
The manager was at a loss.
"Ok, that didn't work," he told the team. "Any ideas?"
The room was silent. They were not used to being asked, just told.
"Ok, here are your assignments. Each of you comes with a proposal tomorrow, and we'll go with the best plan."
Each team member left the meeting thinking, "Finally! The Boss has no idea what we go through! If we did it this way..."
The team came to the meeting excited to share their plans. It wasn't long before the environment changed from excitement to hostility. Each plan had blindspots called out by team members. "Yeah, duh! But what if...?" Each proposal resulted in unproductive debates and arguments.
After the exhaustion of every argument, the best-defended (i.e., most loudly presented) plan became the plan for the team.
The winner tasked out their plan. Pointing at each team member, "You do this by then, then you do this, then... Hey, are you writing this down? You will be held accountable if you don't do your part. So make sure you don't drop the ball!"
The winner made sure the team knew their marching orders. The team looked at the plan and murmured, "This is stupid. I would have..."
At the end of the month, the manager informed us of the result of our efforts. "5%. So, better than before. But not nearly good enough."
The plan owner called out the team, "Did you guys do what you were supposed to?!!"
We spent the next three hours reviewing the plan to see where the fault lay.
Everyone did exactly what they were told, when they were told to do it.
The whole team was frustrated, the plan owner the most so.
"Ok, that didn't work," the Manager told the team. "Any ideas?"
The room was silent. They did not want to start another round of debates.
"Ok, take a break. We'll start fresh tomorrow. Be ready to synergize!" said the Manager.
The team came to the conference room table the next morning. Some were ready to bring up their plan again. They were better prepared this time to argue why they should have gone with their plan in the first place. But most just wanted to give up.
The Manager started the meeting by saying, "I took a step back last night and looked at what we did to get where we are. I saw myself acting the tyrant, which only got us a third of the way there. Then I acted as debate moderator, which got us only a little closer. I want to propose an entirely different strategy."
Boss as a Tyrant - Do as you are told.
In a fear-based environment, the Boss is the one that points in a direction, and we all go there. It's their way or the highway.
So let's look at the quality of solution/plan an organization gets when the environment is Fear-Based. Where everyone looks to the boss for solutions.
In this Fear-Based world, the boss dictates the plan (1,2,3,4, 5.a). No negotiation and no real input from the team. Assignments were handed out. And due dates were set by the Boss.
So the team left with a 5.a plan. It was a good plan. But it's not what it could have been. And the buy-in of the group is lackluster at best.
Manager as a Debate Moderator -The Best Idea Wins
In a respect-based world, the best idea wins.
So all our plans have mostly the same strategy. We know that because they were in every single proposal presented! So boring! Only at the end did we find what is different between our recommendations.
When everyone had shown their proposal, we debated why our proposal was the best. Given the plans were quite similar, the small differences became the points of contention (5.b). We eventually decided on the best solution proposed.
The effort left the company with a better plan (5.b) than the fear-based environment (5.a). And the team left feeling they had some say in the decision, so the buy-in was better.
The chance of success here is better than what we would have in a fear-based environment. But it's not what the company could have had, should have had.
No synergy here. A plan just slightly better than the one before.
Leader as an Active Listener and Collaboration Coach
The Third Solution doesn't rely on "who's right" or "whose idea is best."
The Leader seeks to understand the following:
What are things we all know (1,2,3,4)?
What do you know that we don't know (5b and 5.a)?
The Third Solution combines what we uniquely know with what we all know. When we do so, we develop a solution none of us would have come up with on our own.
This becomes a solution that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is synergy made manifest.
By the end of the quarter, we lowered churn by 13%!
As great as reaching that goal was, the experience of creating that Third Solution together was even more exciting. We've felt what synergy feels like. We've seen what synergy looks like. And we are excited to make synergy happen again!
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