Not following orders is one of the best signs of health in a team; are you fostering it?
My wife’s guide dog Star has been taught “intelligent disobedience”, so that if Lisa tells the dog to go left into an obstacle she doesn’t see, Star will refuse–even if told repeatedly. Star’s concern for Lisa’s safety outweighs even a direct order from Lisa herself. Your teams should be doing the same, following the strategic goals of the organisation as they understand them, even if you told them to do something else! Sadly, intelligent disobedience is far too rare, and blind obsequiousness is much too common; in fact I met execs in Asia and Europe just this week who were proud of how closely their IT organisations were keeping to the directions of “the business”, and unaware of how much this was harming their ability to learn and adapt. Don’t fall into this trap, praise your teams when they buck orders!
This first appeared in my weekly Squirrel Squadron email, which goes out every Monday and was originally posted on 3 May 2022. To get my provocative thoughts and tips direct to your inbox first, sign up here: https://squirrelsquadron.com/