Big Boss
I got upset today because our culture broke. I was listening to recorded feedback from one of our top people. Let’s call the interviewer “Mission” and our top person “Employee.” Mission asked Employee what he thought about our new product feature.
Employee scoffed. “I can’t show that to my customer. We got it all wrong.” Mission asked, “Have you told anyone?” “No,” said Employee, “we all know the big boss wants the feature that way.”
The “big boss” he was talking about is me.
* * *
What broke here?
If I didn’t want his opinion, it would be the height of arrogance. I do want to hear it. I respect his opinion immensely. Critical feedback from smart people is the best feedback.
Some would say the process broke. Maybe. Maybe he didn’t know who to talk to. Maybe he didn’t know how to file an enhancement request. Maybe, after knowing me for seven years, he lost my phone number.
No. This was a cultural failure. And that failure is my failure. I need to use this to learn. I need to lead better.
I slacked Employee right away. I asked where we fell short. I didn’t fully understand his written answer, so I scheduled a call. We’ll hash it out, learn, and move forward.
* * *
But there are 4,000 other people in my company. For them, I turned to culture artist Hugh MacLeod at Gapingvoid. His art says it well. To my team it helps me say: we share the same mission. We all want to make products our customers love. When we share tough feedback, we learn and grow. Maybe someday, we’ll fulfill our mission.
Stop being an Employee; start being a Mission.
This article was inspired by the team at Gapingvoid
