New captain? Spend your first week asking why things are done this way. Some weird rules exist for a reason.
LEADERSHIP
WHAT THIS MEANS
A new person sees inefficiency everywhere because they have not yet met the reasons. Some of those odd habits are leftovers nobody has questioned, and some are scar tissue from a problem you have not hit yet. Changing things before you can tell the difference is how a new leader loses the room in two weeks.
Spend your first stretch asking why rather than announcing what is changing. Write down the answers that surprise you. Keep your list of changes and start it a few weeks later, shorter and better aimed.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which odd rule where you lead have you never asked about?
MORE IN LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE
- Don’t make every decision a vote, and don’t make none of them one. Knowing which is which is the job.
- If you criticize the plan, offer to help with the next version. Critics who help become leaders.
- If someone’s always late, ask why before you write them up. Sometimes it’s a bus schedule, not an attitude.
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