Shipulski On Design

When I was younger, I tried to fix everything right away.  See a problem, fix a problem.  Regardless of the urgency, I tried to fix it right now.  And regardless of the importance, I tried to fix it right now.  And because of this, I was always too busy to think things through.  And because I was too busy, I was always too tired to bring my whole self to things.

See it and fix it did not work.

When I was younger, when I thought someone was wrong, I would disagree right away.  At every meeting I would push on perspectives I disagreed with.  In every conversation, I would add nuance to someone’s position to make it righter.  These approaches created distance, drained my energy, and limited my effectiveness.

Disagreement at every turn did not work.

And then I was given a project I could not do myself.  I had to align and energize a diverse team.  My “smartest guy in the room” tactics would not work.  And my “always being right” approach would bring about the opposite of what was needed.  I realized I needed to work differently.  As the team leader, I had to create the conditions for the team members to trust each other and work well together.  And to do that, I realized they had to trust me.  And to do that, my actions had to match my words, and I had to actively reinforce positive behaviors.

Instead of disagreeing with the team, I showed them the way.  Instead of telling them when they were wrong, I helped them do the right work the right way.  If they did not know how to do the right work, I showed them.  And after they did the right work, I praised them in front of their peers.

Helping the team do the right work led to more good work.

Instead of calling out their mistakes, I prevented the team from making them.  I guided them on the approach and watched.  If things went well, I praised them.  I told them what they did well and why I liked it.  I told them loudly so everyone could hear.  If things started to head south, I jumped in and shifted the approach toward fertile design space.  And instead of my old behavior of calling out the wrongness, I told them I liked the new course heading.

Guiding and praising the team led to more good work.

Instead of taking credit to prove how smart I was, I set up presentations that gave the team members opportunities to show their best work to company leaders.  And during those presentations, I told everyone that their work was good.  I gave them credit for doing the good work.  And that led to them wanting to do more good work.

Creating the condition for the team to show their good work led to more good work.

Through the project, I learned that being right did not matter.

I learned that what mattered was creating the conditions for the right work to happen.

I learned that reinforcing positive behavior was much more powerful than calling out the wrongness.

I learned that putting people in a position to succeed creates more success than anything else.

I learned that people recognize and appreciate when you help them grow and improve.

And I learned that when you help people grow and improve, you develop trust-based relationships that last for decades.