Aaron Dignan, co-founder of The Ready and a thought leader in organizational transformation, teams up with Rodney Evans, an expert in collaborative work environments. They dive into the art of crafting and applying principles that guide decision-making beyond traditional corporate values. Discussing the importance of transparency, discomfort in growth, and collective agreement on team principles, they highlight how actionable guidelines can align teams and promote positive collaboration while leaving space for judgment and experimentation.
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Quick takeaways
Establishing principles provides a clear direction for decision-making, helping organizations navigate complexities while fostering a shared understanding among team members.
Collaboratively drafting actionable principles enables teams to effectively address specific needs and reduce tensions arising from conflicting practices and methodologies.
Deep dives
The Role of Principles in Organizations
Principles serve as guiding frameworks that help organizations navigate decision-making and behavior. They differ from values and rules, as principles focus on actionable beliefs that resonate with the organization's goals. Unlike concepts that may carry vague meanings, principles provide clear direction and can evolve over time based on their utility in practice. By establishing principles, organizations can create a common understanding of what good looks like, steering behavior and decision-making in desired directions.
Creating Effective Principles
Drafting principles should involve collective input to ensure that each team member's voice is heard and that the principles are actionable. Starting with specific contexts, such as a focus on compensation or feedback mechanisms, allows teams to develop principles that genuinely address their needs. Foster discussions by asking what would make an aspect perfect or ideal, encouraging participants to dig deeper into the essence of their work. Limiting the number of principles to a manageable few enhances clarity, and allows for prioritization when experiments or decisions arise.
Navigating Tensions with Principles
Principles can help teams address and reduce tensions that arise from conflicting practices and methodologies. By establishing a foundational principle, teams can articulate a clearer direction, making it easier to navigate disagreements surrounding methods. For instance, if a principle advocates for employee autonomy, teams may explore various methodologies that align with that principle while maintaining individuality in execution. Ultimately, coherent principles provide a shared vision, allowing teams to operate with greater flexibility and understanding.
Examples of Useful Principles
Effective principles often focus on transparency, autonomy, and adaptability within organizations. Examples like 'default to open' encourage openness in information sharing, while 'organize people around the work' prioritize effective collaboration. Principles also advocate for pushing authority and decision-making down to those closest to the work, fostering a sense of ownership and agency. By codifying principles that resonate with the team's function, organizations can better align practices with their overarching goals, ensuring efficacy in their workflows.
Without bureaucracy and compliance, how can we ensure that we remain aligned and coherent while also leaving room for judgment? The answer: principles.
In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to craft a useful principle—and how to make use of them day-to-day.
Read The Ready's article for more information on principles here.