Tech Leadership Weekly

Issue 76, August 9, 2017

Johnathan Nightingale
What I Hear When You Tell Me Your Company Doesn’t Do Meetings

When an organization drops meetings, it misses out on focused knowledge transfer. For many leaders, meetings are an operational exercise. For employees, meetings are both an operational exercise and context sharing. Stories resonate with humans. Meetings are an opportunity to repeat stories, align, and provide context. Instead of blaming ineffective meetings, improve the quality of your meetings. Meeting agendas should define the person running the meeting, the output, people required, and a plan.  Meetings are an import opportunity to align people and ideas.

Reading Time: 7 minutes
 

OODA loop

An OODA loop refers to the steps: Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. The term originated in the military, but applies to a variety of situations where agility is important. To begin, one observes, or gathers as much information as possible about a given situation. Next they orient, or filter and analyze the gathered information. Based on the gathered insights, the person can decide (choose the best possible action), or move back to observing. Once the person reaches a decision, they act, or return to observation. The OODA loop provides a framework for rapid, thoughtful decision making.

Reading Time: 8 minutes
 

Valinda Chan
Leading with the Power of Influence vs. Positional Power

Pushing a team to take ownership often results in reducing a team's willingness to take risks. To counter this, reach out to people on other teams to weigh in on the problem. Surface the highest value ideas by thinking about them without constraints. Hedge risk by developing an MVP.  Help the team find and build allies within the organization. When appropriate, get out of the way so the team can drive the project themselves. You can guide, but need to trust the team to do what they believe is right.

Reading Time: 7 minute
 

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