How to lead your engineering team with facts from the field

In this week’s #fixable episode we guide a caller through a #communication challenge. Along the way we encounter a context where our best employees can sometimes inadvertently cause harm by protecting an organization from having to confront its serious problems. This employee heroism is sometimes rewarded as going the extra mile, but may well be holding an organization back. Harvard Business School | Harvard Business Publishing | TED Conferences | Pushkin Industries | Anne Morriss

THIS is my favorite podcast episode recently. The caller's hypothesis: Managers don't know how to communicate. This was diagnosed as a capability issue when run through the underperformance framework. With curiosity, deep questions and discussion, we find out that the initial challenge, is much bigger and deeper (as is almost always the case). Have a listen. You will learn a lot and be inspired. So many MIC DROP 🎤 moments by both Anne Morriss & Frances Frei: 🌟 "Organizations are PERFECTLY designed for the results that they get." 🌟 "The biggest problem with communication is the ILLUSION that it has taken place." (G.B. Shaw) 🌟 "Judging our effectiveness (of communication) not by how hard we tried but really whether we have evidence whether it's actually occurring." 🌟 "If we are expecting people to separate signal from noise. They can't." 🌟"We don't want private solutions. We want PUBLIC solutions." 🌟"It's not enough for me to tell you the important message. I have to understand the important message so DEEPLY, that I can describe it simply. And most of us stop way short of that - and we describe the important message in a complicated, relatively long way. What's the training that the organization needs? It's on deeply and simply communicating." 🌟 "Research backs up the repetition point...as the environment gets noisier, that is the way that the people will absorb what's important" ... AND to see how well it has landed "ask 3 random people what was said and if they say it 3 different ways, it didn't land well." ✅ BONUS GOLDEN TIDBITS ✅ - Research on retention of the message... live vs. video vs. audio. People retain more of what they've listen to, while in motion, at audio sped up to 1.5x-1.7x. - "Video is amazing, but it must be intelligently designed. Make sure your designers are no older than 30" (and videos are less than 5 minutes) - We need to teach people to use AI effectively. NOTE to Frances Frei & Anne Morriss - I was VERY busy PAUSING this episode so I could capture all my notes! (I now realize perhaps I could have slowed it down to note-taking speed.) #communication #fixable

“Culture is what you celebrate,” then what do you condone? • Stage lines become scripts for managers during tense moments. • Jokes about ‘thick skins’ train teams to ignore harm. • Clear escalation steps reduce whispers and defensive hallway lawyering. • Tell one story where dignity outperformed speed under pressure. Audiences remember lines that lower risk and raise standards consistently. Pick language you want repeated in meetings and postmortems tomorrow. Retire the lines that excuse harm or blur accountability as soon as today! Model the script that interrupts harm on stage clearly. #Keynotes Craft a room-ready line others can carry forward: https://lnkd.in/e44rdecn

“Culture is what you celebrate,” then what do you condone? • Stage lines become scripts for managers during tense moments. • Jokes about ‘thick skins’ train teams to ignore harm. • Clear escalation steps reduce whispers and defensive hallway lawyering. • Tell one story where dignity outperformed speed under pressure. Audiences remember lines that lower risk and raise standards consistently. Pick language you want repeated in meetings and postmortems tomorrow. Retire the lines that excuse harm or blur accountability as soon as today! Model the script that interrupts harm on stage clearly. #Keynotes Craft a room-ready line others can carry forward: https://lnkd.in/gnif2RVN

Human error. Easy and quick to write down- but is it really the cause of a non-conformity? Before you conclude it’s human error, ask yourself: ❓ Are procedures clear to everyone involved? 📒 Is training sufficient? 🔀 Are there system design issues? Real improvement and a strong Quality culture comes from straightforward, fact-based discussions without blame. Strong Quality culture means looking beyond individuals and strengthening the system. (Yes, I’m using my own emojis here- ChatGPT couldn’t quite capture my quality culture vibes! 😄) #QualityCulture #Team #Leadership #GMP #ContinuousImprovement

“Culture is what you celebrate,” then what do you condone? • Stage lines become scripts for managers during tense moments. • Jokes about ‘thick skins’ train teams to ignore harm. • Clear escalation steps reduce whispers and defensive hallway lawyering. • Tell one story where dignity outperformed speed under pressure. Audiences remember lines that lower risk and raise standards consistently. Pick language you want repeated in meetings and postmortems tomorrow. Retire the lines that excuse harm or blur accountability as soon as today! Model the script that interrupts harm on stage clearly. #Keynotes Craft a room-ready line others can carry forward: https://lnkd.in/g5EgR-G7

Have you ever thought “The tough conversations I have are just too unpredictable for me to follow a framework”? How about “A framework is just one more thing to learn and keep up with when I’m already busy”? Or “That kind of structure would slow me down.” You’re not alone! Other concerns we hear include “I don’t want to sound robotic” or “I worry about forgetting the steps mid-discussion.” We hear you and understand you, but experience has taught us this - the benefits of learning to apply an easy-to-remember, proven framework when engaging in difficult discussions are undeniable and include: 1. Safety net of structure: It gives you a solid structure when emotions spike. 2. Focus: It helps you regulate your emotions, stay focused, and build trust. 3. No regrets: And it makes sure you walk away thinking, “I handled that pretty well,” not “I wish I’d said that differently.” Honestly, when it comes to difficult discussions, the only thing worse than feeling awkward… is being unprepared. And solid frameworks like ALERT don’t limit you. They steady you. Click the following link to download our complimentary guide to our difficult discussion framework, ALERT: https://lnkd.in/eAx_mC3N

Problem Solving – The 5-Why Technique In a strategy session, a team kept fixing the same problem every quarter. I asked, “Why do you think this keeps happening?” They gave a reason. I asked again — “Why?” We repeated this five times. By the fifth “why”, the real issue surfaced — not a process flaw, but a communication gap. That’s when I introduced the 5-Why Method — a simple yet powerful way to get to the root cause, not just treat the symptom. Great problem solvers don’t jump to solutions. They stay curious long enough to find the real problem. #rahulmaske #ZeroToFounder #ProblemSolving #CriticalThinking #CorporateTrainer #LeadershipSkills #ContinuousImprovement

🔐 Lean Confidential – When Feedback Stays Hidden We had a feedback box. 📝 Printed forms 📮 Locked container 🗓️ Monthly review But the box was always empty. Yet hallway complaints? Constant. So we asked someone directly: “Why don’t you leave feedback in the box?” Their answer hit me: “Because you don’t want to hear what we’d actually write.” Ouch. So we stopped collecting anonymous forms. We created trust instead: 🟢 Small group cafés with managers 🟢 Feedback Fridays with no retaliation 🟢 Visual walls with real changes displayed And slowly… honesty returned. Because when people feel safe, they stop whispering. “Silence doesn’t mean alignment. It means fear.” #LeanCulture #PsychologicalSafety #RespectForPeople #VoiceOfTheOperator #FeedbackLoop #LeanHR #EHR

Systems are what make safety repeatable. Our President of Operations, Matt Willburn, shares why strong structures and consistent follow-through are essential for safe, compassionate care. When values like compassion and accountability are purposefully built into daily systems, everyone, clients and staff alike, benefits. #TraumaResponsiveCare #BehavioralHealth