Choose your infractions wisely.

Sooner or later, it happens to all of us in corporate life. No matter how good we are at our job, at some point we all get our hand slapped. When that occurs, let the infraction be a speeding ticket. Never a parking one.

I have been using the analogy of the traffic infraction with my teams for years. It is part of the commonly agreed set of rules we establish at the beginning of our relationship. We discuss the benefits of dissent. We agree on conflict resolution protocols. And we also talk about that moment in the future when they will get a ‘ticket’; I ask them to choose their violation smartly.

Needless to say, infringements must remain exceptions to the norm in any working relationships that is expected to last. ‘Rules of the game’ are there to be respected, and so are corporate values, team commitments, and agreed norms. Yet I also believe a certain level of ‘healthy disrespect’ for the status quo is what keeps companies moving and innovation coming. Harvard professor Francesca Gino calls this “constructive nonconformity”.

In building a customer-centric culture that innovates and differentiates, speed is of the essence. Moments will come where executives will have to take on-the-spot decisions to beat a competitor to market, respond to a key customer demand, capture an unexpected opportunity, or avoid a relevant risk to the company’s future. Many times, these decisions will be at odds with common practices or pre-established norms. Still, these choices will separate transformational leaders from ordinary ones.

When facing unexpected business crossroads, invariably there will be those who stop, overthink, ask for countless scenarios, and engage in paralysis by analysis. By the time they react, opportunity has flown. By the time senior management learns about it, somebody else is already digesting that lunch. Such inaction deserves a parking ticket; just like apathy, indifference, passivity and micromanaging do. 

On the other side of the spectrum are those who, when faced with the urgency to decide, will rather ask for forgiveness than request permission. When the right intentions guide this attitude, organizations enter win-win land. If the impromptu bet works out, the business benefits. If the initiative fails -and we address it with transparency and trust- a new learning is documented and shared, contributing to common knowledge and avoiding repetition in the future. These speeding tickets are well worth their value.

At the end, agility and speed are closely intertwined with risk. Winning and learning organizations accept risk as an integral part of business and an engine for growth. They build cultures where proactivity is encouraged and people are rewarded for thinking and acting as owners. Such ownership, in turn, emerges when employees feel safe to be themselves, express opinions, question traditions, and challenge the norm. Owners dare. 

The good news is that attitude is viral and these behaviors can be modeled from the top. When teams observe risk taking, behavioral bacteria spread quickly. So, if you truly want to extract the best from your teams, encourage people to be themselves, stimulate decision making, and (in McKinsey’s words) incite managers to “uphold their obligation to dissent”. The current post-Covid scenario is fertile ground to seed these behaviors. When they start to happen, get your budget ready for the speeding fines will come your way. That is ok. In order to compensate, you may want to increase the value charged for parking.

(*) This article was not written while driving. After reading these lines you will still be liable for any real traffic violations you incur, speeding or parking, and I do not advice you to submit them for reimbursement.