Perfect Imperfect People

As our attention gradually turns toward what our work will look like in a post-pandemic world, it’s easy to focus on tasks, processes, and logistics. But, if people are our most powerful resource, shouldn’t they be our priority?

I don't know about you, but the first item on my to do list every morning typically involves tasks, not people. I know many of us, myself included, know how important our team members are, but in our checklist-based world, we aren’t great at prioritizing managing our teams. It's something I have to work at, especially as we shift into the unknown of our new normal.  

I recently talked to Ed Catmull on my Disrupt Yourself podcast. Ed is the co-founder of Pixar, former president of Disney Animation Studios, and author of the New York Times best-selling book Creativity, Inc. We invited Ed on to the podcast in part to learn more about the magic of Pixar, but the real draw is his magic with people. 

When Ed started out he knew he was interested in technology, earning Ph.D. in computer science, not management. Overtime he discovered that not only can people be just as complex and interesting as technology, but they are also critical to the success of any project.

Ed recognizes something painfully obvious but underappreciated: people are human. That may sound self-evident, but it’s something we often forget. Ed’s management and leadership insights are centered around people are both imperfect and profoundly capable. 

To have a greater impact on our teams and through our work, we could all focus on being better managers. As I think about my own management, four takeaways stuck out to me from our discussion. 

You will be wrong. Ed shared how, early in his career, he discovered he was wrong more than he thought he would be. It struck him that that would probably always be the case. In some ways, I found this attitude to be liberating. The seventh accelerant of our Personal Disruption Framework? is to be driven by discovery, which means we're willing to walk into ambiguity and the unknown. It’s my experience that people tend to think of themselves as comfortable with walking into the unknown or being uncertain. However, when they start to look at how their management changes in times of uncertainty, they find they fall back on unproductive managerial traits, which likely indicates they are not as comfortable with the unknown as they thought they were. 

Listen carefully. As a manager, we expect our teams to tell us the truth. But, if you think you are hearing the whole, unedited truth from your team, you might be mistaken. People treat their managers differently. For a variety of reasons, people will filter the information they share with you. Therefore, you must listen carefully to get the full picture, and, if you do so, you will be given insight into things you would otherwise have missed. Ed made the astute observation, “they may not be able to see everything that you see, but they definitely see things you don’t see.” 

Trust is critical. People rise to the occasion when they are trusted. After talking to Ed, I wanted to put what I learned into action and extend a new layer of trust to our team. So, what did we do? Something so simple, but also something that we normally would not have done. We pulled out the still-confidential cover of our new book, and we showed it to our team. We extended the trust that our team would not share confidential information, and that trust has been returned. 

People make mistakes. This takes me back to the idea that people are human. The sixth accelerant of our Personal Disruption Framework? is to give failure its due. We acknowledge that to grow, we must fail. Therefore, when a team member makes a mistake, it should be learned from, but not condemned. As Ed said, “accountability is something we need to have, but it shouldn’t be used as a weapon against people.” When mistakes happen and balls are dropped, we all must question, how can I be the manager who, when things go wrong, embraces the humanness of my team? The one who says, "OK, we made a mistake. We'll fix it. We’ll learn from it"?  

What if we were willing to perpetually be at the launch point of the S curve?

How would knowing you were going to be wrong today free you to be a better manager?

How do you give space for your team to give failure its due?