Team Roadmaps + Twists & Turns -- Life is a Highway (Rascal Flatts, Tom Cochrane)

?? Music & Management Musings #40 ??

While I'm a technologist and technology leader, music is also a big part of my life and has been for quite some time. Because of that, I like to bring together the musical side of myself and the leadership side of myself into a weekly article.

This week's edition of Music & Management Musings is inspired by the song, Life is a Highway. This song was originally released by Canadian musician Tom Cochrane in 1991. It went on to hit the #1 spot in the Canadian billboards in '91 and peaked at #6 in the US. As a child of the 80s, growing up in the 90s, I remember this song playing frequently on the radio and it's been popularized for new generations by the Rascal Flatts when it was released as part of the Cars soundtrack in 2006.

The main reason I'm pulling from this song this week is that it came on while I was helping to set up for the MN Tech Tech Connect Conference this past Wednesday morning along with Benjamin Diaz and we got to talking about Cars (which is a big hit for both of our kids), and I knew there had to be some leadership lessons present. So let's get into it.

Management Musings

The Need for a (Road)map in Work & Life - It Gives Direction & Clarity

OK, so in all honesty this is where I thought I could jump off from the song, simply based on the title - Life is a Highway...highways are roads. Major roads used by many, depended on by many, to get to where they're needing to go. Oftentimes, when I think of highways, I think of road trips. With that in mind, highways are necessary to get where we're going for some pretty important (and hopefully fun and exciting) life events. For example, I'm in the planning stages of a Yellowstone road trip for my family later in the year. We'll be traversing many miles of roadways to get there, and we'll of course be dependent on a reliable map (GPS) to get us where we are trying to get to.

This is really no different than in work in many ways. Team members need direction on where the team is going so they can contribute to the journey to get there. This could be through their daily operational delivery goals. It could be through involvement in longer-term strategic initiatives, or...wait for it...team roadmap items. We use the analogy of roadmaps intentionally in business because it communicates that the team is on a journey and that there are major milestones along the way. Everyone is coming along for the 'ride' and we want to be clear about what that 'ride' will look like, why it's been defined as it's been defined, the value for them and others, and more.

Work, Like Life, Can Have Twists & Turns - Embrace Them & Adjust as You Go

Along with that, I think the analogy of a journey, with milestones, via a roadmap is helpful for another reason: Journeys have twists and turns. Things happen unexpectedly that you can't plan for. You may have to take a detour or extend your stay in one spot longer than originally planned (for weather reasons, sickness, or hopefully just because the family is having a great time).

In applying this to work: When we set out a roadmap for the team, it's often for at least one year, but often more. It's inevitable that there will be learnings along the way. That new technology will become available &/or that the needs of the teams or our customers will change in some way along the journey. That's OK and normal. But having a roadmap and a vision for where we're trying to get to is helpful to keep alignment when plans need to change, when new projects need to come in or previously planned focus areas need to be moved to the parking lot (pun fully intended).

If done well (and admittedly, this hasn't always been perfect within my team), the team can see the roadmap often, see the progress that the team is making along the way, where milestones are achieved and where pivots/turns/detours have been added into the map. Best case scenario, they get it and see how it aligns to the long-term vision and can see how the team will still get to the destination, despite the twists, turns, ups & downs, detours, and more. And even better, you're celebrating milestones and accomplishments along the way. Pausing to take in the view, so to speak.

Back to the Music

As always, I like to end with a song. While having two options - the original Tom Cochrane hit or the semi-recent Rascal Flatts rendition - I've got to go with the latter. It's the version that inspired this post and is the version I listen to with my kids so it's nearer and dearer to my heart, even if the original is more nostalgic :)

PS - if you've never read the lyrics to the song, give them a read. It's a much deeper song than I had originally thought or ever noticed.

#techleadership #musicmanagementmusings