The best companies donât cascade goals; the best companies cascade meaning.
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You now know that when a CEO sets out to build a great company, all she can doâand itâs a lotâis strive to build more and more teams like her companyâs best teams.
The best leaders realize that their people are wise, that they do not need to be coerced into alignment through yearly goal setting. These leaders strive instead to bring to life for their people the meaning and purpose of their work, the missions and contributions and methods that truly matter. These leaders know that in a team infused with such meaning, each person will be smart enough and driven enough to set goals voluntarily that manifest that meaning. It is shared meaning that creates alignment, and this alignment is emergent, not coerced. Whereas cascaded goals are a control mechanism, cascaded meaning is a release mechanism.
When we carry our competencies across the measurement bridge, we enter a fake and dangerous worldâas a tool of assessment, order and control, they are worse than useless. But as public signifiers for what we deem most important, they are another way we can cascade meaning in our organizations, and thereby help our leaders and teams understand whatâs most important.
They [team leaders] understand that the path you will take to your best performance will be unpredictably different from theirs.
Truths:
Truth #1: People care what team theyâre on (because thatâs where the work actually happens).
Truth #2: The best intelligence wins (because the world moves too fast for plans).
Truth #3: The best companies cascade meaning (because people want to know what they all share).
Truth #4: The best people are spiky (because uniqueness is a feature, not a bug).
Truth #5: People need attention (because we all want to be seen for who we are at our best).
Truth #6: People can reliably rate their own experience (because thatâs all we have).
Truth #7: People have momentum (because we all move through the world differently).
Truth #8: Love-in-work matters most (because thatâs what work is really for).
Truth #9: We follow spikes (because spikes bring us certainty).