This kind of change is so important, and so tough at the same time. You’re trying to keep essential business operations flowing smoothly while building the next iteration, so you can’t just burn it all down—no matter how satisfying that might sound. And you’re balancing sometimes conflicting needs from different functions: how much do we need to know, or document, before we act? What precision is essential to keep the whole shebang from exploding—and when will that emphasis on precision hold us back from moving as quickly as necessary?
Guiding Steyer through our newest systems overhaul efforts are a few key operating principles:
- Preserve the relationships: people who don’t trust each other can’t collaborate effectively. This means letting go of the blame game and CYA tactics.
- Communicate early and often: say what you’re going to do, do it, and then say what you did. Share what you’re worried about.
- Embrace a team approach: we all have blind spots and areas of particular insight, and we’ll come up with better solutions together than separately.
- Get into alignment on what can safely break—and what absolutely can’t: does everyone understand the real-life stakes riding on each part of the system?
What values or principles have you found to be helpful in times of great change, when you’re building something new or overhauling what doesn’t work anymore? I’d love to hear from you—I’m at kreilly@steyer.net.
Thanks,
Katelyn
Photo by Shane McLendon on Unsplash