Originally a slack thread
Improvement is a constant demand. For yourself, and for the team. The very demand for improvement necessitates that we judge what’s lacking in the present condition. The demand simply is that we’re better today than we were yesterday. Better this week than last week. This simple demand is, you’re right, a supremely difficult one.
The present condition is however, that you’re a part owner of one of the best companies, working in one of the most promising areas of opportunity, with some of the best, most carefully chosen people. We’ve all beaten not only others, but also some previous versions of ourselves to get here. Now we’re here and that’s the present condition. How can we improve from here?
There is such a thing as a virtuous cycle, and the desire is to somehow embed a hook in the hem of its clothes and hold on for dear life, and by doing so ride along on this journey of everyday improvement.
But there’s a better, less scary and more sustainable way to do this. First thing to admit is that there is also a vicious cycle, which is: “I am in need of improvement, and the person who is doing the improving is also me.” That’s indeed a scary one. It is a huge internal battle. How can we turn this into a virtuous cycle?
The key is to move as much of this process to the external realm as possible. Given, I need to do the actual work of improvement itself, so that remains an internal process. This can be difficult and exhausting. On top of this, I also need to do the hard work of assessing how I’m doing, whether I’ve truly improved or not. This second part is exhausting and dangerous. To make the right judgment, I need to be perfectly objective, and keep my ego in check. That’s hard. The ego either gets beaten up or tries to escape by giving excuses or tries to convince me of false improvements. In all those cases I end up losing.
That’s the unnecessary part of the hard work. It would be great if we can all become enlightened and conquer our egos. There are different things that work for different people, and indeed, go on the path that works for you: religion, philosophy, psychoanalysis, etc. But for the present, there’s an easier compromise - move the judgment to the external realm.
The external realm is feedback. First, by process and metrics, and second, by feedback from each other.
Process and metrics:
We see a number
Find a process that we believe will impact that number
Find the duration needed to see a significant change in the number
Follow the process for that duration
Come back and check that number
Favourable? Repeat the process for next duration. Unfavourable? Change the process or change the number.
Feedback:
Acknowledge that we are in this together. In order to succeed, each of us needs to be on the virtuous cycle.
It follows that we actually owe a debt to each other. That debt is concern, kindness, trust and mentoring.
We owe each other this part of giving respectful, useful and actionable feedback. Each of us needs to hear the truth.