Several years ago, I was bike riding up a Colorado mountain pass as part of a large bike tour. The views were spectacular but my 200+ pound body was struggling with the long climb and thin atmosphere. I had just passed a road sign indicating the top of the pass was 12 miles away. A quick look at my speedometer, which was wavering between 5.8 and 6.5 mph, told me I had two more hours of suffering ahead. Feeling depressed, I looked over to find a young woman chugging past me. Between breaths, I gasped, “I thought they told us this was going to be fun.” She laughed and – clearly in better shape – went on to explain that there are two types of fun in the world – Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 fun is the type of fun that you have when you’re doing it; whatever you’re doing brings instant joy and an immediate smile to your face. Type 2 fun is the type of fun that is only fun when you’re finished and look back on it. “And, of course,” she added, “It’s the Type 2 fun that makes you better and stronger.”
Last week was full of mostly Type 2 fun. And by “fun” I mean tough conversations. Between a two-day meeting with co-op partners, a strategy planning session regarding a big decision we need to make, a tough one-on-one with a team member, and a Level 10 leadership meeting that fell well short of a 10, I went into the weekend needing the break more emotionally than physically. But as I think about it now with the value of time and distance, I am incredibly thankful. It was a tough but awesome week.
Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is a best-selling parable about a team that starts out terribly flawed but improves dramatically over time. It’s a best seller for a reason; easy to read and simplifies some complex subjects well. In short, Five Disfunctions lays out what poorly functioning teams lack, and, by comparison, how organizations establish highly functioning teams to achieve results. The five disfunctions are in the triangle in the graphic below with their high-performing equivalent to the right.
The excitement of the past week is the very fact that we’re having good ‘conflicts’ across the organization. We’re having them exactly because we trust one another. And beyond the conflicts, I was excited about how everyone approached the issues with honesty, integrity, and respect for others (OK, one did head off the rails for a bit but we got it back on track). I take heart people are willing to disagree with me or challenge each other as a sign we trust one another enough to do it. As Lencioni points out, there is no conflict without trust. And there can be no commitment without healthy conflict. It tells me we’re at least at Level 2 of Lencioni’s model and headed to number 3. Our willingness to challenge each other tells me we could be as high as Level 4.
We’ve all been part of teams or meetings where everything goes well on the surface, and everyone nods their heads “yes” in agreement but then leaves the meeting either not committed or actively undermining the supposedly agreed upon plan or action.
There are times when I long for people to not challenge me, to not fight the change, or to simply accept the change and embrace the plan. I have a fantasy I’ll see some problem and come up with the “perfect solution”. I’ll put it together, present it well and everyone will think it’s amazing. But then I remember it is fantasy for a reason. Like many fantasies, it is not only unrealistic but unwise. No one can see all the angles, anticipate every problem, or find the perfect solution on their own. I have never once had a strong discussion, question, or challenge to a policy, concept, idea, or plan and not have the ultimate solution be better for it.
Of course, there are limits to everything and it is critical to maintain your professionalism and know when to accept the decision and support the plan, regardless of whether you agree with it. In my view, the ability to take a directive you disagree with and pass it along to your team as if it were your own is one of the toughest leadership tasks there is.
So, my thanks this week go to all those who trusted me enough to ask the tough questions, were brave enough to challenge the status quo, and confident enough to be challenged themselves. It takes guts to say, “Can I challenge that?” Or, “I’m not sure I agree” to a group, a colleague, a friend or to someone senior like me. I know those questions or challenges came from a place of deep caring and commitment for their team, for our customers, and for GreenPoint’s long-term success.
Our business and our industry have tough challenges ahead. Fertilizer prices are high and volatile. Crop protection products are struggling under supply chain challenges. Finding labor is hard in rural communities under the best of times and the task will be brutal this spring. We are a new business still trying to find its identity and come together as a new team. And we’ve got major forces providing new challenges and new opportunities in terms of sustainability, climate change, consumer preferences, and massive technological disruption. These challenges won’t go away just because we don’t want to talk about them or to have tough conversations. As one co-op manager said to me, “We’re all talking about this stuff anyway, so I’m glad they are out in the open.”
The answers to the challenges will not be easy. If they were, we would have done them long ago. Thus, it is only through these tough conversations we’re going to make progress, work through the grind of root cause analysis, explore all the options, and develop the best possible course of action. And if we do that consistently, we’ll do well for our customers, ourselves, and our owners no matter how big the challenges we face.
I’ll continue to look for Type I fun. After all, it is way more fun to dance our days away. But until then, I’ll be glad for all the mountains we’re climbing and the Type 2 fun we’re having, as I know it’s the Type 2 fun that makes us better and stronger.
Onward!
Jeff
