You shouldn’t need permission from your boss to take care of yourself
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Can you take a day off when you worked on a Saturday? We are building teams where this question makes absolutely no sense.
Earlier this year we discussed how we want to work together and distilled it into five values:
We value IMPROVEMENT
We value EACH OTHER
We value OUTCOMES
We value BUSINESS SUCCESS
We value STRATEGY
I don’t see “we value the amount of hours we work” anywhere on this list, do you?
Few leaders would have a problem with these values. But many only pay lip service to it. The problem isn’t with the poster on the wall, it’s with what is happening down the hall.
I’m not immune to the allure of counting butts in seats or hours in the day either. After all, those things are easier to measure than outcomes. But I can’t say “outcomes is our North Star” and then sail in the opposite direction.
This exact question came up in our Manco last week. I said we have to look to our values for the answer.
I took it a step further: “Even if you didn’t work on a Saturday, if you need a break, you should take it. That’s what it means to take care of ourselves and each other. That’s what managing outcomes looks like.”
If we don’t ask for permission to spend a whole weekend fixing a production issue, why do we need permission to get much needed rest?
We value IMPROVEMENT
We value EACH OTHER
We value OUTCOMES
We value BUSINESS SUCCESS
We value STRATEGY
I don’t see “we value the amount of hours we work” anywhere on this list, do you?
Few leaders would have a problem with these values. But many only pay lip service to it. The problem isn’t with the poster on the wall, it’s with what is happening down the hall.
I’m not immune to the allure of counting butts in seats or hours in the day either. After all, those things are easier to measure than outcomes. But I can’t say “outcomes is our North Star” and then sail in the opposite direction.
This exact question came up in our Manco last week. I said we have to look to our values for the answer.
I took it a step further: “Even if you didn’t work on a Saturday, if you need a break, you should take it. That’s what it means to take care of ourselves and each other. That’s what managing outcomes looks like.”
If we don’t ask for permission to spend a whole weekend fixing a production issue, why do we need permission to get much needed rest?