A formula for leading people

When it comes to managing work through people, I have a shortcut formula I often reference in discussions with leaders. It’s just three things…

Performance = Potential – Interference

I learned this formula years ago from Tim Gallwey’s book, The Inner Game of Work. That is, a leader’s job is to maximize their employee’s potential and minimize the interference.

What do we mean by minimize interference? Here are some examples:
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• If a team member has interference because of lack of skills, you as the leader may need to help them find the right training, or connect them to the right mentor or on-the job experiences.
• Perhaps the interference is less visible and may be due to a lack of confidence. As a leader, you may look for “small wins” for this person to help build their confidence.
• Or, maybe the interference is simply a lack of resources or inadequate equipment. As a manager, you may have to build a case for new resources.

It makes sense that so much of leading people is minimizing the interference, one roadblock at a time. But it never really occurred to me to introduce interference.
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This was the big “aha” for me when I read the book The Friction Project by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao. At our Cliffs Notes Book Club this month, I discussed this book and explained the concept of “interference” as a form of friction. There are times to step on the gas (to reduce friction) and other times when you need to step on the brakes (to increase friction).  

What is Friction?

​The authors define friction as “the forces that make it harder, slower, more complicated, or downright impossible to get things done in an organization.” Friction is any force that makes it harder or more complicated to get work done. It’s the unnecessary steps in an inefficient process. In the workplace, it could appear as layers of approval, a clunky user interface in computer program, bureaucracy, or other barriers to entry.

Examples of Good Friction

We typically think about reducing friction as being a good thing, and it is. However, the authors also talk about good friction. They urge the reader to look around for situations in which you may benefit from adding friction. That is, there are times when it makes sense to slow things down.
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An example of good friction in a work setting is an IT protocol to make it hard for someone to hit ‘reply all’ to a large group email.

Outside of work, there are examples where efficiency is not always the end-goal. For example, at a time when many stores are introducing self-checkouts, a chain of Dutch grocery stores initiated “slow lanes.” Customers who appreciate the discussions at the store, and the social interaction, welcome the friction. They enjoy shopping and chatting—and value this over the increased efficiency of self-checkout.

Friction Forensics Questions

The book provides a list of questions that are useful to help assess areas of friction. As with all decisions, there are trade-offs, and it’s wise to consider the effort versus possible impact/benefit of making a change. Here’s a set of questions to save, share, and refer to.

Friction Forensics Questions
adapted from The Friction Project

• Is it the right – or wrong – thing for you to do?
• Do you have enough skill and will to do it well?
• Is failure cheap, safe, reversible, and instructive?
• Is delay wasteful, cruel, or downright dangerous?
• Are people already overloaded, exhausted, and burned out?
• Does it require people to work alone or together?
• Will reducing friction for some make it harder for others?
• Is the human and financial toll worthwhile?

As a leader, how will you engage your team in identifying the good and bad friction? What steps will you take today to make use of these insights?