A Different Kind of Leader: The 10 WEs
A few months ago, I talked about Ownership. Later, I talked about a Toxic Boss vs a Leader. Today, I am going to take it a step further and talk about what it means to be a Leader who builds a team of excellence. Let’s peel this onion and understand what it means to be a leader!
The 10 WEs
When I talked about Ownership and being a Leader, little did I realize that someone else had already defined the “rules” of what a Leader should be. There are several traits I see that set a Leader apart from a “boss”. In his book, Begin With We, Kyle McDowell describes what he refers to as “The 10 WEs”. These are 10 principles that a leader should establish within their teams to ensure the team is the highest performing, well-functioning team you can have. These are all principles that everyone on the team should live and breathe every day.
I highly advise you to take the opportunity to read or listen to Begin with We. Kyle goes into each of the 10 WEs in a far more descriptive, no-nonsense manner than I do here.
One of the factors I love about the 10 WEs is they tend to do away with what I refer to as ‘politics’. I’m not talking about elections. When I say politics, I’m talking about things like hiding portions of the truth from a client to prevent egg on the face or sugarcoating events so things seem better than they are. I hate these types of ‘politics’ in the workplace. I find it extremely frustrating that we can’t just be honest with each other and all work towards a common goal with courtesy towards everyone. The 10 WEs push aside the BS and help the team grow in ways never before seen.
1. WE do the right thing. Always.
No matter the circumstances. No matter who it may affect. No matter who it may upset. No matter what, we do the right thing. This is the heart of the 10 WEs, and none of the others apply if you don’t always do the right thing.
The first of the 10 WEs is at the heart of my talks on ownership. This may mean making uncomfortable decisions. No matter the reason, no matter how the results affect “me”, we have to make the decision that works best for everyone. One of the greatest examples I can think of in the software engineering world is not cutting corners in the code base. Automated Testing, Security Updates, and Upgrading Packages are all examples of ‘tasks’ that often get put on the back burner (or thrown in the trash) until they become a problem. Doing the right thing means bringing these to the forefront and keeping them there.
2. WE lead by example.
When my Grandfather was still alive, he had a “game” he would play with us where when we asked him a question, and we’d have to go to another room, he would say “Walk this way” and then start walking funnily towards that room. When we’d walk normally, he’d stop and say “No, no! Walk THIS way!” He wanted us to walk the way he was walking. While it was silly at the time, it is a fond memory for me. My Grandfather was a great man whom I always looked up to. At the time, I never could understand why, but now I know it was because he led by example. He practiced what he preached and wasn’t afraid to stand up for his beliefs.
Leading by example is the act of doing what you preach and holding yourself accountable in your ways. If you tell your team they should do something, then you don’t do the same thing yourself, you are not leading by example. If you want your team to turn their cameras on during a video conference, you turn yours on first. How can you expect your team to follow you if you don’t even follow your own rules?
3. WE say what we are going to do, then we do it.
Trust plays a major part in any well-working team. When you say you will get something done, and then don’t do it, you’ve hurt that trust. If you tell someone you’ll have a report by Friday, you get them the report by Friday. It’s that simple.
My neurodivergent nature makes this one personally difficult. Not because I don’t intend to, but because I may simply forget. My working memory has an annoying “feature” that if you tell me too many things at one time, each additional thing will “push out” the original things. I do believe, that while it doesn’t make it ‘right’, this plays a big part in WE # 6, XWE # 13, and XWE # 17 (listed below). It is my responsibility to combat my neurodivergent nature here.
4. WE take Action. Taking action and making mistakes is okay; being idle is not.
This ties directly into WE # 3. WE # 3 is committing to take action. WE # 4 is not being afraid to make a mistake in taking that action. Fear of doing something simply because of the potential of failure is nothing more than an excuse and shows a lack of ownership.
In my opinion, the “That is for management to decide” is the greatest example of failure to take action. In my experience, this is always preceded by “I agree, but”, and always followed with “I’ve not talked to management” in some capacity. Management isn’t a mind reader. If you don’t take the action of bringing the issue to them, they will never decide anything.
5. WE own our mistakes. WE are not judged by our mistakes, but by how quickly WE remedy and if WE repeat them.
“To err is human. To forgive is divine.” I don’t know who originally said this, but it is something that has stuck with me through the years. It has always amazed me that when we are babies learning to walk, we get cheered on and encouraged to try again when we fall. Once we get to the job world, this encouragement is thrown out the window and fear takes its place.
Mistakes happen. It’s human nature. I once locked the database of a production server for an hour. I made a mistake. What defines me isn’t that I made a mistake, but how I recovered from it and the steps I took to prevent that mistake from happening again.
I want to be clear here: If a ‘mistake’ was intentional, it’s not a mistake. I’ve had to deal with situations before where someone made a “mistake” that was, unfortunately, an immediate termination. While it can be argued that the ‘mistake’ here was that “they didn’t know any better”, I call that bluff. There are just some things that you don’t do. They simply are not work-appropriate. I do not include ethical mistakes when referring to WE # 5.
6. WE pick each other up.
Going back to the baby example, when we fell, we usually would get cheered on to try again. It is so sad to me that we’ve seemingly lost this. We need to pick each other up. Sometimes this might be on an emotional level. Others might be on a stress level.
Picking each other up is about lifting everyone on the team, regardless of the reason. Making sure the whole team knows that the whole team has their back. If one person is having personal issues, the team supports them. If another person has too much workload, the team takes on that work (temporarily) to help that person get back on track. Regardless of the reason, we move forward together.
7. WE measure ourselves by outcomes. Not activity.
I like to refer to this as “moving the needle”. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter to me who you worked with to get the answer. What matters to me is that you got the answer. A meeting to get the answer is an activity. Delivering the answer is the outcome. Coding and Code Review are activities. Deploying the code to production is the outcome.
8. WE challenge each other (diplomatically).
WE # 8 is another place where ownership goes hand in hand with the 10 WEs. I’ve been a part of several teams where there was one person whose job was to ‘make this decision’. The problem was that while it might not have been my job, I did have a responsibility to ensure the quality of the product and speak up when I saw this person making a decision that wasn’t right. This could be for any number of reasons, but I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut simply because it wasn’t my responsibility to bring it up. Sure, I can “discuss” it with that person directly, but in the end, it only matters what they say. This is not how a team should work.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not implying you have the right to be a donkey in your discussions (hence the diplomatic point), but you do have a right, if not an obligation, to speak up when you see something wrong. Otherwise, nothing is going to change.
9. WE embrace challenge.
There should be nothing wrong with challenging the status quo. There should be nothing wrong with taking risks. It’s all part of the game. Embracing challenges is not just about being able to have candid, critical, discussions with your team. It’s also about being open about what you think is right or wrong. It’s about being willing to discuss anything in the open air so that we can all provide our opinions for discussion. A healthy debate, if you will.
10. WE obsess over details. Details matter. A lot.
Something I see all too often is a lack of focus on details. I’ve seen so many tickets come through that the person put something along the lines of “It stopped working, fix it”. No details like when it started to fail, what they were doing at the time, or what they’ve tried to do to fix the issue.
You have to obsess over the details. If you don’t, you will lose sight of the outcome. I cannot count the number of instances in my professional career where just having one tiny detail could have saved me hours, if not days on completion of a task. Just be careful, as you can obsess over the details too much. You have to strike a balance between how much time you put into the details and the amount off return on investment.
The eXtended WEs
These are my additions to the 10 WEs. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Kyle is spot on in his definition of the 10 WEs. The things I’m listing here are items that Kyle directly covers under one or more of the 10 WEs. Despite this, I believe these are things that should be mentioned more exclusively under their own categories.
X11. WE respect each other.
One underlying theme you see in all the original WEs is respect. We respect each other’s opinions. We respect each other’s beliefs. We respect each other's time. Respect isn’t just about courtesy towards the other members of our team, but is also about acknowledging that we are human. Sometimes we get overwhelmed by the work. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we walk a trail we shouldn’t have.
Respecting each other is about acknowledging everyone on the team as unique individuals and giving each team member a chance to bloom into something more. We allow them to show their value without holding it against them.
X12. WE assume good intentions.
Have you ever had to work with someone who treated you like you were always overstepping your boundaries, or you were intentionally out to get them? I know I have, and these can be some of the worst people to work with.
Assuming good intentions is about not automatically assuming that someone questioning you is wrong or has nefarious intentions behind a question or a challenge. This ties directly into WE # 1 and WE # 8. Team members should not have to walk on eggshells with one person on the team who thinks they know everything and automatically gets upset the second others question their decisions.
X13. WE know each other.
How can you expect to pick up your teammates if you know nothing of them? Knowing each other is about being able to identify specific traits about them and how their dynamics work with the cultural dynamic. My earlier comment on my neurodivergent nature fits perfectly here. Knowing the struggles your coworkers have helps you relate more. The more we can relate, the more we can understand why a person is who they are, and the more we can help pick each other up.
To be fair, I’m not talking about knowing every detail of their private life. Rather, having an understanding about something like if someone has extreme cases of ADHD, that there may be times that they become easily distracted. Knowing this means you can help keep them on track.
X14. WE embrace a growth mindset.
If you aren’t familiar with what a growth mindset is, then you will need to read Mindset by Carol Dweck. Having a growth mindset is about being able to acknowledge your capacity for continued growth. Someone with a fixed mindset looks at mistakes as proof they aren’t good enough. Someone with a growth mindset looks at mistakes as opportunities to grow.
X15. WE are all owners.
This ties directly into WE # 8 and X12. We all must grow the product and/or company into the best it can be. This means no one person in the team is responsible for decision-making in a way that no one else can challenge. Everyone must bring ideas to the table. Everyone must speak up when they see us heading for a potential cliff. We all are responsible for ensuring that we do the right thing, always.
X16. WE hold each other accountable (diplomatically).
No one person on the team should be “above” everyone else on the team, least of all the leader. Holding each other accountable means calling someone out (privately) when they do something they shouldn’t. If someone cuts a corner in software development, you tell them! Of course, you should be nice, and you should have such discussions in private, but you must have these discussions!
X17. WE don’t let blockers wait until the next meeting.
Something I have seen several times in my career is situations where there is a ‘top priority’ and someone is asked to provide information for the next meeting. Then, when the next meeting rolls around, we get told “I’m blocked by XYZ and don’t have the answer yet. We made a meeting after the last meeting to discuss it tomorrow.” You were supposed to have it by this meeting. You learned about this blocker after the last meeting, but you didn’t bring it up before now? If you get hit with a blocker, you communicate it immediately to all parties, especially the leader. It’s the leader’s job to break down walls for you. They can’t do that if you don’t tell them! What's more, they likely need that information for their manager, and now you’ve put that person behind, potentially up to the CEO.
Conclusion
Being a leader goes beyond just being an owner. It goes far beyond being a boss. Being a leader sets you up in such a way that the whole team excels together. By following the 10 WEs, you can be that leader.
Have something you wish for me to discuss? Feel free to reach out and I will see if I can get something written up.
