91.Know what your people are like, and make sure they do their jobs excellently.
This requires constantly challenging them and probing them. That’s true even if your people are doing their jobs well, even though those people can be given more leeway.
92.Constantly probe the people who report to you, and encourage them to probe you.
Managers are much less able to discover the right things to do than most people assume. I know that’s true for me. The people who work for you should constantly challenge you, in order for you to become as good as you can be. Also, inviting criticism brings to the surface any subterranean discontent and makes the people working for you responsible for helping to find solutions. It’s much easier for people to remain spectators offering unchallenged comments from the stands than to become players on the field. Forcing people onto the field strengthens the whole team. Communication is a two-way responsibility.
- 92A. Remind the people you are probing that problems and mistakes are fuel for improvement. They ought to understand that probing is good for them and everyone else. The main reason Bridgewater has improved at a much faster rate than most other companies over the past 30 years is that we seek out problems and find systematic ways of eliminating them. This approach has given us an unlimited supply of practical ways to improve.
93.Probe to the level below the people who work for you.
You can’t understand how the person who reports to you manages others unless you know their direct reports and can observe how they behave with them. Also encourage the people who work two levels below you to bring their disagreements with their bosses to you.
94.Remember that few people see themselves objectively, so it’s important to welcome probing and to probe others.
95SHAREProbe so that you have a good enough understanding of whether problems are likely to occur before they actually do. If problems take you by surprise, it is probably because you are either too far removed from your people and processes or you haven’t adequately thought through how the people and processes might lead to various outcomes.
- 95A. When a crisis appears to be brewing, contact should be so close that it’s extremely unlikely that there will be any surprises.
- 95B. Investigate and let people know you are going to investigate so there are no surprises and they don’t take it personally. 96SHAREDon’t “pick your battles.” Fight them all. If you see something wrong, even something small, deal with it. Because 1) small badnesses can be symptomatic of serious underlying problems; 2) resolving small differences of perception may prevent more serious divergences of views; and 3) in trying to help to train people, constant reinforcement of desired behavior is helpful. The more battles you fight, the more opportunities you will have to get to know each other and the faster the evolutionary process will occur.
97.Don’t let people off the hook.
Ask the important, difficult questions, and independently audit.
98.Don’t assume that people’s answers are correct.
They could be erroneous theories or “spin,” so you need to occasionally double-check them, especially when they sound questionable. Some managers are reluctant to do this, feeling as though it is the equivalent of saying they don’t trust them. These managers need to understand and convey that trust in the accuracy of people’s statements is gained or lost through this process. People will learn to be much more accurate in what they say to you if they understand this—and, increasingly, you will learn who and what you can rely on.
99.Make the probing transparent rather than private.
That will help to assure the quality of the probing (because others can make their own assessments), and it will reinforce the culture of transparency and freedom to find truth.