202104291524 Execution is the priority of the team

Above all else, a team has to execute well. If this isn't happening then nothing else matters. After all, 202108191025 Teams exist for a reason and the reason for having the team at all is to build something greater than the individuals. 202104291947 Our purpose as leaders is to serve others in order to make that happen.

It’s important not to construe this to mean that we value execution over things like culture, health, and happiness. In fact the opposite is true. Real thriving and high performance execution can only happen when we build a team with high psychological safety and implicit trust.

In order to keep the team moving forward and executing well, we often have to absorb discomfort for the team. Sometimes, we have to 202104291526 Make the hard decisions. Sometimes, we have to 202104291527 Live in the ambiguity of people processes and remember that 202104291528 Leaders have to accept a slower feedback loop. Sometimes we have to remember that we can't control everything and that 202104291525 It's not a leader's job to be the best at everything.

On failing to execute

If the team fails to execute, it's still the leader's responsibility to 202104292040 Eat the losses. There is important grieving, learning, and growing to be done during this. But serving the team through these scenarios means that we absorb the bad, allow the motivating to have an impact, and highlight the good.

On execution vs product value

There is an absolutely critical difference between delivering well and delivering a product that is valuable. These things are not the same and delivering a valuable product may not even be the responsibility of the team in certain circumstances (202206171206 Delivery Performance vs Value Delivery). 202309011312 The primary goal in product development is to make good economic decisions.

There are also times when a team can only see part of the picture and needs to focus on the delivery of one piece of a puzzle that has no value without the other pieces from other teams.