Remember that there is no sense in having laws unless you have policemen (auditors).
Beware of rubber-stamping.
Recognize that people who make purchases on your behalf probably will not spend your money wisely.
Use “public hangings” to deter bad behavior.
Have the clearest possible reporting lines and delineations of responsibilities.
Assign responsibilities based on workflow design and people’s abilities, not job titles.
Constantly think about how to produce leverage.
Recognize that it is far better to find a few smart people and give them the best technology than to have a greater number of ordinary people who are less well equipped.
Use leveragers.
Remember that almost everything will take more time and cost more money than you expect.
Do What You Set Out to Do
Work for goals that you and your organization are excited about and think about how your tasks connect to those goals.
Be coordinated and consistent in motivating others.
Don’t act before thinking. Take the time to come up with a game plan.
Look for creative, cut-through solutions.
Recognize that everyone has too much to do.
Don’t get frustrated.
Use checklists.
Don’t confuse checklists with personal responsibility.
Allow time for rest and renovation.
Ring the bell.
Use Tools and Protocols to Shape How Work Is Done
Having systemized principles embedded in tools is especially valuable for an idea-meritocracy.
To produce real behavioral change, understand that there must be internalized or habitualized learning.
Use tools to collect data and process it into conclusions and actions.
Foster an environment of confidence and fairness by having clearly-stated principles that are implemented in tools and protocols so that the conclusions reached can be assessed by tracking the logic and data behind them.
And for Heaven’s Sake, Don’t Overlook Governance!
To be successful, all organizations must have checks and balances.
Even in an idea-meritocracy, merit cannot be the only determining factor in assigning responsibility and authority.
Make sure that no one is more powerful than the system or so important that they are irreplaceable.
Beware of fiefdoms.
Make clear that the organization’s structure and rules are designed to ensure that its checks-and-balances system functions well.
Make sure reporting lines are clear.
Make sure decision rights are clear.
Make sure that the people doing the assessing have the time to be fully informed about how the person they are checking on is doing, have the ability to make the assessments, and are not in a conflict of interest that stands in the way of carrying out oversight effectively.
Recognize that decision-makers must have access to the information necessary to make decisions and must be trustworthy enough to handle that information safely.
Remember that in an idea-meritocracy a single CEO is not as good as a great group of leaders.
No governance system of principles, rules, and checks and balances can substitute for a great partnership.
For any group or organization to function well, its work principles must be aligned with its members’ life principles.
I don’t mean that they must be aligned on everything, but I do mean that they have to be aligned on the most important things, like the mission they’re on and how they will be with each other.
If people in an organization feel that alignment, they will treasure their relationships and work together harmoniously; its culture will permeate everything they do. If they don’t, they will work for different, often conflicting, goals and will be confused about how they should be with each other. For that reason, it pays for all organizations, companies, governments, foundations, schools, hospitals, and so on, to spell out their principles and values clearly and explicitly and to operate by them consistently.
Those principles and values aren’t vague slogans, like “the customer always comes first” or “we should strive to be the best in our industry,” but a set of concrete directives anyone can understand, get aligned on, and carry out. As we shift our attention from Life Principles to Work Principles, I will explain how we went about achieving these alignments at Bridgewater and how that affected our results. But first, I want to explain how I think about organizations.
An organization is a machine consisting of two major parts: culture and people.
Each influences the other, because the people who make up an organization determine the kind of culture it has, and the culture of the organization determines the kinds of people who fit in.