Learning to Walk My WHY
By: Rory Sylvia
Tags: Behavior Change, Brené Brown, Strategy, Organizational Culture, Personal Development

A few years ago, I attended one of Simon Sinek’s Find Your WHY sessions. I created a statement that I thought encapsulated how I intended to lead, team and interact with others.

“To engage hearts in meaningful ways, so that together, we create a more community-centric world”

I now had my spiffy Why Statement, which I enthusiastically (and perhaps a bit smugly) added to my email signature. I thought this would help ensure everyone knew what I’m about and what to expect from me. My Why Statement was going to be the lens trough which I operated. But I don’t think it’s that simple. A Why Statement isn’t enough. I need something more to help hold myself accountable. Something that incrementally pushes me to grow into my Why. Otherwise, I forget about it, going about my days doing whatever it is that I do, for better or worse.

EVEN OVER STRATEGY STATEMENTS

Until I was introduced to “even over” strategy statements, I had never thought of using my Why Statement to inform my own personal strategy. The strategy that would inform what courses of action I would take and how I would treat myself and others. I was taught how to use even overs by Kathryn Maloney and Kate Leto, then consultants for the organization transformation company, The Ready.

In service of your purpose and goals, even over statements are a type of strategy that help guide what you work on and how you do it. They give you a lens through which you can examine all work that comes across your desk. Should I work on this or should I not? Your even overs will guide you. Even overs constrain your strategy by pitting two good things against one another, except one of those things is more important than the other. It’s saying that you value the thing on the left more than the thing on the right.

An even over strategy statement example for an airplane manufacturer might look like this:

Safety Even Over (E/O) Delivery

While safety and delivery are both important, safety is more important than delivery. If I as a mechanic am compelled to do something unsafe to ensure that an airplane is ready for delivery on schedule, I can think to our organization’s even over statement of Safety Even Over Delivery and feel confident that I’m doing the right thing when I stop the work, ensure it’s safe, then continue, even if this means the airplane isn’t delivered on time. In this way, even over statements can help guide what we work on and how we do it. And they help to drive decision rights and healthy accountability down through an organization in very clear ways. Generally, we limit ourselves to three or four even over statements.

Next, any projects that we work on should be in service of our purpose and examined through the lens of our even over statements. If it doesn’t fit within our even overs, then it isn’t something we should be working on or it’s not the right way for us to work together. We typically revisit and adjust our even overs (as needed) a few times a year.

A LESSON LEARNED

I worked with even overs for over a year before I was struck with the thought that I could really use even overs to guide how I want to lead and operate. This happened after facilitating a strategy meeting for a group of learning program managers (LPMs) who worked across functions and historically had struggled with working in silos, a lack of transparency and a lack of collaboration. We had just taken the time to walk through a retrospective followed by co-creating our team purpose statement. That purpose statement was supposed to inform our even overs that we’d be co-creating in our next meeting.

Later that day, a couple of leads and I ended up tweaking the purpose statement wording. At home, I was debriefing the workshop with my partner when I realized that I’d made a big mistake. We had co-created our purpose statement (as a team) and then after the fact, the leads and I had effectively invalidated the team’s hard work by changing their finished product. That’s not a good way to make a team feel empowered, included or trusted. On top of that, I’d gone against my Why Statement without realizing it. Face palm.

The next day, I met with the LPMs and apologized for what I’d done, explaining how important it was to me that we create our purpose and strategy as a team versus one or two leaders making executive decisions. I let them know that I would improve moving forward. This was about empowering our team to move quickly together, versus one or two people running ahead in a manner that lacks collaboration and inclusion, and does the opposite of building trust.

PERSONAL EVEN OVER STRATEGY STATEMENTS

Dr. Harriet Lerner, psychologist and author of Why Won’t You Apologize?, teaches that every apology should come with a plan to help ensure that the same mistake isn’t repeated. It’s not good enough to just say that you won’t do something again. There’s no accountability. This is where I made the connection to even over strategy statements. If even overs help guide what we work on and how we do that work, then why couldn’t I create my own personal even overs to help guide how I want to team, lead and interact with others? The following were my first stab at personal even overs.

Trust We E/O Trust Me

We lead together. I don’t make all the decisions or force my opinion in there. My priority is developing a team or teams that are self-sufficient, full of trust and empowered to run autonomously. I don’t put me over we. 2. Right Way E/O Easy Way Don’t take the easy way out if it isn’t the right way out. Engage in the hard conversations; be concise, thoughtful, honest and kind. Be courageous. Push the status quo and raise tensions when they need to be raised, because tensions are opportunities to improve. 3. Get it Right E/O Be Right Stay curious and listen to others, even when you don’t want to or you already think you know the answer. Everyone can teach you something. Don’t be so certain.

*Credit to Brené Brown for the inspiration behind this even over. 4. People E/O Priorities People are my top priority. Always. Check in and get to know them as people instead of rushing to complete the task at hand. Relationships are everything.

I’ve written my personal even overs on sticky notes and posted them on the wall behind my computer where I see them every day. They aren’t perfect and I fail to follow them all the time, but I’m learning to use them and I’m confident they‘ll continue to shape a better version of me.

Every one of us is a leader in some form or another. What drives you and how do you hold yourself accountable? How do you put what you’re learning into action?

For more on even overs, check out this article on Forbes.