Wrong

Being wrong is such an important part of being right. Our product offering is likely wrong, but we have a product offering. Our sales process is probably not right, but we have a process. The newsletter frequency and content could be improved, but we have a daily and weekly newsletter. Our blog content should be more frequent, but we have blog content. Inbound marketing could be optimized, but we have inbound leads. We probably need to track different metrics than we are now, but we are tracking metrics. You get my point.

Before you can be wrong, you have to have something to be wrong about, whether an opinion, a stance, a product, or service. Something that says, "this is how we think our value is best brought to market, here is how we think we can let people know about it, and here is how we think we can solve their problem." And it’s all likely wrong.

Wrong, however, is begotten by bravery, and at Disruption, we are at this critical and exciting stage for a lot of really brave people. Our success now relies on our ability to iterate and get it right, our ability to balance feedback, resources, and mission. If we can successfully identify what is wrong and make it right quickly, we win. If we prioritize feedback incorrectly, or if we lose sight of our mission in a frantic attempt to react to every recommended change, we risk introducing confusion. There is no faster way to kill momentum than to inject confusion.

Here are three things I’m doing to make sure we are best positioned to be responsive and flexible while maintaining our sense of mission and battling confusion in this rapid time of necessary change.

Reiterate individual objectives.

As feedback begins to come in, it’s important that your team members have the correct lens through which to process it. Each team member needs to know what is specifically expected of them and if a particular piece of feedback moves them closer to accomplishing it. This type of understanding helps people quickly engage or discard information that can be potentially confusing.

Encourage communication but emphasize the correct channels and participants.

When the need to iterate rapidly increases, so does the need for communication. An accompanying danger is that this increased pressure can cause people to operate outside of the established channels. Encourage increased communication but make sure it still flows through the proper channels and people. For example, don’t encourage more people to be in a conversation, encourage the right people to be in more conversations. Encourage increased availability and compressed response times. This helps make sure that each objective or piece of feedback is evaluated against the proper set of priorities.

Establish a predictable cadence of change.

Change is a stressor, and unexpected change is the worst kind. In an environment where you know that the rate of change is going to increase, make sure to organize it the best you can. Ask engineering to increase their releases, but make sure it’s known when those days and times are safe. Ask Sales to give a daily or weekly update instead of monthly. Let people know when and where they can go to find out what is happening. It will help them properly process progress and create a feeling of purpose and organization.

In the busy battle of making wrong right, fighting confusion should be the leadership’s top priority. As much as we all hate words like “process” and “playbook”, there are times when directing attention to them makes sense. If you are brave enough to launch a product or service, you will likely be wrong in one area or another. Don’t be scared of being wrong, be scared of the inability to get it right.