“Why did that take so long?”
Cue the blame shifting.
“Product wasn’t ready on time/Sales overpromised things/Customer Success didn’t answer our last email asking for explanations.”
Every fact there might be true. Perhaps you can even produce the relevant Slack threads and meeting notes with dates. That doesn’t make it not your problem.
Minding Your Own Business
When you started your VPE/CTO role, you likely had the instinct to focus on fixing things internally. Making the organization run better, putting the right people in place, smoothing out the processes. Right instinct.
But it also has a ceiling, and many hit it faster than they expected, without even realizing it. Sometimes you get your org to run clean and then realize there are many big problems outside it. Other times, those “external” problems are capping your ability to improve your team.
Some problems live in the space between you and the people you don’t manage. Maybe nobody’s performance review covers it explicitly. It’s not neatly anyone’s role. It’s still your problem.
The Shrug
Often when I work with my clients, they very easily put their finger on the problem. And that finger is always pointing away from them. If you do the same, you might feel smug because it’s technically correct, and then go along shrugging it off. But the correct “diagnosis” of the problem doesn’t mean you can ignore it.
As an executive, you should avoid the “not my job” attitude as much as possible. Especially when we’re talking about these things that take place in the seams between departments. That’s because your peers just might be pulling the same trick on you, and those issues will just remain unsolved until they blow up in your face.
What, you thought you were so special that you’re the only one seeing issues? The truth is that others look at you and see things very similarly. Ever notice how everyone cutting you off on the road is a jerk, but you never do it, and if you did, it’s a mistake, and what is the other person so worked up about?
Taking Ownership
You don’t have to try to fix everything by yourself. But you should stop averting your eyes and collaborate with your peers.
First, we stop pointing fingers at others and putting our heads in the sand. If you know the deadline will be missed because Product is dropping the ball, and you believe the project is important, don’t just wait for the crash. Look for ways to help.
That’s easier when you view your peers as allies. Much harder when you see them as those annoying people who always have requests, or, worse, as adversaries. Aim to create real relationships with them and communicate regularly. That means that when the time comes to raise an issue, you already know how to talk to one another and have enough trust in place to work on it.
Put yourself in their shoes. It’s extremely easy to point out all the mistakes others are committing, but when it comes to your own problems, you have all the excuses lined up. Try to give them the same benefit of the doubt. Understand what their priorities are. Go through a WIIFM (what’s in it for me) exercise whenever you need others to pitch in.
Once you both understand the issue from the other’s point of view, and have found a way to improve it or solve it completely, celebrate. Share the credit happily. You just did something good and earned company karma. I bet it’ll come in handy.
Protocol
- Inventory the seams. Twenty minutes, alone. List every recurring problem in the last quarter where the fix requires two departments to move.
- Pick the one costing the most weeks, and own moving it forward. Don’t see it as taking others’ work, but as taking responsibility for the fact that it has no meeting, no owner, and no name. Nobody will fight you for it.
- Learn your peers’ scoreboard before you propose anything. Bring your proposal in their currency. Otherwise, it reads as engineering asking for a favor.
- Give the credit away in public, deliberately.
You can be completely right and completely stuck. Your CEO isn’t paying for “right.” Accept the executive ownership and start making things improve.