Page 401 - Ray Dalio - Principles

leads to the wrong people handling the wrong responsibilities and confusion over who is supposed
to do what.

10.6 Probe deep and hard to learn what you can expect from
your machine.

Constantly probe the people who report to you while making sure they understand that it’s good for
them and everyone else to surface their problems and mistakes. Doing so is required to make sure
you’re getting what you want, even from people who are doing their jobs well (though they can be
given a bit more leeway).
Probing shouldn’t just come from the top down. The people who work for you should constantly
challenge you, so that you can become as good as you can be. In doing so, they will understand that
they are just as responsible for finding solutions as you are. It’s much easier for people to remain
spectators than to become players. Forcing them onto the field strengthens the whole team.
a. Get a threshold level of understanding. When managing an area, you need to gain a rich enough
understanding of the people, processes, and problems around you to make well-informed decisions.
Without that understanding, you will believe the stories and excuses you are told.
b. Avoid staying too distant. You need to know your people extremely well, provide and receive regular
feedback, and have quality discussions. And while you don’t want to get distracted by gossip, you
have to be able to get a quick download from the appropriate people. Your job design needs to build
in the time to do these things. If it doesn’t, you run the risk of not managing. The tools I have
developed give me windows into what people are doing and what they are like, and I follow up on
problems.
c. Use daily updates as a tool for staying on top of what your people are doing and thinking. I ask each person who
reports to me to take about ten to fifteen minutes to write a brief description of what they did that
day, the issues pertaining to them, and their reflections. By reading these updates and triangulating
them (i.e., seeing other people’s takes on what they are doing together), I can gauge how they are
working together, what their moods are, and which threads I should pull on.
d. Probe so you know whether problems are likely to occur before they actually do. If problems take you by surprise,
it is probably because you are either too far removed from your people and processes or you haven’t
adequately visualized how the people and processes might lead to various outcomes. When a crisis
is brewing, contact should be close enough that there will be no surprises.
e. Probe to the level below the people who report to you. You can’t understand how the person who reports to
you manages others unless you know their direct reports and can observe how they behave.

f. Have the people who report to the people who report to you feel free to escalate their problems to you. This is a great
and useful form of upward accountability.
g. Don’t assume that people’s answers are correct. People’s answers could be erroneous theories or spin, so
you need to occasionally double-check them, especially when they sound questionable. Some
managers are reluctant to do this, feeling it is the equivalent of saying they don’t trust their people.
These managers need to understand that this process is how trust is earned or lost. Your people will
learn to be much more accurate in what they tell you if they understand this—and you will learn
who you can rely on.
h. Train your ear. Over time, you’ll hear the same verbal cues indicating that someone is thinking about
something badly or failing to apply principles appropriately. For example, listen for the anonymous
“we” as a cue that someone is likely depersonalizing a mistake.
i. Make your probing transparent rather than private. This helps assure the quality of the probing (because
others can make their own assessments), and it will reinforce the culture of truth and transparency.
j. Welcome probing. It’s important to welcome probing of yourself because no one can see themselves
objectively. When you are being probed, it’s essential to stay calm. Your emotional “lower-level
you” will probably react to probing with something like, “You’re a jerk because you’re against me
and making me feel bad,” whereas your thoughtful “higher-level you” should be thinking, “It’s
wonderful that we can be completely honest like this and have such a thoughtful exchange to help
assure that I’m doing things well.” Listen to your higher-level you and don’t lose sight of how
difficult it can be for the person doing the probing. Besides helping to make the organization and