Page 406 - Ray Dalio - Principles

b. Distinguish between a failure in which someone broke their “contract” and a failure in which there was no contract to
begin with. If you didn’t make an expectation clear, you can’t hold people accountable for it not being
fulfilled. Don’t assume that something was implicitly understood. Common sense isn’t actually all
that common—be explicit. If responsibilities keep falling between the cracks, consider editing the
design of your machine.
c. Avoid getting sucked down. This occurs when a manager is pulled down to doing the tasks of a
subordinate without acknowledging the problem. The sucked-down phenomenon bears some
resemblance to job slip, since it involves the manager’s responsibilities slipping into areas that
should be left to others. But while job slipping can make sense on a temporary basis to push through
to a goal, it’s also generally a signal that a part of the machine is broken and needs fixing. The
sucked-down phenomenon is what happens when a manager chronically fails to properly redesign
an area of responsibility to keep him or herself from having to do the job that others should be
capable of doing well. You can tell this problem exists when the manager focuses more on getting
tasks done than on operating his or her machine.

d. Watch out for people who confuse goals and tasks, because if they can’t make that distinction, you can’t trust them with
responsibilities. People who can see the goals are usually able to synthesize too. One way to test this: If
you ask a high-level question like “How is goal XYZ going?” a good answer will provide a
synthesis up-front of how XYZ is going overall and, if needed, will support it by accounting for the
tasks that were done to achieve it. People who see the tasks and lose sight of the goals will just
describe the tasks that were done.
e. Watch out for the unfocused and unproductive “theoretical should.” A “theoretical should” occurs when people
assume that others or themselves should be able to do something when they don’t actually know
whether they can (as in “Sally should be able to do X, Y, Z”). Remember that to really accomplish
things you need believable Responsible Parties who have a track record of success in the relevant
area.

A similar problem occurs when people discuss how to solve a problem by saying something
vague and depersonalized like “We should do X, Y, Z.” It is important to identify who these people
are by name rather than with a vague “we,” and to recognize that it is their responsibility to
determine what should be done.
It is especially pointless for a group of people who are not responsible to say things like “We
should . . .” to each other. Instead, those people should be speaking to the Responsible Party about
what should be done.

10.12 Communicate the plan clearly and have clear metrics
conveying whether you are progressing according to it.

People should know the plans and designs within their departments. If you decide to diverge from
an agreed-upon path, be sure to communicate your thoughts to the relevant parties and get their
views so that you are all clear about the new direction. This allows people to buy into the plan or
express their lack of confidence and suggest changes. It also makes clear what the goals are and
who is keeping up his or her end of the bargain and who is falling short. Goals, tasks, and assigned
responsibilities should be reviewed at department meetings at least once a quarter, perhaps as often
as once a month.
a. Put things in perspective by going back before going forward. Before moving forward with a new plan, take
the time to reflect on how the machine has been working up till now.
Sometimes people have problems putting current conditions into perspective or projecting into
the future. Sometimes they forget who or what caused things to go well or poorly. By asking them to
“tell the story” of how we got here, or by telling the story yourself, you highlight important items
that were done well or poorly in relation to their consequences, draw attention to the bigger picture
and the overarching goals, specify the people who are responsible for specific goals and tasks, and
help achieve agreement. Being able to connect all these items at multiple levels is essential for
people to understand the plan, give feedback on it, and eventually believe in it.