(37) Mature Directness — Carl Bass’​ Doctrine

Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk resigned last week and with it ended a glorious era. In its 35 years of existence, Autodesk is known to have traversed through three important periods — the founders period led by John Walker, followed by Carol Bartz, which was then followed by Carl Bass. Of the three, it was Carl Bass’ reign that was known to be the Golden era for Autodesk.

However, this post is not a career eulogy of Carl Bass. This is about the communication culture that Carl Bass built in the organization that was designed for efficiency, effective action and fostering collaborative relationships. How do you design a 9000 employee organization to make it all work well together? Carl Bass had the answer, which he called Mature Directness. Such was the impact of his idea on me that I still carry it with me wherever I go even though I no longer work with Autodesk. I am going to share about mature directness in this post verbatim from what I had gathered from Autodesk.

“Say what you mean, mean what you say, and say it in real time.” — Carl Bass

Mature Directness is mission critical for Autodesk as a way to accelerate performance within teams and across the organization.

Mature Directness Defined

Mature Directness is the process of having frank, collaborative, and respectful conversations needed to fuel Autodesk’s success. In addition to being highly productive, this style of interacting promotes trust by modeling personal integrity, demonstrating competence, and being inclusive of other people and ideas. Being direct in a mature way is saying what you mean and meaning what you say in real time. It is also being open to others when they are being direct, whether you like what they say or not.

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN means that your words are aligned with your thinking; you speak up and you say it “straight.” People sometimes think of straight talk as blunt or harsh, but at its best this kind of candor is objective, honest, and advances the conversation.

MEAN WHAT YOU SAY requires you to be authentic, professional, and respectful. There are many different ways to say what’s on your mind. You may think “that’s a dumb idea,” but saying it that way may have consequences you don’t intend. State your point of view in a way that others can hear it and you’re proud to have your words represent you.

COMMUNICATE IN REAL TIME is about contributing your ideas, thoughts, reactions, and feedback in the moment when they most count. Your contributions can enrich the conversation and outcome if offered at the point of impact. If you withhold or wait, the group and Autodesk both miss out on your perspective.

BE OPEN to your colleagues and their issues, needs, and points of view. Responding before you have achieved full understanding may derail your meeting or make the dynamics of the team more tense. To keep your conversations productive, listen, ask, and learn about others’ perspectives as well as stating your own.

The Benefits of Mature Directness

TO YOU:

• Your good ideas get heard and inform the decisions your team/colleagues make.
• Because you have actually said them, you stop worrying about the things you wish you had said.
• You learn by being open to others’ ideas.
• Open communication fosters productive, high-trust work relationships.
• Research shows that Mature Directness contributes to higher levels of job satisfaction

TO THE TEAMS YOU ARE ON

• Everyone’s best thinking is included in the discussion and decisions your team makes.
• Full and candid participation in the team’s process results in full commitment during implementation.
• Mature Directness promotes inclusion and openness, two criteria of high-performing teams.
• Mature Directness prevents false consensus and potentially bad decisions that might result from conflict avoidance.
• Meetings are more effective because teams are not afraid of dissent or conflict. Open and authentic discussions in these meetings accelerate problem resolution and improve the quality of decision-making.

TO AUTODESK

Mature Directness drives Autodesk’s business goals and core values in the following ways:

• It helps you model accountability, honesty, and risk-taking by speaking up when it counts.
• It enhances respect by creating an environment where people listen to and learn from diverse points of view.
• It promotes fast decisions by getting to the root cause of business problems so you solve them the first time. It helps teams be flexible by being open to multiple points of view and adapting as necessary. It promotes quality decisions by surfacing and improving ideas that result in better outcomes.

Mature Directness Checklist for Individuals

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN

• Be transparent. Speak clearly and neutrally about the issues.
• Give specific examples that support your point of view.
• Be concise. Get to the point quickly.

BE PROFESSIONAL AND RESPECTFUL

• Demonstrate competence in the way you state your opinions and in the questions you ask.
• Control the emotionality of your words, gestures, and tone of voice.
• When responding, refrain from criticizing or telling the other person that he/she is wrong.
• Search for others’ real needs and issues that are underneath their emotional statements.

BE OPEN TO OTHERS POINT OF VIEW

• Seek constructive conflict. Be open to diverse ideas by actively seeking reactions to what you’ve said.
• Ask clarifying questions to understand different perspectives.
• Build trust by listening to the other’s point of view, even when you disagree with it or it upsets you.
• Work to understand feedback you’re given, even when it’s poorly delivered or, in your eyes, incorrect.
• Remember that healthy conflict is a characteristic of high-performing teams and organizations.

SPEAK UP IN REAL TIME

• Challenge proposals and offer dissenting perspectives before decisions are made.
• If you feel internal conflict, speak up so that the group can grapple with the issue at a deeper level.
• Preface your comments to prepare others for what’s to come (e.g., “I have a different point of view…”)

Fostering Mature Directness on Teams

PREPARATION

Publish agendas in advance so members know what to prepare and how to participate. To make best use of the group’s time and talent, assure that everyone comes prepared to participate fully Announce how decisions will be made (e.g., by the leader with input from the group, by the group, etc.) so members know how their contributions will be used.

NORMS

Create and publish team norms so members understand how to participate in the group and the team knows what to do to improve. Include guidelines that encourage Mature Directness

PARTICIPATION

Ensure full participation. Invite quiet members to offer their ideas and reactions to what others have said. Include time to build on and critique each others’ ideas. Test ideas with a “devil’s advocate” brainstorming session before making decisions. Follow appropriate decision making protocol (i.e., should the decision be made using an Autonomous, Consultative, Joint or Delegative process ) considering all input. Acknowledge members who demonstrate Mature Directness in high-stakes conversations. Test for commitment to decisions and implementation before closing the discussion. If the commitment isn’t sufficient, more Mature Directness is required to uncover the reasons why. Close meetings with an instant survey: “How did we do in challenging and listening to all points of view?”

ACCOUNTABILITY

Hold each other accountable to the decisions made during the meeting. Check in immediately with members who aren’t meeting their commitments. Seek to understand why. If new information or problems threaten implementation, raise the issues proactively so the team can respond with urgency.