Move summary

It’s an old business bromide: “What gets measured gets done.” And though this adage may contain a kernel of truth, it leaves a crucial question unanswered: by which metrics should success be measured?

Using a poor metric is a surefire way to throw a monkey wrench into the works, so it’s imperative that you can separate effective metrics from ineffective ones.

Snow spreads white as far as the eye can see. The sound of the sled dogs panting, each breath a small cloud of steam. The cold air taut with anticipation. Briefly, the tow line tenses as the team of dogs braces itself for the coming moment – and then the command: “Mush!”

The author noticed something while on a dog-sledding trip. Each sled dog understood its job, and each was aligned with all the others, eager to begin working toward the team mission. So when the time came to “mush” – that is, to go – they weren’t only ready; they were champing at the proverbial bit.

If someone offered you $250 to run a marathon, you might do it, right? But, at less than $10 per mile, it hardly seems like enough. If running that marathon contributed to the cure of AIDS or cancer, however – well, you might, like thousands of other people every year, even pay to run it. Why is that?

When it comes to motivation, meaning trumps money.

So your team is organized, and you’ve planned out the Middle phase. But when your team actually enters that phase and experiences all the attendant doubt and tedium, a new set of challenges will arise. Exhausted and discouraged, employees will start asking hard questions. Is this even working? Can we go back to what we know? When will we see results?

During this tough period, you’ll need Valor – the V in the MOVE model.

Here’s a common pitfall. In the quest for organizational change and growth, companies get bogged down in the details. They spend so much time dealing with the “next” pressing issue that they lose sight of the big picture.

It’s a classic dilemma. If you’re expending all your energy on becoming a one-hundred-million-dollar company, how will you ever develop a strategy for becoming a one-billion-dollar company?

No matter how valorous, a leader won’t succeed in bringing her team through the Middle phase without the active involvement of the people around her. And this is where the E – for Everyone – in MOVE comes in.

Getting everyone involved in the change initiative is a matter of substituting conversation for command. Rather than telling employees what the change strategy is, talk to them about how it will work. This, hopefully, will encourage them to discuss it among themselves.

The author once brought a middle-aged man to tears with a single question. No, it wasn’t a query filled with malice or implied insult; she simply asked him what he really cared about.

So why the outburst of emotion?