The Unity Success Engine
How To Complete Complex Projects While Building Coalition in 7 Steps
Hi Liberating Leaders!
I am stoked to share this week's play.
This week's play is the Unity Success Engine which helped me build a coalition of 20+ people across different domains to co-create a multimillion-dollar building renovation plan for the presentation to the architect.
Since turning on the Unity Success Engine 2 weeks ago, I am more confident than ever of the plan we created.
As a private school principal of a growing school, a complex project is inevitable. But complex projects aren't impossible… if you have the right people on the bus.
They have to get on your bus to help you succeed.
The Unity Success Engine: 7 Steps To Complete Complex Projects While Building Coalition
Step #1: Proclaim God's Calling
Any project worth doing is God's project.
As a Christian leader who follows Jesus, a foundational belief is that unless God builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless God directed His people to complete a complex project, it is not worth doing. To start any major work, confirm and proclaim God's calling on the project.
Remind people what God is doing.
God was very clear to the leaders at The King's Academy (TKA) to renovate a building.
I proclaim God's calling to TKA every chance I get:
In emails
In video messages
In meetings
Remembering God's calling gives us hope when discussions get heated.
God's calling unites us.
Step #2: Admit My Limitations
I am not enough.
This is a very harsh truth that every leader knows, but 99% of leaders don't say. Because it is embarrassing. Leaders don't want to admit their limitations. They think they need to be strong for their team.
But they are wrong.
God created human beings with limitations.
My limitations include the number of gifts I have to offer to the team, to my community, and to God's kingdom. God's heart is for people to humble themselves with their limitations and rely on other people's gifts to make the community flourish.
So admit your limitations.
I start my interactions with "I am not enough, and I need your help."
Step #3: Invite Experts
School leadership is about building a coalition.
The days of one person holding all the knowledge are over. There are many specialized skills in the world. A leader's role isn't to dictate, but to build coalitions. Bringing people together to share their gifts for the project.
Even if you have trust issues.
What if I can't trust them?
The biggest objection I hear leaders share is, "How do I know people won't leak this plan?" They are scared the secrets get out to the community, and they have to be responsible for them.
This is why I DO NOT make a plan.
I share provisional thoughts.
I educate my team that there are 3 ways I will frame the conversation:
Provisional: I am just whiteboarding and bouncing off ideas. I am making zero commitments.
Plan: I have gathered input and created a plan, and I want to execute the plan if everything goes according to plan.
Promise: No matter what happens, with everything we've got, we will deliver on our promise.
In these conversations, I do not share plans.
I only share provisional ideas.
I repeat myself over and over again that what I am sharing is provisional. I want input, but I am not planning or promising anything. I am inviting the expert to collaborate with me.
If I am going to invite someone, I better trust them.
Who did I invite?
To show you the diverse expertise on my team, let me share with you my list:
Administrators
Teachers
Academic Team
IT
Facility & Operations
Security
Academic Support staff
PR
Communication
Admissions
Events Coordinator
Visual Performance Arts Specialist
I invited them all, but I only met with volunteers.
Step #4: Define the Boundary of the Co-Creating Process
Boundary setting ensures success.
When you bring a range of expertise and experiences into the same conversation, you will have conflicts. You also have different volumes of opinions. Boundaries are necessary for a productive co-creating process.
Create your boundaries.
In my conversation with the team, I set specific boundaries:
Let me share what I am thinking and why.
Let me also explain our limitations.
Share with me your perspective and considerations, and explain.
Everyone is welcome to share similar or opposite perspectives and considerations.
I will take notes of the conversation.
I will take everyone's feedback and measure against our limitations.
This is a privileged conversation.
Once everyone has agreed on the process, then we start to collaborate.
Step #5: Gather Feedback
The key to success is feedback.
If you want to avoid making mistakes, seek feedback.
If you want buy-in to your future decisions, seek feedback.
If you want to complete the project successfully, seek feedback.
The success of the project requires you to elicit feedback from everyone who will be impacted by the project.
Good or bad, just get the feedback.
After I shared my thoughts, I asked the team what they were thinking. I invite them to think from their department and area of expertise. The beauty of this feedback-gathering process is for everyone to hear what every department is thinking about. It builds unity. Feedback gathering helps with understanding.
Gather feedback in groups.
Step #6: Distill Expert Contributions
Leaders need to distill feedback.
The leader's work doesn't stop at feedback. The leader has to distill the contribution of experts. As a project leader, I know every piece of the puzzle, but the experts don't. They contributed based on their expertise. They don't always see the whole picture or hear all the concerns and feedback. So leaders have to distill the feedback with a global lens.
Gather the cream of the crop.
Distilling with the global lens.
When you are looking at a good list of feedback, the filtering process begins. You start by looking at the global vision, and what you need to accomplish. How do you win? Then you look at your limitations and decide which feedback isn't possible due to the limitations. Then you prioritize the rest based on the value of the school.
Take the time to distill the feedback to gold.
Step #7: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.
The last step of the Unity Success Engine is communication.
Communicate the draft you have distilled to various constituents:
The experts you have gathered: seek additional feedback.
The people in the leadership team need to approve the plan.
The people who will be impacted to get their input.
The more you communicate, the more unity you will forge.
The more you incorporate the contribution of your experts, the more buy-in you will have, and you are more likely to succeed. Because now everyone has skin in the game.
Learn how to communicate effectively.
Then you just keep turning on the Unity Success Engine to complete the complex projects that are essential to your growth.
And that's it for this week!
I hope you enjoy this week's play. Be a good friend and share this with someone who needs to build a coalition or complete big projects.
See you next time!
David Huang
P.S. If you want to follow along the journey of this project, subscribe to the paid version of this newsletter. I will be sharing project updates and the plays that helped me along the way.