Spotlight: Sandy Mamoli and David Mole (Authors) Interview and AMA!

[alvinkatojr]

Hello again,

Thanks for the detailed responses to my questions. I have a couple more thoughts and 2 more questions, so here goes.

@sandymamoli

What matters isn’t the size, but the willingness to trust people to make good decisions for themselves and the company.

I like this answer. It ties in again with something you mentioned there about giving people agency.

@sandymamoli

Also, self-selection is not a one-time thing. Most orgs run events regularly (every 6, 12 months), so no one is “stuck” forever.

On this statement, don’t you think 6-12 months is long time frame. I get the need team stability and the likes, but if I was to run this I’d be thinking of doing this every quarter. Not forcefully though, but for the teams and people that want to change. Do you think that’s too soon?

@sandymamoli

Sometimes it shines a light on bigger issues (like skills mismatches or interpersonal problems) that would’ve come up anyway, at least now it’s in the open and can be worked on.

This reminds me of the parable of letting the wheat and the weeds grow together so that they can be identified during harvest time with wheat the heading off straight to the barn and weeds ending up in the fire .

@sandymamoli

And if someone is truly, repeatedly left out, that’s usually a sign of deeper cultural or performance issues, which self-selection helps bring to the surface, so it can be addressed.

Yep, self-selection really is the weed master, ultimate workplace “pest-control”

@sandymamoli

a lot of the principles, ownership, clarity on what you want, thinking about who you want to work with, absolutely apply to career planning too. It’s a fascinating idea and very much aligned with the spirit of our work.

I like this. Thinking about it in this way, does make me look at your book from another angle. On the flip side, since this thought process aligns with the spirit of your work, maybe you have just received inspiration for your next book idea?

Thanks again for the responses, Sandy!

Alvin