Team leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of work – which is why they need to be more pirate.
They’ve always been key to the organisation because the teams they lead are where the work actually gets done. But as we move to flexible (or if you prefer, hybrid) working they have even more influence.
This is because where employees are being trusted to sort out the new arrangements themselves, this is happening at that team level as each team figures out what works best for them. The team leaders have a pivotal role how those decisions are made.
Flexible working is removing some of the causes of the crapification of work – the commute, the constant interruptions and distractions, the micro-management – but why stop there?
There’s loads of other causes, like pointless bureaucracy, unnecessary meetings, superfluous reporting and all the other petty rules that drive you nuts and slowly suck your soul away.
Pirates were about breaking stupid rules and replacing them with better ones. Now’s your opportunity to stage a mutiny and get rid of the crap.
Get your team together and write your own Pirate Code – a set of principles and behaviours that define not only how you will work but how you will be together. Then identify the rules you want to get rid of – and do it. Bring in your own rules for a decrapified workplace.
Whilst everything is in flux, you have the power to make change happen, so make the most of it.
Be bold, be courageous, be pirate.