Passover, leadership, and the future of work

Happy #passover to all those celebrating. In today’s post, I wanted to connect a few central themes of Passover and what they teach us either about the best practices of the future of work or leadership.

Servant Leadership

The backbone of the story of Passover is the difference and our connection between slavery (or servitude) and freedom. We’re able to learn lessons from both sides of the equation. What it feels like and means to be in servitude and to have freedom. Additionally, what it means to be controlling over our team and to provide them flexibility.

The whole slavery story starts in the book of Exodus and uses very interesting language. Pharaoh wanted to enslave the Israelites and the word for those in charge is very precise. The word used translates to taskmaster.

וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּ עָלָיו֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מִסִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן עַנֹּת֖וֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם וַיִּ֜בֶן עָרֵ֤י מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ לְפַרְעֹ֔ה אֶת־פִּתֹ֖ם וְאֶת־רַעַמְסֵֽס׃

So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

 Exodus 1:11

There could have been different words used for the Egyptians like masters but why specifically taskmasters? The simple explanation and what works well for us today are the people in charge had the role of assigning tasks to the Israelites and ensuring these tasks were completed. One could think that sounds like every leader or manager. But then comes the key word right after, opress. Outside of the physical abuse done to the Israelites, they used pressure, ‘sat on people’s heads’, and overwhelmed the Israelites. Does this sound familiar? Two stand-ups a day for daily progress, regular DMs asking when a project will be complete and similar behavior is something we’ve sadly become accustomed to. So we’re able to clearly understand the lesson of being a taskmaster and what it feels like to be in servitude to a taskmaster.

We learn as the story goes on as more pressure, harder work, and shorter deliverable timeframes aimed at increasing productivity; it did the opposite. It didn’t increase productivity but increased unhappiness and burnout until the Israelites cried out to G-d to be saved. Then the ball starts rolling on the exodus from Egypt.

So it’s quite clear the bible is telling us that micromanagement is very bad news. But almost everyone that’s been working for at least 5 years has experienced this in the workplace. It is one of the most well-known work phenomena that negatively impacts work. In a report by Trinity Solutions, they found some outrageous stats. I’ll highlight a few.

Employees

• 69% stated they have considered changing jobs because of being micromanaged
• 71% said that being micromanaged has interfered with their job performance
• 85% said their morale has been impacted negatively by being micromanaged;

Managers (lower-level or mid-management who report to a manager)

• 62% stated they had considered changing jobs because of being micromanaged
• 73% said that being micromanaged has interfered with their job performance
• 77% said their morale has been impacted negatively by being micromanaged

What we need to learn from this Passover lesson as leaders is the idea of servant leadership. I’m personally not so keen on this title but we’ll use it for this case. What we need to take away is that we should not act as taskmasters to our team. We need to clearly define tasks and timelines and give our team the freedom and flexibility to accomplish them on their own. Yes, it’s ok for a single morning async standup of the team sharing the usual what they accomplished yesterday, what they’re working on today, and any blockers. You as a leader can then keep track from a distance of whether things are on track. And when someone does state they have a blocker that’s where you come in to get more involved.

Additionally, we learn, that as leaders we’re really there to serve or support our team. A leader’s job is to make their team happy and successful. That’s it. So it’s your job to regularly ensure they have everything they need, engage them, give them new projects to motivate them, and be in alignment that what they’re working on and what you’re helping them with aligns with company goals and personal development goals. Using this method will ensure they are free.

IRLs

The Passover seder is perhaps the one moment during the year when an overwhelming majority of Jews come together and are present with the day and commandments. I grew up secular and had little connection to religion for the first half of my life. But every year without fail (even once when I was super sick with the flu) I attended a Passover seder. The Bible commands us to remember the Exodus every day. It’s also foundational in the 1st of 10 commandments.

I am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:

 Exodus 20:2

It’s not, I’m G-d or I’m the G-d who brought the 10 plagues to Egypt. The G-d who spoke to the entire nation of 3M people at Mt Sinai. Or the G-d that sustained the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. All of these are quite memorable but it’s G-d that took us out of Egypt.

So religious and secular Jews across the globe gather as friends, families, or fellow travelers to do the Seder together. For example, pre-pandemic Israelis traveling across Thailand after the army in the thousands would all come together for the seder. In this case 2,500 people at one seder. Similar numbers were seen in Nepal from all the Israelis in the Himalayas. Leaving the jungle or Mt Everst to get together as a single nation to remember our nation’s ancestors all leaving Egypt as a single nation. And of course, building closer relationships as a team and nation.

This lines up with the concept of IRLs and getting your entire team together. I spoke at length about this topic in my first 3 posts that you can find here. But the lesson we derive is the importance of our team or nation getting together as a single unit in one place at the same time at least once yearly. The camaraderie and connection to the team and mission are crucial for the success of remote organizations. We’re not meant to be permanently isolated working from our homes or traveling in the jungle somewhere. We need to spend time face-to-face building and connecting on a deeper level.

Async and deep work require clear to-do’s and timelines

It’s no secret that documentation is at heart of successful remote team. It’s core to async culture and the interest in deep work. Allowing everyone to access the information they need whenever they need it and preventing constant Slack message ping pong. When I have the information I need when I need it, I’m freed up to get work done. Rather than have to rely on others for help or guidance. So the most successful remote companies spend a lot of effort on their documentation. Whether policies and procedures, cultural norms, or how to do my job. If you want to listen to a great podcast (sorry I’m biased) about the centrality of documentation to remote you can listen to this podcast episode.

This requires documentation to go into great detail and to leave little for questioning or confusion. Documentation should detail how/when/why/what/where to do things. So it’s simply following a blueprint to achieve some goal.

The Passover seder aligns perfectly with this message. The seder is thought of as the meal but it’s actually a whole procedure that includes a meal. We use a Hagaddah which is the guidebook to the seder. And in detail, it maps out everything. It gives us a specific order of what we do. From Blessing the wine, to hand washing, to what we eat and in what order, telling the story of Passover and so much more. As we move between sections of the Hagaddah or process of the seder we customarily say out loud what the new section we’re about to start is. The outline helps us understand why we’re all together, what we need to do at every moment, and what we’re getting out of it.

So from the seder, we learn the importance of documenting what we’re doing, how we do it when it needs to be done, and why we’re doing it.

Embrace change

The final idea will be the importance of embracing change. And this is probably the most important lesson today when we are still battling embracing the future of work and RTO vs #wfa vs #wfh. On Passover, we’re required to embrace change. During the entire year we eat whatever we want (kosher of course 😄). But on Passover, we are forbidden from eating any leavened foods. We replace bread with matzah, we eat bitter herbs and make numerous changes to our day-to-day. Children sing the Mah Nishtana from an early age. The song means why is this night different from all the others? You can watch the below to learn more.

We embrace change in what we do every day. We embrace something new and different. We change our behaviors and patterns for 7-8 days. Ask anyone who eats shmura matzah and they’ll all tell you it tastes like the cardboard box it’s packed in. But personally, I look forward all year long to eating it (as it’s only available for Passover).

Companies are struggling with this today. And I’ve spoken at length about this. Struggling both with do we provide the flexibility for our employees to choose where are they most successful doing work or do we force employees back to an office where we company leaders think they are most successful. And do companies prioritize employee or their investors?

CoVid opened pandora's box and we know once that box is opened there’s no going back. It’s very clear that the future of work will focus on putting the employee first. Meaning #wfa will be the standard of work and investing in the happiness and success of employees will be paramount. Since it is the #1 factor in whether a business can succeed long term. Just like Blockbuster disregarded the cloud and ultimately lost out, companies that focus on command and control of their team will fail down the road.

Instead, companies need to embrace what the inevitable future has to hold. That’s step 1. Step 2 is then investing in doing the future of work right. Bringing in experts who have built and scaled OG remote companies to build the foundations of great remote culture and operations. Without redesigning the culture and operations no company that just works remotely will succeed.

I’m taking the next couple of weeks off for the holiday. So stay tuned for a new post in a couple of weeks.

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