Chris Hadfield not only sung Space Oddity from Space but also has written some words in a book that makes a whole lot of sense. One of those things was that you can be viewed one of 3 ways:
- +1 : Actively adding value
- 0 : Neutral, not adding a lot but not detracting either
- -1 : Actively causing damage, detracting from the team
Your value is not a constant, it changes depending on where you are, who you’re with and what the context is. In one meeting you might be a solid +1 and in the next meeting your a 0. Know what you are at any given time. This is the beautify of this practice, you have to be introspective, you have to look at your environment and decide what it needs.
If you join a new team don’t dive in trying to be a +1 showing everyone you can make changes. Changing things before you understand how things work. Do the work to be a 0 first, show everyone you can be trusted not to be harmful, trust is what you earn. Don’t undervalue being a 0 either, it shows you’ve got a baseline level of competence, the core skills you need to do the work. You can’t skip this step, jumping in and trying to be a +1 too soon will lead to trouble.
One of the most surprising +1 things you can do is, to stay quiet. Let others grow into their own +1’s. You can listen and figure out what the team isn’t thinking about and ask them questions about their gaps.
Where to start
- Start with the times your being a -1, minimise those.
- After each meeting consider how you did and what you need to be a +1
- Times you’re being a +1, should you be letting someone else be a +1
- What feedback can you give to someone to go from a -1 to a 0 or a 0 to a +1