Developing a Janusian team
Janus is a Roman god often depicted with two faces (looking in opposite directions)
Apparently, January is named after Janus. In case you are unfamiliar, Janus is a Roman god often depicted with two faces (looking in opposite directions). Based on their ancient mythology, he was the god of beginnings, endings and thresholds. Makes sense that you would name the first month of the year after him.
Whether or not all of this is true, I am confident that the ability to adopt the principles of Janus will serve teams well. Conveniently that is true in January, and also throughout the rest of the year ahead.
The idea of Janus having two faces that look in opposite directions highlights the tension that needs to be held by so many of us. In looking back, we want to be able to learn from our experiences and get the benefits of hindsight. We also want to be able to look ahead and set ourselves up proactively to succeed for what lies ahead. As is so often a case, this is an example of choosing "and" rather than "or". As Jim Collins says in his book. "Built to Last":
Instead of being oppressed by the “Tyranny of the OR,” highly visionary companies liberate themselves with the “Genius of the AND”—the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing between A OR B, they figure out a way to have both A AND B.
He's talking about companies, AND we can adopt that for our teams!
The risk in choosing to be a team that looks one way and not both is fairly clear. We miss out on opportunities to achieve what we are capable of. Focus too much on the past and we are likely to learn lessons that never get implemented, get overly attached to the way things were or create solutions for problems that no longer exist - playing a constantly reactive game. Focus too much on the future and we won't apply the lessons that the past has offered us, obsess about being busy rather than productive and can easily get ahead of ourselves or head down the wrong path.
What our teams need is the ability to take the best of both worlds. To be both reflective and proactive. To be both wise and energetic. To be looking both forwards and backwards at the same time.
Some questions to help your team develop a Janusian approach:
How can you balance the needs of reflection and inflection?
What will indicate that you are imbalanced in one direction over the other?