How To Drive Exceptional Performance With Exceptions
Building a high performing team requires granting exceptions. Being a high performers means asking for exceptions. Here's how to do both well.
I attended a large portion of elementary school in China before the 2000s, where strict rules controlled every aspect of daily life. I often wanted to be the exception in the classroom. Could we do gym class indoors when it was raining? Could we leave if everyone finished the state-wide exam 30 minutes early? Could I read quietly in the corner instead of being forced to nap after lunch? Most of my teachers did grant exceptions. To them, it was important to have control, and exceptions threatened that control.
My desire for exceptions continued into the workplace. At McKinsey and Company, I was told to remove some of my ear piercings and to wear heels for more conservative clients — I dressed how I felt comfortable. I was told to format a slide a certain way — I came up with a different way that the clients loved. I frequently heard from others: “This is how the rules work. We cannot change it.” I got curious about who made the rules, who got exceptions, and why.
After many years, I’ve learned that exceptions are essential for innovation and leadership. When leaders default to rigid rule-following, it is often an excuse for laziness, lack of empathy, or lack of accountability:
Someone has done it successfully this way before, so why bother reinventing the wheel?
Someone may know something I don’t know, so I'd better not change it.
Someone has more power than I, so it’s better / easier if I do what they say.
Blindly following the rules promotes obedience, deference, and adherence to the status quo. If we want to build high-performance teams with agency, ownership, and creativity, then we need to (teach them to) break the rules and make exceptions.
An Exception in Decision-Making
When I was at Instagram, I led the Feedsharing and Profile teams, responsible for the entire feed post creation flow and the profile tab within the app. We served 1 billion+ users globally. As you can imagine, there were a lot of processes to ensure we delivered the best experiences and complied with regional laws and policies.
I led a multi-quarter project to redesign the Instagram profile to bring more visibility to new features Instagram offered — Shopping, IGTV, and Stories. It was a controversial project — when you bring more visibility to some features, you lose engagement of others. In a world where product teams (and performance ratings) were mostly driven by engagement and usage, no one wanted to be on the losing side. After months of testing, the team felt it had a design that best balanced the needs of various business goals and teams. However, to launch, the existing decision-making process required us to find time with 15+ product teams separately and to go through 2-3 layers of product reviews. It’ll be 5 months+ before we get through all the conversations at the fastest.
We asked for an exception. Rather than doing reviews following the current processes, we asked for a single forum to greenlight the launch with 5 key stakeholders: Head of Instagram, VP of Product, Director who led IGTV and Shopping, VP of Engineering, and the Head of Legal, Policy, and Privacy. We brought two reasons:
We were holding up the adoption of critical new features for Instagram (IGTV, Shopping, Stories). The new profile design was proven to have a drastic positive impact on the engagement with these features.
We were creating complexity and slowing down every team. Each team had to build and maintain an old and a new version of the profile while we were testing. And in some cases, critical tests overlapped, creating some 10+ combinations of experiences.
We discussed the proposal with our managers and then created an email escalation to the Head of Instagram. We also enlisted our supporters from other teams who did not want to wait another 2 quarters to verbalize the same need to their leaders. After a quick back and forth, we were granted the exception. A 5+ month process turned into just 2 weeks of four small group conversations, and we were given the green light to launch!
In this case, the high level of cross-team collaboration made the existing decision-making processes very inefficient. A similar exception to the decision-making processes during COVID-19 enabled me to bring features from concept to launch in under 2 weeks (rather than 2+ months). The key here was getting information into the hands of customers in a timely manner. Instagram served 1 billion+ users at the time. Yet the leadership remained nimble in how it operated and granted exceptions where needed.
An Exceptional Hire
At Thumbtack, we were hiring a Director of Product to lead a team of 2-3 PMs. It was a difficult role to fill as it required finding someone with experience in data science, engineering, and design. The recruiter brought us someone who seemed perfect — she had the right background and rave references. But she had a competing offer due in 2 weeks (our interview process took ~4 weeks at the time), and wanted a total compensation above our range.
We made it work. We prioritized her interview on our calendars so that she had all her interviews within 4 days. We discussed compensation options while she was in the final interviews (getting a good sense for her collaboration and negotiation skills as a bonus). While we could not meet her base compensation requirements, we offered a combination of sign-on bonus, vesting schedule improvements, and L&D stipend that made the offer competitive. After she joined, she told us that our ability to adapt quickly and make exceptions was ultimately what won her over. She (correctly) believed that if we were able to focus on impact and value in the hiring process, then the product culture would be similar.
How to Ask For Exceptions (And Get Them)
Exceptional people in history often broke the rules of their time. We celebrate their courage and creativity to stand up for their beliefs. Unsung heroes smuggled downed Allied air force pilots to safety in WWII or brought slaves to freedom during the US Civil War. Rules are written in a specific moment in time based on what is considered right vs wrong, and how the world operated then.
To ask for exceptions, start with understanding the context around the process or rule. When you know why a process or rule exists, you know its limits.
What was the context in which it was put into place?
What is the failure or risk it is trying to avoid?
Who put it in place, and who is upholding it now?
What exceptions have been granted in the past? Why? How was it approached?
Next, come up with arguments on why you need an exception, and the pros and cons. This enables you to be prepared for counterarguments and shows that you’ve thought through the downsides of the exception.
What benefit or impact does this bring to the organization or team? How does this exception save time, energy, or money? How does it increase morale?
What downsides might we risk with the exception? How can it be managed?
Who may lose power or control if the exception is granted? What precedent does it set for future exceptions?
Finally, approach the decision-maker who can grant the exception. At this step, it helps to rally your supporters to help make your case. If you have other teams who benefit and support the idea, or influential leaders who can lean in, this is the time to ask for their help. Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. If you don’t ask for the exception, then the default is your current status quo.
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How To Build a Team of Exceptional Leaders
In today’s competitive business environment, executives look for outsized impact.
“I want you to swing for the fences.”
“What is the 10X plan?”
“How can we be the next Google?”
And yet, many leaders neglect to coach their teams on how to take risks and break the rules. As a result, their teams generate incremental wins and stay within the lines.
Here are 3 ways to ensure your team knows when and how to ask for exceptions:
Prompt the question with your team: Is this a good scenario for an exception? How can we ask for an exception? How could an exception help move this along faster?
Talk about your exceptions: Stories of exceptions granted travel through the grapevine faster than a wildfire. Make it a point to talk about exceptions you’ve pushed for and successfully earned. Tell others the details of how it was done.
Always reward the ask: When you must say no to an exception, remember to praise the ask. Encourage your teams to create solid arguments for exceptions, even if it’s not granted every time.
As a leader, coaching your team on developing judgment on when and how to ask for exceptions can drastically accelerate decision-making, encourage innovation, and increase team morale.
That’s all folks! See you next week at 3:14 pm.
Yue
Great advice!
Great reflection on the tension between rules and exceptions. Too often, organizations lean on rules as a way to avoid difficult decisions or accountability, but as you point out, real progress comes from knowing when to challenge the default.