The word, troika, is Russian for "group of three" and "The Troika" was the collective nickname for President Reagan's advisors: Baker, Meese, and Deaver. The monicker was an ironic wink to the famously anti-soviet union agenda of his administration. (Take note, hipsters.)
On one of my early assignments in government, I got together with two of my colleagues. The three of us got along great and shared a great deal of respect for our manager. So, we made a pact to advise and generally protect this manager we had in common. We jokingly referred to ourselves as the "Troy-ka." His first name was Troy and he happened to be a republican, so he got a kick out of it too.
We shared office gossip (what industry calls "business intelligence"), mistakes (what industry calls "lessons learned"), and the lies we told to get out of trouble (what industry calls "marketing"). Mostly, it was a safe zone where we had a lot of laughs with the professional filter off. It totally worked, each of us got promoted, and we accomplished some really cool things.
Looking back, the jobs I hated were the ones where I did not have, or was not part of, a troika. As I progressed in my career, I strove to recreate this environment for both my respected leader and for myself. Along the way, I found ways to improve it.
The key enhancement is the diversity of the group to ensure the respected leader gets a good variety of advice. It was most important to make sure it included people who thought differently than the others did. The simplest way to do this is to seek out personalities who have different sex, age, and backgrounds from each other, yet has enough chemistry that communication works and does not become part of the problem. Honest and effective communication in your troika, who think differently but are not completely different, will get you the best and most direct advice.
The diversity has a side benefit. It provides direct reports with a choice of who they consider to be more approachable when they are unsure if their concern is boss-worthy. The meek may have an earthy inheritance, but confronting the boss may not be part of their ambition. However, be careful not to let your troika fully insulate you, intentionally or otherwise. Reagan's Troika had the criticism that it created a bubble for the President. The Troy-ka did this intentionally, it was part of our verbal charter, but long term it is a hazard.
How to mitigate this problem? Answer: watch mafia movies. (you should do this anyway.) There's a pattern to observe in the famous work of Francis Ford Coppola (Puzo for you book reading types). "The Godfather" had a troika, of sorts.
In the Godfather novel and movies, Vito Corleone had two partners, Clemenza and Tessio. When he took over the lead of the crime group, he kept Clemenza close and set up Tessio in Brooklyn (to prevent them from conspiring against him) and of course, he had a consigliere in Tom Hagen. Three makes troika. If you watched the movies or read the book, you know things got messy and the analogy breaks down quickly. If you think I just ruined the movie for you, it wasn't personal, it's just business.
You may not have a staffing inventory that allows for two deputies and a councillor without portfolio. Indeed, paranoia may not be enough of a concern to warrant extreme separation of your deputies. If paranoia is your main driver, this article is probably not going to be helpful anyway. The point is to have a fundamentally different interaction with at least one member of your troika.
Having at least one member of your troika outside your day-to-day, will force you to recite and thus hear your own description of your trials and troubles - which alone is helpful - but will also be that sanity check (paranoia again) that could be missing in everyday life. The outside adviser role is best played by your mentor, because they likely have a different job anyway.
It is not just the leader who benefits from this arrangement, the whole team succeeds. Everyone in the original “Troy-ka” earned a promotion based on the team’s accomplishments. Each member of a troika should benefit for such services; after all... we are not Communists.
-AR
© Aron Ruthe, 2015
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