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Field guide: The Four Phases
Chapter 7

Field guide: The Four Phases

Four phases, a contract with the horse and the team: start small, build only as needed, return to softness fast.

6 minField guideBarn and office

Where you will use it

  • Status that is not honest, missed commitments, a slipping project
  • Arguments at home that need a boundary and then warmth

Step by step

1
Phase 1, the whisper
A finger on one cell. Is this honest? Six seconds, then walk on.
2
Phase 2, the conversation
A one on one, through the document together. Listen for what is volunteered and what is left out.
3
Phase 3, the boundary
A closed door, ninety seconds. This is the standard. If you can't bring it, I will bring it for you.
4
Phase 4, the return
Good call on the standup. The next piece of real work, the same as last week.
5
Pour the coffee
Say good morning the way you always do. The relationship is intact and the standard is intact.
Watch out
Phase 3 with no phase 4 is cruelty. Six weeks of cold after a correction poisons the work.
Phase 1 and phase 2 with no phase 3 is abdication.
From the book
Live in phases 1 and 2. Most managers live at phase 3 and call it standards.
Buck Brannaman: gentle in what you do, firm in how you do it. The gentle is in the speed of the return.
Up next: Practice: The Four Phases

Field guide: The Four Phases

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