Recently I was working with a CEO of a very large firm to prepare his Kickoff presentation to the leaders and high-potentials in his organization. One of the lasting principles of leadership communication that surfaced during our work together was the importance of being clear. I don´t just mean clear in terms of good articulation, I mean clear in conveying information that is critical to employees.
It has become increasingly difficult for leaders to be completely clear. They have limited ability to predict the future, given the pace of change. It´s not so easy to speak with total confidence about where the company will be in five years, or even three years. However, there are some critical places where employees seek clear answers and when clarity is achieved, they then have what they need to actively create the future.
Marcus Buckingham talks a lot about the need for clarity in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know. He emphasizes the importance of leaders painting vivid pictures for their employees in answer to the following four questions:
1.Who Do We Serve?
We all know that we can´t please all of the people all of the time, so it is essential that employees know toward whom they should focus their attention. This is not to say that you may not have some secondary markets that you also work to serve, but having a primary customer clearly defined and easily identified makes it possible for employees to concentrate their efforts on enhancing those relationships.
- What is Our Core Strength?
Employees want to know what differentiates your organization from others in your space. They want to know what they can feel confident about. It provides the opportunity to leverage your organizational strengths; maximize what you do well.
- What is our Core Score?
How will you measure success? Marcus encourages leaders to think carefully about which metric to use to evaluate the organization´s progress. Once the metric is identified, the key is to keep the momentum going by communicating results on a regular basis. Everyone should know how the company is progressing against the core score. Many companies have many metrics that they use to evaluate success. Marcus strongly recommends finding the one strategic lever to promote organization-wide.
- What Actions Can We Take Today?
Identify actions that change people´s routines (systematic) or gain employee attention (symbolic) as a way of clearly communicating the organization´s direction. This makes concrete the answers to the questions above by demonstrating what and how the answers play out through real-life action.
I would add a few questions to the list that Marcus provides in his book. I would add that employees often want to be reminded of the answers to question, "What Do We Stand For?" To me, this includes organizational values and purpose/ reason for being. Leaders can tell powerful stories of situations in their organizations where the values were demonstrated through employee actions. They can communicate examples of when the company´s solutions served customers in unique and important ways. These demonstrations of purpose and values help reinforce the desired culture.
I would also add that despite the unpredictable nature of change and the vagaries of the future, I believe leaders do have a responsibility to communicate a response to the question, "Where Are We Going?" The response may be a statement based on the organization´s intentions for the future. It is hopefully one based on extensive and ongoing conversations with employees, customers, and others who have informed perspectives on the opportunities that are presenting themselves. It can be stated in terms of the future opportunities the leader and constituents see to serve the needs of customers. A clear communication of this information opens the gates for employees to actively tackle the challenges of how to get to that destination.
This doesn´t suggest that at least some of the answers to the questions listed above won´t change over time. An organization´s definition of customer may be modified to better suit changing markets. Where the organization is headed may shift quite radically. They key thing here is that unless leaders communicate what is true now, it becomes very difficult for employees to rally toward a shared future. Leaders get in their own way by sending no messages, or muddled messages to their constituents. Leaders have a fundamental responsibility to clearly communicate the answers to these questions on a regular basis.
For more detailed descriptions on the need for leader clarity and the origins of the first four questions, see the book by Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know... About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success. (pp.146-187).
Do you agree? Disagree? Send me an email and tell me what you think - kelmhirst@hr.com.
Blessings.
