This post first appeared for premium subscribers of Great Leadership on Substack and was published on July 28, 2023. If you want to get access to exclusive articles like this one and weekly 5 min leadership tips, then make sure to become a premium subscriber and get all of my best content and latest thinking delivered to your inbox. Learn more and sign up here. Premium subscribers get content like this every week.
…
After a recent talk I gave to an organization, I had lunch with the CEO to talk about leadership and some of the things she was focusing on and struggling with. She recently took over as CEO and was working on changing the corporate culture where employees could speak up, share ideas, and feel like they weren’t working in such a strict hierarchy.
During that lunch she shared an interesting story with me which highlights both the influence that leaders have and why leaders need to be careful with their words and actions.
In fact this is something that many leaders of various seniority levels have experienced.
This particular company was going through a series of office redesigns throughout their American locations. This CEO was visiting one of these locations in the Bay Area and during the office tour she commented on how much she really liked the artwork that they chose for the walls. A few days later this same CEO was visiting another location on the East Coast, during the tour she noticed that they had the exact same artwork hanging there.
The CEO was confused and she brought it up, asking why they had the exact same artwork in both locations even though they had a very different overall look and feel from each other.
To her shock and bewilderment the person giving the tour told her, “you said that you wanted the artwork to go up everywhere because you loved it so much.”
“Huh?”
She was confused and clarified that she only pointed out that she liked the artwork she saw, not that she was mandating it be placed everywhere.
As a leader, every word you say and every action you take carries significant weight. Especially in a hierarchical organization, your suggestions or comments can be interpreted as directives, even though they weren’t indented to be. This story also underscores the need for leaders to create a culture of open dialogue and questioning.
Employees should feel comfortable enough to clarify or confirm actions based on comments made by their leaders, rather than making assumptions that could lead to misunderstandings.
In this case the person giving the CEO the tour should have felt comfortable enough to say, “I’m so glad you like the art, are you suggesting that we replicate this design in every other location?”
Consider a hypothetical example of a CEO who is meeting with his engineering and product development teams. During the meeting he casually mentions that he found the user interface of a product under development “interesting” and asks a few more questions about it. The team takes this as a cue that the CEO wants the interface to be applied across all products, leading to unnecessary work and confusion. The CEO is surprised when he discovers the sweeping changes, which highlight once again the weight carried by a leader’s words and the importance of clear communication and having a culture where employees can speak up, ask questions, and get and provide feedback,
Both of these stories lead to a few tactics that leaders can implement:
-
Promote a Culture of Psychological Safety: Psychological safety, a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, refers to a shared belief that it’s safe for team members to take interpersonal risks. It allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking one’s mind, creativity, and sticking one’s neck out without fear of having it cut off. One of the best ways that leaders can do this is to Lead With Vulnerability which bridges both competence and connection. This allows leaders to be approachable, acknowledging their own mistakes, and treating every question or idea with respect.
-
Facilitate Regular Reflective Conversations: Instead of waiting for quarterly reviews or end-of-project retrospectives, leaders should encourage regular reflective conversations. This involves taking a step back from the hustle of daily tasks and objectively discussing what’s working, what’s not, and how things can be improved. It provides an opportunity for clarifying goals, realigning strategies, and clearing up any misunderstandings. By embedding such conversations into the routine, leaders can ensure everyone is on the same page and misunderstandings are caught early and corrected.
-
Model Clear Communication and Clarity-Seeking Behavior: Leaders can demonstrate through their own behavior how to communicate clearly and how to seek clarity when needed. For instance, when collaborating with others, they can clearly articulate their expectations, divide responsibilities, set clear goals, and ask for feedback. They can also ask clarifying questions in discussions, demonstrating that it’s perfectly fine to seek more information. This not only ensures that leaders themselves are understood but also sets a precedent for the rest of the team to follow. Modeling such behavior can normalize it in the organizational culture, making clear communication and clarity-seeking a standard practice.
For a leader, what you say and what you do carries more weight. It’s important to create an culture where you can be questioned and challenged so that opinions and comments don’t turn into directives and law.
…
Leadership is changing dramatically and there are 8 trends you need to know about if you want to lead effectively in 2024 and beyond. I put together a PDF that not only walks you through what these 8 trends are, but it also gives you action items for each one. This will be an invaluable resource for your leadership journey in 2024 and beyond. Click to download the free pdf!
Comments