There’s ALOT of leadership advice out there. It’s exhausting. I’ve spent hours reading books, attending classes, working for a leadership development company, and wanting to know leadership and be a great leader.
And too often, the sheer amount of info and knowledge keeps us stuck because changing our behavior takes intention. When I created my company, I wanted my message to be simple and human.
I looked over my success as a leader and the achievements of those I coached and consulted and asked, repeatedly, what was the lowest common denominator for each win.
Clarity and Context are the two words with the most meaning and impact I have found for leadership.
- Clarity
Be clear, paint a picture, tell a story, give the metrics, whatever you need to do to make the project, the goal, or decision clear. Envision you and the team or the employee standing side by side looking at a whiteboard, and you both are looking at the same information; you have shared clarity. If you asked them to turn to someone else and give them the info, it is the same as the info you are looking at together.
- 2. Context
The human connection.
Who is it for? Who does it impact? What is the human impact and the human consequence?
Why does it matter? To you, to them?
Once people know the what and the why, the how gets much clearer.
Leadership is a conversation, not a presentation or an announcement.
If you want real engagement, build your company as a community where people are safe to ask, challenge, and want more Clarity and Context. Their questions and concerns are an opportunity for you to dig deeper to gain more depth and understanding. Be open; their questions might just change your mind. How beautiful to recognize flaws before they go out into the world to struggle and possibly fail.
PS, this approach works for parenting too.
Try it, and let me know how it goes.
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