Nothing Happens Until People Talk

How often have you heard someone in authority ask, "Hmm. Do you think I should tell them about this?"

Well, only if you want something important to happen. Because nothing happens until people talk.

Add these four thoughts to your leadership communication kit:

• Never assume that anyone knows anything.

• The larger the group, the more attention needs to be given to communicating.

• When left in the dark, people will fantasize their own reality. Do you want their fantasy to trump your reality?

• Effective leaders are obsessed with accurate, frequent communication.
  

  

Go tell someone what you've been thinking about!

Comments

[Ron Edmondson]

this is a great post and very timely for our organization.
Thanks,
Ron Edmondson
Grace Community Church
http://www.ronedmondson.com

[Mile High Pixie]

Steve,
Yes, yes, and YES! I've organized (finally) the intern seminar in which one of the partners explains how we get new work and do interviews. The past few months have been a blur of marketing and going after work like mad, and the interns get caught up in it but are only told "exactly what they 'should' know." It's condescending and leaves them with only part of the story, which means they don't do as full of a job as they could. My goal is to get the higher-ups talking to the people who do the work, because the DON'T know, and their fantasy (white guys in suits go tell people why we're great) trumps reality (lots and lots of work and fretting over words and presentation images) and leaves interns feeling left out and resentful. The success of this firm is their future, too.

[marathonrunner]

This is a great post and brings up very relevant information.

[Wally Bock]

Great post, Steve. One of the reasons that great supervisors show up a lot is so that they can have natural conversations with the people on their team.

[Steve Roesler]

Ron,

Pleased to know that the timing is right and in this case, perhaps perfect:-)!

[Steve Roesler]

MHP:

Really glad to know that all of this work you've been doing is bearing fruit.

You know, for adults it's all about context. "Why?" And, in fact, I can dig up some research for you that shows that when it comes to architects, their psychological profile (for the majority) reveals that their major need is to understand "Why". In the absence of that research document, just tell them I said so:-)