Category: leadership

Fan

Fabrizio2 Comments

If you want people around you to be motivated, be their fan.

Cheer for them, clap for them, believe in them. Tell them they will be successful. Find what they are good at and nudge them. Promote them, advocate for their cause, put their work forward, write them references, and be their marketing department.

Particularly when things are not going the way they were expecting.

We are very good at being fan of political parties, sport clubs, divisive issues, social groups. And for some reasons, we are very bad at being fans of colleagues, team members, managers, partners, friends, peers.

Start being a fan of the people that are important to you. Your world will change.

Pick one

FabrizioLeave a comment

Since you have just started here / you have time / you have done it until now / I don’t want to do it, why don’t you take responsibility for this project?

Or alternatively.

I have noticed you working on a past project, and I appreciate how you could keep things on track while still communicating well with everyone involved. This new project is important for us, to be able to better serve our customers and increase retention. I feel we have the best chances to succeed if you are going to take care of it.

Which one would make you feel more motivated to deliver your best possible work?

Which one is more often used from managers around the world?

The big reveal

Fabrizio5 Comments

Our next project, the future of the team, the current state of affairs, the launch of the new product, the brand revamp, the newly appointed executive, the team member who is leaving.

If we treat everything as a big reveal, sharing information with a restricted number of confidants while others are left reading tea leaves, two things will likely happen.

First, we loose the opportunity to buy people in before things are set. Sharing the work, the good and the bad, before it is ready to ship means we can ask for input, we can hear what the people who are affected think, we can let others into the change, and we can sell the reasoning and thought process more easily.

And then, we take focus away from the rest of the organisation. Whether we want it or not, the big reveal becomes the center of the conversation, and by the time it actually happens, every single person will already have their own solid picture of what that is about. How can we then satisfy all of them?

Big reveals are powerful tools, and they are also one of the main reasons why change is often so challenging to manage. We should not make big reveals the norm.

Lack of communication

FabrizioLeave a comment

Silence is golden. Lack of communication is not.

One can find comfort in silence. It is a moment of reflection, of expression, of deep connection. Leaders who learn the power of silence are better listeners, and their team members get in a habit of sharing.

Lack of communication is on the opposite side of the spectrum. It is about retreating, hiding, avoiding. Lack of communication digs holes that others will fill with assumptions, fears, and regrets. The more difficult the situation, the wider the holes. Many leaders practice lack of communication, and their team members get in a habit of keeping to themselves.

Not going to work

FabrizioLeave a comment

The things you say have a life of their own.

They do not fade once you are done saying them. They keep floating, and those who have heard them carry them around for an indefinite amount of time. They change in meaning. They change in strength. They change in effect.

Often they are still there once we have forgotten them. They might even become drivers for actions we later fail to understand. To our own misery.

The act of saying is anything but final. It’s a step in a process of reciprocal understanding, and we rarely do a good job with our own part.

Despite the fact we have never used it more, communication is fragile. Starting from the assumption it is not going to work is an easy way to become better at it.