Episode Transcript
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Welcome
to the Humanizing Work Show.
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I'm Peter Green.
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Richard Lawrence
is in Dallas presenting
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at the Agile
2024 conference.
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So I'm solo today
talking about how leadership
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communication goes wrong
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and three strategies
to improve it.
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I was recently working
as an executive coach
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with a CEO
who had a big development
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with a CEO
who had a big development
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goal of being less assertive
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and more inquisitive
with her staff.
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A month
or two into the engagement,
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she invited me to sit in
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on her team's
quarterly business review,
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the QBR as an observer
to see what I noticed.
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The meeting
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covered a lot of ground,
reviewing major initiatives,
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OKRs and health metrics
on how the company was doing
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as they moved
through the agenda.
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There were several
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discussions
about performance,
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suggestions
for improvement, and debates
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about what
should change going forward.
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I could see the CEO really
doing her homework,
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waiting for others to speak
first, reformulating
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opinions as curiosity
driven questions
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opinions as curiosity
driven questions
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and as the team finished
the last agenda item,
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the CEO asked
if there was anything
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that was unclear
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that they should align on
before they wrapped
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the team having been at it
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all morning, generally
looked a bit toasty.
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They were ready for
lunch and nobody spoke up
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during lunch.
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the CEO
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pulled me aside and asked me
for any quick impressions.
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I complimented her on her
clear improvements and cited
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a few specific examples
that stood out to me.
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Then I asked her
what her goal was for,
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how she concluded
the meeting
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with that question,
and about anything
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they needed to align on.
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She shared that in the past,
people would leave the QBR
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with different opinions
or takeaways.
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There was even one train
wreck example she shared,
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where they had discussed
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what to do about a project
that was in trouble,
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and they talked about three
options:
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move the deadline back,
get some help from a vendor,
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and I think, renegotiate
the scope
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with the customer
of that project.
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She described how then,
after the meeting,
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different versions of all
three of those options
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somehow made it
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into the rumor
mill of the organization,
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and things
had blown up a bit
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until they spent the time
to clean it up.
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So she wanted to make sure
they were aligned.
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I told her I had some advice
about a more effective way
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to do that
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in future meetings,
and that's the advice
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we're going to share
in today's episode.
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But first,
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the humanizing work Show
is a free resource sponsored
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by the Humanizing Work
Company.
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Humanizing work exists
to make work more fit
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for humans and humans,
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more capable
of doing great work.
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To that end,
we do training and coaching
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in three areas.
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First, we help leaders
lead empowered
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teams and individuals
more effectively.
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Second, we help product
people turn their ideas
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into good visions,
experiments, and backlogs.
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And third,
we help teams collaborate
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better to produce meaningful
outcomes on complex work.
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If you or your organization
would benefit
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from better leadership,
better product management,
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or better collaboration
and who wouldn't?
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And if you find our vision
for human
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centric work
compelling, visit
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the contact page on
Humanizing Work.
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Dot com and schedule
a conversation with us.
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Okay.
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To prevent that
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kind of misalignment
that that CEO experienced,
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there are three strategies
leadership teams should do
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in order to cascade
communication well.
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Strategy One:
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Align and Assign
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happens
in the meeting itself.
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Strategy Two:
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Communicate and Listen
is a specific structure
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for cascading
the communication down.
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And strategy
Three: Return and Report
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is about closing the loop
on that communication.
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Starting then with strategy
one align and assign.
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This is one of the more
important parts
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of any leadership meeting.
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In fact,
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I advise all of my clients
to conclude every team
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meeting with 5 to 10 minutes
to get clear on
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who will communicate
what to whom and by when.
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It's not enough to make
decisions in these meetings,
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you have to overcommunicate
those decisions for them
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to make their way
into the collective
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consciousness
of the organization.
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If you've
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made a decision
and you want it to stick,
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you need to be able
to answer
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five specific questions
about that decision.
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First, what problem
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are you solving
with this decision
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and why is the problem
important?
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As much as Simon Sinek book,
start with why
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probably could have been
a long blog post.
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The core idea is super
solid.
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Start with
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why you're doing
whatever it is you're doing.
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Second,
what is the solution?
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This is what you've probably
spent the most time
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on in the meeting,
so capture those details.
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Third, every decision
you make has side effects,
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and it's good
to capture the side effects
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you've thought about and how
you plan to address them.
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Next, the fourth question
what obstacles
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do you anticipate
in implementing the change?
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Obstacles are different
from side effects,
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where we assume
we could make the change,
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but it'll have downstream
impacts.
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The obstacles are about what
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time, resources, and focus
will be needed to succeed.
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Finally,
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the fifth
question is to answer.
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Who needs to do what
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in order
to execute on the decision?
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Make sure those people know
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they have permission
to do what they need to do,
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and that it's prioritized
appropriately.
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Ask someone
to capture the answers
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to those five questions
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as you work through them
problem, solution,
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side effects, obstacles,
and collaboration.
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Then have them
read it out to the team.
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This gives team members
a chance to chime in on
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anything
that was overlooked,
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or that wasn't
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what they expected
to communicate,
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and it gives you a chance
to get aligned
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on those things.
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Then the last thing we check
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on is the time frame
for communicating things.
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Sometimes it's important
that people hear
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about decisions
at the same time.
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If team learns of a change
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in compensation policy
before team B,
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the rumors might hit team B
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before the
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official communication,
and that's not good.
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So agree when people will
share the communication.
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Almost always this lands on
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something
like within 24 hours,
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but sometimes it's
more urgent
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or less urgent and it's good
to get aligned on timing.
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So that strategy
one align and assign
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align on your answers
to the five questions.
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Then assign
who will communicate
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what to whom and how
at the end of the meeting.
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Strategy two
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communicate and
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Listen is a structure
for how to share
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the information aligned on.
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In step one.
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This structure achieves
two goals.
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First,
it helps decision stick
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by ensuring that they're
clearly communicated.
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by ensuring that they're
clearly communicated.
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And second,
it helps surface concerns
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The leaders
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may not have been aware of
when they made the decision.
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This structure, by the way,
is a variation
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on the humanizing work
feedback process.
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on the humanizing work
feedback process.
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If you're unfamiliar
with that pattern,
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you can check out
episode 121 to learn more.
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We'll drop a link
to that in the show notes,
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and we'll share a graphic
for specifically
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how to use this process
for communication.
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The process has six steps
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steps one, two, and six.
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The opening two
and the closing one
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are about sharing something.
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Steps three, four, and five.
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The middle steps
are about listening
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to specific things.
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Step one
is to set the context.
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What's the background on
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why we're talking about this
today?
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The problem that you aligned on
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AT the beginning of aLIGN
AND ASsign is
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good context for this.
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Step two
is the actual content.
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Share the decisions
as well as the side effects,
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obstacles,
and collaboration,
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whatever it is.
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Then over to the listening
side.
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Step three is for questions,
specifically
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clarifying questions
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for people
that you've communicated to.
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What didn't make sense?
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What did you not understand
about the context
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or the content?
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Then onto
step four, which is kudos.
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What do you like about this
decision or this direction?
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Now, if you're sharing
bad news, skip this step.
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You don't need to ask people
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what they liked about
the reduction in force.
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That's
just counterproductive.
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Otherwise ask it.
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It's often
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enlightening to hear
what stands out as positive
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to different people
on your staff,
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and for the people
that might be uncertain
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about a decision
or direction.
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It's good for them to hear
from the enthusiastic ones
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on your team
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instead of always coming
directly from you.
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Step five is concerns.
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What about this decision?
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Has you a bit worried?
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Focus on listening
and capturing concerns here.
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It's not a debate
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and you don't need
to immediately address
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and you don't need
to immediately address
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and you don't need
to immediately address
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those concerns
or even commit
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to doing it in the future.
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If there are some concerns
that are easy to address,
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like maybe somebody
misunderstood
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something or wasn't
aware of what resources
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something or wasn't
aware of what resources
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are being made available,
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feel free to address them
immediately.
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But in this step,
the primary focus
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is on being an empathetic
listener.
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People want to be heard,
so make sure that
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their concerns are heard.
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Finally, back to sharing for
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step six,
which is your conclusions?
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What are you hearing in
the kudos and concerns?
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What are the themes?
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What are your big takeaways
and what can you commit
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What are your big takeaways
and what can you commit
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00:09:02,966 --> 00:09:05,066
to do about those concerns,
if anything?
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Again,
you don't have to commit
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to addressing
those concerns.
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A big risk here.
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In fact, is sort of
complying with your team's
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concerns at the expense
of honoring the commitment
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to the decision you made
with the leadership team.
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That's
not the goal of this process
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or this step,
and it's not healthy.
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The real purpose
for is, again,
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00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:25,266
for you to be empathetic
and aware
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00:09:25,266 --> 00:09:27,266
of how the decision impacts
people.
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Think about mitigating
the downsides
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of the decision,
not changing the decision.
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All right.
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00:09:34,833 --> 00:09:35,566
So that's
communicate and listen.
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00:09:35,566 --> 00:09:37,033
So that's
communicate and listen.
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00:09:37,333 --> 00:09:40,333
And then finally strategy
three return and report
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00:09:40,333 --> 00:09:42,333
is about closing the loop.
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00:09:42,566 --> 00:09:43,733
If everyone on
the leadership
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00:09:43,733 --> 00:09:45,266
team has use strategy two
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00:09:45,266 --> 00:09:47,300
to share the key points
from strategy one,
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00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:48,800
return and report
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00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:50,800
to the leadership team
that you've done it
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00:09:50,866 --> 00:09:54,000
and share your conclusion
from step six.
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00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,100
The kudos and concerns
that stood out to you
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00:09:56,133 --> 00:09:57,400
when you
shared it with your staff.
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00:09:58,366 --> 00:09:59,866
Creating
shared awareness of what
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00:09:59,866 --> 00:10:01,100
people are excited about
285
00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:03,533
and what they're concerned
about helps the leadership
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00:10:03,533 --> 00:10:05,533
team prepare to execute
the decision well.
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00:10:06,033 --> 00:10:08,000
Don't wait for the next
meeting to share these.
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00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,133
Send them
via email or slack or teams
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00:10:10,133 --> 00:10:10,966
or whatever you're using.
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00:10:10,966 --> 00:10:12,966
As soon as you have them.
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00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:14,200
Using these three
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00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,366
three strategies
Align and assign,
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00:10:16,500 --> 00:10:18,933
communicate and listen
and return and report.
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00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:20,233
Prevent communication
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00:10:20,233 --> 00:10:22,233
Trainwrecks
like my client experienced
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00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:24,366
and also helps surface
concerns
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00:10:24,366 --> 00:10:26,366
that the leadership team
may have overlooked.
298
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,766
Don't assume everyone on
your team is aligned
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00:10:28,766 --> 00:10:30,766
until you've tested
that alignment.
300
00:10:31,100 --> 00:10:32,800
Don't assume
everyone will cascade that
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00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:33,966
communication effectively
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00:10:33,966 --> 00:10:35,966
unless you've
given them a tool to do it.
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00:10:36,266 --> 00:10:37,766
And don't assume
it's been done
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00:10:37,766 --> 00:10:39,766
until they've returned
and reported.
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00:10:40,366 --> 00:10:42,533
Try these three strategies
out at the end of your
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00:10:42,533 --> 00:10:44,533
next meeting
and let us know how it goes.
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Thanks for tuning in.
