Five tips for creating team signals that lead to success in uncertain times
September 2, 2010Moving your organization into, and through, an uncertain future takes courage, confidence, and a lot of comfort with ambiguity, even in the best of times.
And then when the world is as uncertain as it has been for, oh, most of the last decade or so, the leadership challenges only expand.
If you’re a leader in these uncertain times, you may have these concerns:
“How do I know if we’re on the right path for us to succeed…or perhaps, even to survive?”
“How can I let the people I’m leading know which direction to move next…and how can I do that as rapidly and clearly as possible?”
Leading well in uncertain times works best if you can create just enough structure to reduce unnecessary uncertainty in your organization, and yet not so much that you lock your team into an inflexible, maladaptive position when the world they’re operating in changes quickly.
Set your team up to be able to turn the best intentions and limited resources into maximum results on behalf of your customers and your company…before your competition can.
Leadership in unpredictable circumstances requires the ability to read your environment well, especially the significant changes in it. And then you must have the ability to communicate that well, and to inspire appropriate action, as a result.
When you do, you give your company or team far more opportunity to respond well to changing circumstances, reducing the changes they’ll be blindsided by them.
Here are a few tips for creating the right team signals, and then using them well in the uncertain circumstances:
1. Figure out the relevant details you have to pay close attention to.
Not all information is valuable. Lots of it is just noise.
But some details are absolutely crucial to your success.
Unpredictability and uncertainty doesn’t have to hold you back.
Knowing what signs and signals you must pay close attention to can make or break you. It tells you where to direct your attention, action and resources, leading most likely to success.
It’s almost inevitable that there is something valuable you can monitor, measure, and track that will help you stay focused and moving ahead well, together.
2. Figure out the minimum daily, weekly, and monthly communication requirements for your team to function well in current and foreseeable circumstances.
At a minimum, who needs information, to do what, if you have can provide it to them?
When do they need the information?
How do they need to receive the information – what channels, and in what format – in order to be able to understand it, and act on it well, and in a timely fashion in these circumstances?
3. Use the same terminology…and make sure you are.
It’s easy to believe you’re communicating well with someone, only to find out that you’re talking about very different things even though you’re using the same terms.
Here’s one non-work example to illustrate the point:
What comes to mind when you think of the word, “vacation”? (Just for fun, and to make this a graphic example, describe it in enough detail that you wish you could take that vacation right now).
Now ask three other people the same thing, what they think of when they hear the word “vacation.”
The odds are, you’ll come up with four VERY different ideas of what a vacation is.
In normal, everyday discussions you have to get on the same page to make any conversational headway, especially if there is any kind of agreement you need to reach, as is the case on almost any team.
Clear communication, starting with common terminology, is all that much more important when information comes at a premium (if the information is available at all), attention is limited, fear is running high, and the risk of error is very high, as well.
4. Listen. Don’t just stop talking…really LISTEN.
You may think you’re listening when you’re not talking. Often, though, our thoughts and fears are chattering away rapidly, keeping us bound up in our own concerns, even as we seem to be listening.
Still those attention-blocking concerns of the past, present, future – and places you’d really rather be at the moment.
Make space for new information to come in.
5. Create the time and space for dialogue now and then, when you can.
Uncertain times call for stronger than average teamwork. You can’t dictate teamwork, legislate it, expect it, or inspect it in. I was in several different circumstances recently when leaders took this approach – trying to dictate teamwork, without engaging the people whose best efforts their own success depended upon.
Ultimately you have to inspire teamwork, for followers have to trust their leaders, if they are to follow fully, and with best effort.
Create ways for dialogue to occur in the simplest, most user-friendly way possible.
This, alone, can go a long way to opening up channels for essential information to flow out, and back in…leading you and your team more surely to success, even in uncertain times.
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