I’ve had conversations with two coaching clients recently in which we addressed the quality and quantity of their communication. Why? Because as leaders, their communication and behavior were key drivers in creating their office’s or company’s current culture. Mind you, neither had the culture they wanted or needed.
As leaders, their communication and behavior are key drivers in creating their office’s or company’s culture.
In the first conversation, Rory, a senior leader in human resources wants to advance into the C-Suite and has been struggling to identify strategic initiatives he can drive forward to help the company. However, he’s been floundering. “I don’t have time to think,” Rory shared. “I’m bogged down with team members coming into my office or sending me messages all day long complaining about something or someone. I don’t have time to quiet my brain and think strategically.” Hmmm, was he bogged down with legitimate complainers with real issues or had he created a culture that condoned complaining? When asked what might have caused this office cultural norm to start and now mushroom around him, he looked at me somewhat shocked. “Well, I’ve told everyone my door is always open. I want to be accessible to them,… but I didn’t want this!… Ah geeze. I’ve created this mess haven’t I?” It’s hard to rise to the C-Suite when you can’t manage who has access to you and your time.
It’s hard to rise to the C-Suite when you can’t manage who has access to you and your time.
Another client, Tony, the CEO of a large financial institution, came to realize how his lack of useful communication and access nearly created legal ruin for his organization. In the past year, Tony’s firm has had numerous regulatory changes as well as technological and cybersecurity enhancements challenges to address and integrate. In addition, his firm has had several unexpected team changes due to health or family issues. As a result, morale has been in the tank, frustration and confusion have been rampant, and non-negotiable deadlines kept approaching rapidly with little hope of meeting them. As the days ticked by, Tony’s team became more and more dejected. With nine months to go before drop-dead dates hit, I asked Tony what was really driving the low morale and dejected behavior of even his most senior staff. “Liz, I honestly don’t know. I’m trying to encourage them, but this is tough, I can’t lie. I don’t know if we can do this.” Luckily, Tony asked me to see if I could identify a path forward for him and his team. Here’s what I found out: The team didn’t know what to do. Everything was a priority. Sure, Tony would tell them things were important, but he wasn’t available for further clarity, prioritization, or help. He would lock himself away in his office and work furiously on things that were important, but he wasn’t available to his team to clear roadblocks for them, to sequence priorities for them, and to help them move forward – together. Because of his ineffective communication and lack of availability, his teams were setting their own timetables and working against one another. He’d created a culture of siloes, competing priorities, and frustration. You can’t create a collaborative and productive team culture if you don’t communicate and help your team prioritize and collaborate.
You can’t create a collaborative and productive team culture if you don’t communicate and help your team prioritize and collaborate.
Effective communication by and with leaders needs a certain level of intent to be truly effective. It requires measured availability and a back and forth of information in a comfortable, psychologically safe environment. If your direct reports bring anything and everything to you to discuss, they’re not doing their jobs and you’re enabling their dependency on you. If your direct reports aren’t comfortable speaking up, reaching out to you, or coming to your office to ask questions, share ideas, or simply to talk, you’re creating siloes and frustration. When your managers echo your behaviors with their own teams, you’re now creating an ineffective communication and performance problem that will permeate down and throughout your organization. Now you’ve got a culture problem. You’ve created a culture where people aren’t comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas, or simply talking with you and probably with one another. You’ve created a culture where team members are siloed, isolated, frustrated, and unable to perform. It’s bad, but it’s not hopeless.
If your team doesn’t feel comfortable speaking up, reaching out to you or coming to your office to ask questions, share ideas, or simply to talk, you’ve got a problem. You’ve got a culture problem.
If you’re wondering if any of this might be relevant to you and your organization or how to fix it, ask yourself: “How easy and comfortable is it for my direct reports to come to me with questions, ideas, or concerns? How easy is it for them to communicate with me? How often are our conversations purposeful and productive or are they simply time wasters? How available am I to help them move forward when they legitimately need help? What intentional or unintentional barriers are in place to limit who has access to me?” After you consider these questions, pay attention at your next team meeting or all-hands meeting. Intentionally join the meeting early. How do people behave when you join the meeting? What happens when their managers join the meeting? If the banter, laughter, and conversations stop quickly when you join or when their managers join, you’ve got a problem. I’m not suggesting every meeting should be filled with laughter and happy banter, but if the relaxed tone of your team abruptly changes when you or other members of your management team join a meeting, you’ve got a problem. If your team isn’t comfortable being themselves around you or other leaders, you’re not going to hear about issues before they become crises. You’re not going to know when your teams are struggling until they’re drowning in chaos, and you’re not going to know your team and your business is in deep trouble, until they are.
Identify what’s perpetuating the barriers to comfortable communication. Whatever is happening – no doubt unintentionally – is inhibiting you from helping to create the company and culture your team needs and wants.
Copyright MMXXV – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890
Liz Weber is an advisor to boards of directors, business owners, and C-Suite leaders. She’s a leadership, strategic and succession planning consultant, keynote speaker, and author. Learn more on LinkedIn.
