I
am starting to write this blog and I don’t know where the story will go.
Have you ever thought things are one way and it turns out they are completely
different than what you thought you knew?
I
took one of the DNA tests and it turns I had a mysterious first cousin that
nobody knew existed. This made me curious and my curiosity unraveled a
lot of secrets.
Upon
getting my DNA results, my inquiring mind wanted to know more about this interesting
connection it claimed I had. As I followed hints and genetic connections I found
out all kinds of new information that changed the “story” as I knew it. Additionally,
I had an opportunity to spend some quality time with my mom—not knowing it
would be one of the last quality things we were able to do together. We
began to fill in our on-line ancestry tree. My mom got to share lots of
fond memories and talk about people that were part of her childhood.
Although we uncovered some new “juicy” information, the experience of watching
my mom reminisce and connect with a first cousin that moved away when they were
young was priceless.
What
does this have to do with leadership? Often, I make a decision based on
the best information that I have at that moment in time; not intentionally
eliminating information that would have led to a different decision. What
opened up for me is that there will always be information that I don’t know at
that moment and my words could land on someone very differently because that
person has different information. During my DNA discoveries it became apparent
that my same words landed on different family members differently because of
their individual knowledge and life experiences.
As
a leader, having awareness that the same message may not be received by
everyone the same is key to connecting with everyone. Getting to know your associates at a deeper
level will allow you to cater your words to reach the most amount of people and
come from a place that they can relate to.
We often hear that people leave a job because they do not like their boss. Generally, bosses have lots of
people they are accountable for. A
single message may be just what one person needed to hear and to another it may
land as unhelpful or even seem distasteful causing them to leave. Often, as a
leader we are disseminating information and given we work in a fast- moving
environment we just cascade down what was shared with us without taking the
time to customize it to reach the highest number of members on our team. Our teams likely need to have the same
information you received cascaded differently for it to be effective because
they do not have the same information you the leader has (make the complex
simple). Crafting a message to meet the
needs of your team is not easy and takes a lot of thought—and still may not land
with everyone; cascading a message to different positions in an organization
may be the best solution if time is not of the essence— this will take more time
and need even more thought….always keeping in mind not everyone is coming from the same
place of the already known “information”.
Another
best practice I recommend would be to go to those employees that you think are
“more senior” ...they just might surprise you with information that is needed for you
to make a better informed decision before cascading…and this doubles at the
same time to create a caring connection that gives them a sense of purpose—this
is truly a powerful win-win! They come from a world where in-person discussions
were the norm, unlike the less senior who come from a digital world. In today’s corporate environment, we move
fast and run with the information we feel is best. In our haste, we may not uncover all that
there is to know, and we may be communicating to very few or only ourselves if your messages are not heard.
Creating
meaningful connections with people may be one of the most important
take-aways. Life is all about relationships
and how we connect with what the universe gives us. Open Doors, Create Bridges,
Listen, Learn and Share—become a part of someone else’s story---priceless! In
doing so, you will succeed as a leader.
Lastly,
I want to share a few references that I found on the internet:
Simply
stated a Leaders should:
·
Set expectations
regarding workplace culture and behavior
·
Use different types of
communication
·
Personalize your
approach
·
Understand differences
in values and motivations
·
Ask, don’t assume
·
Remove barriers to
communication
·
Be willing to teach and
be taught
·
Acknowledge the
differences
…….and
help create their experience!