As business owners and leaders, January means the restart of our business efforts. Restart is not a negative view but one that can bring great energy to your organization. The key is that you as the leader must be the first one to bring forth the new energy. So how can you be the Leader and instill this new energy? Over the next couple of weeks in January, the “Guide Posts” will explore various topics to give you some insights into leadership in today’s business environment. Here are a few to jump start 2022.
Leadership communication is crucial for a positive culture to exist in your organization. Not volumes of communincation but concise, transparent communication of expectations and the contribution resulting from those efforts. Today employees want to know what is going on and how they are part of it.
This area of transparency has received lots of attention in the general society conversation for the past few years and has contributed to confusion about what it is. Does it mean sharing anything and everything with my team? If I don’t, will they think I’m hiding something from them? What should I share? What am I comfortable sharing? There are many, many more questions which leaders and staff wrestle with surrounding this area of transparency.
Simon Sinek has a brief video excerpt from an interview with Business Inc. he made a short time ago during the backdrop of the pandemic. This could help in bringing some framework to this area of transparency. You can query it up in your favorite search engine by searching for “Simon Sinek reveals what transparency really is.” Generally speaking, it is about context of what is going on. There is a point of too much transparency because of the gap in understanding of how business operates and too little to where the information provided is like a movie trailer, only enough to get you to be distracted and ponder what else is going to happen.
Each leader must find their ideal space and level of transparency, so it complements the growth of the organization but does not invoke distraction because it is too much or too little or even worse the wrong information. This communincation which is transparent must become a positive habit in the leader’s role to lead. It cannot be an afterthought. When crafting strategy and direction is when transparency must start. Its foundation is drawn from the core purpose and core values of the organization which is the compass for guiding decisions.
This week as the business begins to roll into full operation is a great time to evaluate your present levels of both internal and external communincation. Challenge yourself to seek a level of transparency which is a contribution to growth and not a distraction. Transparency is just that, it reveals some but not all. Keep in mind that the context of information is critical. Providing content and leaving the context or connection of the dots to the receiver is a very dangerous and slippery slope.
As with all professionals, having a business guide will up your game. If you have ever wondered about engaging a Promise Guide, now is the time to reach out to JKL Associates and simply have a conversation of discovery. Maybe it will be a positive habit to form in 2022. Give us a call at MI (313) 527-7945 or FL (407) 984-7246.
Journey On!
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS – EMAIL US AT PARTNERS@JKLASSOCIATES.COM OR CALL OUR OFFICES – MI AT (313) 527-7945 FL AT (407) 984-7246
Celebrating 30 years of Delivering on “Promises”
