Well, I might have made the count ‘4,’ with the latter being Communication. I’m referring to a recent post I discovered, “The Only Three Things a leader Should Focus On—Brains, Bones, and Nerves.” The article’s primarily about what the leader must do, how the leader should do it, what the leader should be thinking about. Surprisingly, it seems to boil down to the equivalent of me, me, me.
The article covers a lot of important ground, ground worthy of thought and discussion. Yet I was surprised at what I felt was an extraordinary treatment of the leader’s underlying, foundational team, as nameless automatons.
While one-to-one relationships may not be possible with 200, let alone 30,000 employees, it is still important for there to be effective, quality, communication. Communication is more important than the one paragraph attributed toward discussing it specifically.
Without diminishing the rest of the article, Communication is at least equal to the three core concepts discussed. Numerous studies and books have attested to the fact that companies with effectively communicating leadership can easily demonstrate double-digit productivity compared to peer organizations. HBR’s had some articles to this effect in just the past 6-8 weeks.
Communication also needs to vary based on the receiving audience. Who needs to know what, when, and with as much transparency as possible, drives choices in message content, delivery mediums (not just all-email, or all-PPT, or…), and frequency.
To not plan to effectively communicate is tantamount to putting blinders on.
