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Category: Leadership
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Remember the game of telephone? Most of us played it at birthday parties when we were of grade school age. We all gathered in a circle as the leader or host whispered some silly phrase in the first person’s ear. The first person whispered the message to the one on his right and the pattern continued until the message had gotten all around the circle. The only rule was that the message could not be repeated. You heard it once, and that was it. When the last person to hear the phrase was asked to identify the message, there were always plenty of laughs. The message was usually quite different from the original.
In teamwork, just like the game of telephone, communication can get distorted as it is passed along.
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Blessed are the Nitpickers
I would like to put the spotlight on who I believe are the most persecuted group of people on earth – the “nitpickers”. You know who I am talking about. These are the folks who take your marvelous idea or plan and start poking holes in it. They say things like, “What about this?”…”What could happen if?”…”Have you ever considered these possible consequences? All of a sudden, we creative people get defensive and even irritated. When this happens the communication wall goes up, and the quality of the collaboration goes down.
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Your boss is your advocate
What is the most common reason an employee leaves their job? Surveys have consistently shown that nearly 90% of the time, employee departures stem from how much support is received from the person they report to.
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Share information, but not this information
A few weeks ago I came across a business article entitled, “How to discuss pay at work”. The article gave tips of just how you should discuss your salary when with a co-worker. They gave four suggestions: I have one…DON’T!
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Respected leaders “Walk the talk”
“What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
While watching the Bears game Sunday evening, I saw a play that I will never forget: It was the 3rd quarter and the Bears had the football. They had just had two successive plays where they barely passed the line of scrimmage. Their once commanding lead had dwindled to three points. It was 3rd down and the Steelers were coming right at Cutler. He found a hole and ran for the first down. The fans were surprised that Jay brought his shoulder down and plunged into the defender knocking him down. From that point on, the momentum of the game changed, and the Bears won by 17 points.
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