Providing Clarity to team
Having got the opportunity to observe several dozen leaders closely, I can tell that one of the worst thing a Leader could do is โฆ
โGiving confusing directions every week (or even worse every other day)โ
In one of the earlier orgs I worked, we used to have a weekly call with our Director who was a good person but a bad Manager.
He would contradict himself every other week (& sometimes every other day via emails). We would never be clear on what to do or when to do. And he would reprimand us for not adhering to his directions.๐คทโโ๏ธ
After this weekly call, we used to have so much anxiety that couple of us would go for a long walk to calm us down or go eat junk food to reduce our anxiety ๐.
When we pointed this out, he used to give us some random justification or would shut us up using various tactics.
I was so naรฏve back then to believe that I should improve on managing up and become better at my influencing skills to change him. Learning to manage up & improving influencing skills are definitely good, but it won't work with people who never want to change & grow.
Learnt it the hard way that working in such an environment for a long time is absolutely injurious to career, wealth & health.
๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐. Lack of clarity, on the other hand, reduces speed, reduces innovation and reduces effectiveness.
๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ & ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฆ. It might not be possible to give 100% clarity on all areas. About those few remaining areas, one has to be transparent, humble & vulnerable and the team will always understand.
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