Vision Archive - Page 2 of 2 - The Art of Communicating

Ambitious vs. satisfied

“I’m satisfied with what I have. I don’t need more.”

It can be a huge source of frustration when ambitious leaders clash with this kind of a team member.

The leader wants more, but the team does not. They are satisfied.

Which, of course, means that the leader has failed to inspire the team to want more. There is no strong reason for them to want more. And so, they rightfully choose to invest their energy in other activities outside of their work life.

A natural reaction for some leaders would be to exchange the team and ask HR to find more ambitious people for their team. But that will only last for so long.

Unless … there’s a strong reason for team members to want more. If you want your team to be more ambitious, light them a path that’s meaningful and fulfilling for them.

The indifference of PowerPoint

One of the big problems with PowerPoint presentations is how they are indifferent to their content so often. The bigger the company, the bigger the problem. It shows like this: Neither the presenter nor their slides provide any hint as to whether the presentation is about a trivial matter or something important. Whether it’s just pure information or a reason to celebrate.

Everything just always looks the same in that same boring corporate slide layout. Everything just always follows the same proven agenda. And everything is just always presented in the same monotonous style.

The worst part: apparently it’s just the way it is … and given the committee decision making process, there seems to be nothing you can do about it. When everything has to be approved by a number of departments and hierarchical levels, every divergence is quickly ironed out again (I mean: “what if someone doesn’t like it?”).

It’s just the way it is. Or is it?

Tell me about your strategies to navigate around the indifference of PowerPoint presentations.

Surrounded by great people

Good leaders surround themselves with great people. What sometimes keeps them from becoming great leaders is when they stop there, believing that their team of great people will somehow figure it out. (Which they probably will. Or not.)

What separates a team of great people from a great team is the “team” part. The feeling of “us”. The feeling that as a team we can achieve much greater things than any one of us could on their own.

Why do we exist – as a team? Where are we headed – as a team? What is the impact that we’re here to make? These are the lights that great leaders shine on the path of their teams.

Great leadership is not about figuring things out. That’s what the team is great at. Great leadership is about lighting the path. So that the team figures out the right things in the right way.

Preaching to your tribe

… only works for as long as the tribe is willing to listen to your messages.

Times change. Preachers not so often.

The problem is that preaching is about making others believe what you believe. So, ultimately it’s about what you believe.

Which might be wrong. Or outdated. Or irrelevant.

If the tribe decides to move along – e.g. because a new preacher comes along whose message resonates stronger in the new times – you preaching the same messages over and over again won’t bring them back.

That’s why great leaders aren’t preachers. Great leadership requires understanding what others believe. And then building paths from there to here. And illuminating these paths so the tribe may decide to take the first step. And then the next.

Be a leader rather than a preacher!

A world without fear

For many, the preferred solution to deal with fear is to get rid of the fear. That’s why we hide from showing up, run away from stepping up, or delegate the task when we ourselves should be speaking up.

And we find good reasons for it. Because the meeting isn’t all that important. We’ve got urgent business to do that calls for our attention. Next time, we’ll be showing up. Promised!

As if next time would be less scary …

It isn’t. And that’s the point. Courageous can only be she who has fear. What would courage even mean in a world without fear?

The point is in finding the courage to do the things that not everyone will want to face. To seek out the situations where we do things differently. That’s what leaders do.

Instead of hiding, they turn on the light. They provide us with a sense of purpose, with a sense of being in there together – as a team. They are leaders because they light the path so others don’t need to be as frightened.

Your team needs your leadership to find the courage to follow.

(PS: On Thursday, I’ll launch a free five-part series on leadership communication and how to light the path. Please subscribe.)

The clarity to focus your team

Good leaders hire great people.

Great leaders make them a team.

After all, a team of brilliant members might not accomplish much when everyone follows their own agenda. Five brilliant people pushing in five different directions can provide much worse results than five average people pushing in the same direction.

Focus and dedication towards a common goal are often underrated but they are among the most important tasks of a great team leader. The ability to communicate that vision and to lead by example, thereby lighting the path, is even more important today in this remote world.

In two weeks from now, I will publish a free 5 part deep dive to help you find the clarity to focus your team. Actionable tips to focus your team on a common vision. It will be published exclusively via email and you can subscribe here (no obligation, your info will be immediately deleted after the course).

This is where we go

How many of your team members are able to say in a few simple words why they do what they do?

While most companies have a mission statement, few companies are actually on that mission – simply because most team members can’t even repeat that mission without reading it from the posters.

Most mission statements are made to sound good, to cover all grounds, or to contain something for everyone. But by being vague, abstract and everything to everyone, they turn out to be easily forgotten and not at all useful for actually making decisions.

What’s much more useful – and thus, much more powerful – is a navigation system. One that makes everyday decisions easier. One that makes everyone pull into the direction.

The other day, I saw a clever slogan that just did this. It said “Quick logistics”. It’s short. It doesn’t sound fancy. Some might even argue, it’s boring.

But it does one thing that all those elaborate 10 bullet point, fancy sounding mission statements don’t achieve. It provides focus and direction, and it makes everyday decisions easy. Whenever a team member is faced with a decision, she can simply ask: Does this help to make delivery quicker? If yes, do it. If not, don’t.

So, where are you headed?

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