Communicating Direction
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
-Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, chapter 6
How many employees do you think see themselves as the Cat and their leadership team, especially the CEO, as Alice? The answer to that riddle is a lot.
If you are skeptical of that, especially if you are a CEO, send out a survey with one question. “What are the company’s top three objectives?”
Monitor at what level of worker you get answers back from. I suspect that if you have more than three levels in your organization, you will find a pattern. 80% of those that report directly to the CEO will answer all three correctly. The next level down in management will answer 50% correctly, and of those that do answer correctly, they have semi-frequent contact with the CEO. The next group will have 10% correct responses, and any other levels will be less than 1%.
In truth, I hope I am wrong. If I am, congratulations on effectively presenting your vision and communicating it to the organization. That should be celebrated!
If you do fall into this grouping, and your immediate reaction is, “What?1 How is this possible? We say it in all sorts of emails; we talk about it in the 10K statement and every quarterly call. The management team talks about this all the time. How can they not know?” then you are in the same position as many others.
You might be doing all of that, and if you are, it should demonstrate one thing. It is not practical. Your outside customers don’t tolerate ineffective communication, so why is it allowed internally?
How do you remedy this, you may ask? It is simple (though not easy). Go talk to people yourself. Go to every level of your organization and talk to people. Pass out cards that, in straightforward and authentic terms, share what your vision is. Do it in three numbered points, listed in order of importance. Make sure that the cards are not bigger than business cards so that you are focused on the message you are giving. Take your management team with you so they not only hear that you have done it but see you do it.
If you aren’t prepared to set the vision, give the prioritization of goals, and effectively communicate it, then how can you expect your organization to be on the same page? If you are constantly frustrated by the lack of unity of your team, then recognize that when people do not know what direction they are to head, they will pick one- like Alice.