Connecting with your Team

Posted on June 3, 2009

Being a leader puts you in a powerful position to get more accomplished than doing it alone. But the transmission of that power is team communication. Without systematic and regular communication, you’re demoting yourself from leader to worker.

In good times or bad, it’s easy for executives to lose the rhythm of communicating with their team. But without systematic and regular communication, you’re demoting yourself from leader to worker. Some chief executives wind up working so hard producing that there is little time to lead. Others withdraw because of mounting obstacles that make communication unpleasant, and with today’s technology (i.e. e-mail and working virtually) it’s easier than ever to “hide”.

But being on the same payroll and surviving annual performance reviews isn’t enough to make a powerhouse team that is fun to work with and delivers outstanding results year after year. One of the things that are essential for high levels of team performance is a great routine for regular communications. I’ll touch on six key areas.

1.  Create your annual business plan. The executive team must be absolutely clear about the game plan for the year. Without a clear game plan they can’t be executives, they can only be managers doing what they are told, and coordinating the work of others. They are not thinking for themselves, not pulling the organization forward. The chief executive must first lay out, in simple form, where he or she wants the business to go. With my clients, I use the formula and process described in the bestselling book, The One Page Business Plan. A written draft of the plan is shared with the executive team as a group, and each executive creates a draft plan for their department, working with the chief executive. The executive team comes together again and reviews all the plans together, so conflicts and gaps are worked out, then the chief executive makes final decisions, and the set of plans are locked down and shared. This can be accomplished quickly, probably in a month’s time if the effort is well led. It should be completed before the year starts.

2.  Keep the executive team focused. Many executives are too bright and innovative to want to be the steady hand that gets their ideas executed. But leading the execution phase is key, and at the heart of this is weekly one-on-ones with every direct report. This is a 30 minute to one hour long meeting with just you and your report, where you review a list of their most important projects and objectives, talking about progress and jointly solving problems. Other issues may come up as well, and a personal connection can be maintained too. The direct report knows that you are paying attention to them and their results, they know your opinions about the issues and projects, and they feel your support. They can’t drift or get distracted for more than a week. Many executives may miss one of the weeklies per month, but three out of four still works well.

In addition, having a weekly executive/operations meeting, 30 to 60 minutes long is useful to keep everyone up to date on the business unit’s overall activity. This is more important in a fast moving, fast changing organization. Often these meetings are a quick check in, with discussion items coming up from various executives based on need. If an issue arises that involves only a third of the team, they’ll meet on their own to tackle it, avoiding wasting the entire team’s time. Someone should act as facilitator, keeping the meeting moving and on tactics, not on strategy. A hard ending time that is enforced is a good idea.

Around the middle of every month, the executive team should gather to review progress on the business plan. Preparation is required for this meeting by every participant, who has to chart his or her progress on their department’s annual plan goals and projects, and to think about what corrective actions they are proposing to get back on track where needed. This is done by the chief executive for the company as well. I call this the monthly planning meeting and it pulls everyone’s focus back to the most important work to be done in the business.

3.  All Hands Meetings. There is always talk circulating among all the employees company wide. If they see leadership tense, they talk. They hear the news about the economy, or read the trade journal, they talk. So the executive that doesn’t address her whole team on a regular basis has less influence on the tone and content of that talk. In most cases, a standing monthly all hands meeting, often only 15-30 minutes, is all that is needed. The executive can give the full team an update on key projects, some insight on the competitive environment, and a few upcoming targets where everyone’s help is needed. Most importantly, the executive should do some quiet work to find out what questions are in everybody’s minds, and answer them at that meeting. These meetings are expensive, so keeping it fast paced, short and focused is critical. I have a bias towards being more open about the company, rather than trying to keep too many secrets. The secrets are often addressed through rumor and misinformation if not tackled directly.

4.  Impromptu Announcements. When news hits, it might be a great time for an unscheduled, impromptu communication effort. Such opportunities show your entire company that you really want them to feel a part of the team, and that they count. If the news is amazingly great or horrible, an impromptu in person gathering of the team might be called for. But sometimes it’s an e-mail, or a conference call, or an intercom announcement. Good news is the easiest to announce. Bad news will always take more thought about the impact and consequences, but most bad news travels quite fast, even if you don’t announce it. At least you can highlight the upside or the recovery plan if the bad news comes from you. In many companies, there are at least two opportunities a month for such impromptu announcements.

5.  Data Flow. In many competitive sports, the athlete is regularly given his standing and results, so he can know how to modify his performance to increase his odds of winning. Yet in business, many people don’t have performance indicators but once per month, if that. Given today’s information technology, systems can be created that communicate key metrics as often as daily. Sales people with a short and high-frequency sales cycle should get daily reports comparing performance of peers, budget, and prior period. Invoice collections teams should get weekly, automated feedback on results. Production teams should know their metrics on efficiency and safety. For each job, think about the ideal level of data flow and frequency, then build the system to deliver it. Everyone should know the heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate of their function, all the time.

6.  Your face communicates. As much as formal communication is important and writing style and tone should be carefully considered, don’t underestimate the power of the executive’s physical presence and demeanor. Simply put, make sure you get around in person to all those you want to communicate with, and that your face, body language and mood are communicating what you want and need to those present. If you want your employees to know you’re angry and upset, just strut around the office looking that way and they’ll all know. But it works just as well when you’re proud of your team and they’ve delivered a big win. They have to see your smile in order to bask in the upbeat emotion it conveys.

Being a leader puts you in a powerful position to get more accomplished than doing it alone. But the transmission of that power is team communication. I’ve focused on this from the chief executive’s perspective, but if your organization is larger, each of your top team should be doing the same communication routine with their teams, and there should be a routine with peer executives as well. Establish and maintain your rhythm of communication, and you’ll see a marked difference in performance.