How to create clarity in an organization

As a leader, you have to be clear on your vision. The leader's task is to chart the course of the company. All that often, top management is communicating the overall business targets but lacks knowledge of how to get there.

Leadership is about people, not numbers. If you have the people with you, the numbers will come. 

When you focus too much on the numbers, you usually forget about the people. Engagement will bee low, and the result won't come, no matter how clear you are on your expectations. Another consequence is that the middle managers will have a hard time coping with their boundaries regarding goals, budget, knowledge, supply, staffing, etc. The outcome is therefore going to be poor.

More measuring and follow-up won't increase the performance of the company. A manager measures the company's temperature, but it is the leaders who are the thermostats and create better performance and results.

Another negative symptom of "micromanaging" and task generation is that employees start to lose respect for deadlines. Specific essential tasks will be delayed or forgotten. 

Medicine for a turnaround

The first thing you need to do in this situation is to look at every management team in the company and see if the right person leads the right group of people. For instance, a great manager can be a perfect match for an inexperienced team who needs many directions and orders. The same manager can be a disaster for a more mature group that instead needs coaching and inspiration.

That is why you always benefit from developing your leaders and their leadership skills. The reason is that better leaders adapt their leadership skills to the group of people they are leading. 

We also know what happens to the engagement and performance of a team that a lousy leader leads.

Clarify the priorities.

The next step is to clarify every department's expectations according to the expectations from the management system. Ensure that every leader understands their task and sees that they have the right resources for the job. 

If not, make sure to address the most important bottlenecks within the company. Listen to the most experienced people to get the feeling of where 80 % of the result is being generated. 

Be the change you want to see

If you are the company leader, you have to be the change you want to see. People do what people see. If you want people to step forward and be accountable, you have to give them trust. If you instead continue to "Micromanage," people will continue to do as they are told, in fear of getting a reprimand for doing something wrong. They will also not give trust to their subordinates. 

That is why you don't get the people how you want; you get the people who you are.

It is like your children growing up. The older they get, the more responsibility and trust you have to give them. Believe in them and let them know that you are there for them if they need you.

Of course, you have given them the proper boundaries in life, such as knowing right from wrong and that they are loved and what they believe they can achieve, and all of that. What you can't give them, however, is their own evaluated experiences. 

It is the same with the people in a company. The better your employees become, the more you have to trust them and foster a learning culture. 

Failing forward is the best way to skyrocket your business. 

Focus on success

Focus and celebrate success. If you want more success, you have to focus on it. The question "What went well and why?" is one of my favorites. 

Elaborating on the reasons for success are of the best ways of increasing performance in a company. It is like giving the company a gift that keeps on giving. 

Everyone wants to be a part of a winning team. The picture of ourselves becomes our reality. Top management must balance fault-finding with celebration and highlight the company's positive aspects. 

My experience is that people listen more to improvement suggestions after being recognized and appreciated first. 

It ties back to the saying, "People don't care how much you know (about the answer) until they know how much you care. That is regardless if you are right or not.

Foster a culture of belonging

Another way of organically improve the behaviors in the company is to foster a positive feedback culture. As the leader, you shall praise the people that praise others. In that way, you communicate that everyone is essential and that we need each other to succeed.

When everyone feels that they are important and belong to the team, they will always try to be the best in their work line regardless of their rank or education degree. 

So if you want a learning and growing company, you should always communicate that everyone is essential and is needed to get the job done.  

Focus on leadership development

The best investment you can make for your company is to develop your leaders. The leaders will then form the people who create the result.

Engagement will be higher, turnover lower, and the overall result will skyrocket.

When your people are growing, your company will grow as well. Recruiting won't be a problem either, since you will attract better. 

You don't attract the people you want; you attract who you are. 

Your company will become a magnet for gratefully skilled leaders.

Launch a rotation program for managers

Everyone wants to belong to something. Not belonging is one of our primal fears. That is why we often dress the same, buy the same cars, travel to the same places, talk the same, etc. All of this seeks recognition from one other to ensure that we belong to the same "tribe."

That is why you see that people dress the same as the leader, and by the leader, I don't necessarily mean the person in charge. 

We tend to be drawn to people that look and behave the same as we do. Dialects are formed this way. Therefore, it is easy to create a sense of "we" and "them" in all of this. The unknown is something terrible and that you have to be careful about. 

In an organization, you can measure the degree of inclusion of the way people talk. Do they speak in terms of "we" or "they?"

"If only they had done their work correctly, we wouldn't have been in this mess!"

My response when people say this is: "Perhaps you are correct, but what could we have done that would have helped them to succeed?

Often the causes of "we" and "them"- thinking result from simply not having the chance to get to know each other. The best Aha-moments are those when people rotate to a different department and get to know their areas for improvement, and that person rotating saying:

"I didn't know that these were your bottlenecks. However, we could help you with these from our department."

So, as the company leader, you can facilitate leaders rotate to other departments regularly. 

Trust is the foundation of leadership.

Your trustworthiness as a leader will determine your ability to create the result. When people trust you, they are going to follow you. You have shown in words and deeds that you care for them and value them.

People feel that their voice matter and that someone has listened. They know where the company is going and how they can contribute. The reasons behind the decisions are clarified, and people have been able to participate in the decision-making process.

Listening to the people is sometimes the most challenging part for leaders with only micromanaging skills. To gain power, you have to give power away, which is extremely hard for a micromanager.

With higher trust, job satisfaction will increase together with higher engagement and commitment. Collaboration with others will also be better because your trustworthiness will spread throughout the organization.

Trust story

A principal at a school gathered three teachers to a meeting at his office. He told them that they were the best teachers the school had to offer. He explained that he would provide these teachers with the best students in the school for the coming year to see how far they could go in terms of achievements.

After one year, he gathered the teachers again and explained that their results had been terrific. Their students had outperformed the others by more than 20 %.

The teachers were pleased to hear this. However, at the end of the conversation, the principal said he hadn't been fair with them. He explained that the students were not the best initially, and he explained that the teachers were neither the best. 

The principal selected both the students and the teachers from a list randomly. The result came from how they saw themselves, and the principal's trust made them act as if they were the best in the school. 

-The way you see yourself will create a feeling that determines your actions. The generated result then confirms the way you see yourself.

Use these valuable tips to create clarity in your organization to improve the overall result. Become a leader and chart the course using a trust, building leaders and focus on success. Cast a vision of a high-achieving company where everyone cares for each other and stimulates continuous improvement.

I wish you the best of luck.

Your friend Thomas!