People tend to only share the information they believe the leader wants to hear.
Team members and colleagues know how busy the leader is and never know how they might respond to information they deem unimportant or negative, so they refrain from sharing.
Unless the leader specifically tells people what they want to know about, team members commonly filter many important details, news, and perspectives.
Good leaders have a healthy appetite to know what’s going on beyond what they can easily see.
- What talented team members are having success?
- Who is struggling or has lost their confidence?
- What’s the bad news regarding projects and assignments?
- Who is having personal issues or is in crisis?
- Is anyone challenged medically?
- Have any of the more senior leaders asked about the team, the strategy, or the results?
- Are there any leading indicators that show a difference?
The list is rather expansive and depends on the leader.
For instance, leaders who think of themselves as compassionate can only act on what they know. When they learn too late about a team member in a crisis, they are unable to extend the support and caring they desire to.
This speaks directly to the issue of filtering. Because leaders assume they will hear about anything “important,” they are often the last to know about critical issues outside of their line of sight.
Of the many problems leaders are often blind to, perhaps none is more consequential than team member performance.
Unfortunately, leaders rarely learn about a negative trend in a given team member’s performance from someone who doesn’t directly report to the leader. As a result, they can’t reach out and offer the guidance and support they would like to.
The solution to this dilemma is straightforward but often overlooked or neglected.
Good leaders must communicate loudly and repetitively about what they want to know.
Whenever they learn about something later than they should, it must become a teaching moment whereby everyone understands the leader deems the information essential to them.
And if they want to make this record more permanent, the leader must never “kill the messenger” or respond with anything that resembles a negative repercussion.
Team members must always be thanked for sharing information and rewarded by watching the leader act on what they have learned.
When operating without a pulse on what is really going on throughout the team or organization, leaders fail to address issues in a timely manner. Small problems tend to become big problems rather quickly.
Declaring clearly what they want to know and learn about is how good leaders stay abreast in a busy workplace.
Never presume you are getting most of the information you need and desire. You have to ask for it.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
