5 Mar 09 @ 3:40 pm
Showing you’re serious about…
Given the current state of our economy, it shouldn’t be surprising to any of us that it’s difficult to get people to pay attention to anything else. But, when you’re making changes to keep the organization afloat, you need your employees to hear and believe what you’re saying.
So, how do you get some instant credibility; how can you demonstrate that you really mean what you say? Whether you want to highlight the importance of a new initiative, a shift in direction, or compliance issues—as a researcher, I’ve found one of the strongest “convincing decisions” that leaders can make to demonstrate they really care about something on their leadership agenda is to measure…then act.
As organizations increasingly rely on metrics and dashboards to guide employee efforts, a highly effective way to get people’s attention is to ask for their feedback about whether (and how well) your efforts are moving the organization in the right direction—and then to be very transparent about what you heard from them and how you plan to act on it. And, this approach offers some nice side benefits: (1) You make better decisions when you know the landscape in which you’re operating and (2) you’re more likely to get employee buy-in for your plans when you’ve listened to their input first.
posted in category(s): Coaching Points, Tools in Practice
