If your team keeps missing the mark, it might not be a competence problem. It might be an assumption problem. Unconventional leaders solve the problem internally first. Then they delegate the conclusion… not the context. Before your next hand-off, clarify these
3 things:
• What does “done” look like?
• What’s the real deadline (day + time)?
• What’s the story of how we got to this conclusion?
Want more great nuggets? Click Here to get the link in the comments to get Free Unconventional Leader’s Playbook.
Transcription:
Unconventional leaders come across differently in meetings, and in particular when they’re delegating, so most unconventional leaders don’t over-communicate about the right stuff, they under-communicate because they think they already said it, and they forget to tell- sell the story, not just tell the story but sell the story. So, what am I talking about- if your team keeps missing the mark, or if you feel like you’re constantly, like double-checking with them, and like trying to get them back on track all the time, hint that’s a hint for you, an easy one, that doesn’t automatically mean that they’re resisting you or they don’t care, or they don’t want to get it right. It often means they’re missing your invisible context, right invisible context, so here’s what happens for unconventional leaders- you solve the problem in your head, good job, we love that. You do that first, and then your brain connects the dots fast you come to the outcome, you know what needs and should be done, and then you delegate it, but you hand off the conclusion not the context. Uh huh. This is about story, so your team fills in the blanks right, you didn’t tell them story, everybody’s gonna do this, just check out all the research. We fill in the blanks, don’t have them fill in the blanks, they guess they make up their own story, and then the project goes, comes back to you, not how you imagined it and not better than you could have imagined it. No, it comes in a complete pain in the rear end, so try this simple reset set before your next handoff, really easy; make sure you answer these three questions, like make sure you can answer these yourself, and you have, and make sure they can answer- what does done look like, what will you see when this is done. That whole that response, that’ll teach you some things, number two, what’s the deadline? What’s the real deadline, like drop dead this is it, day and time everybody needs to know that, and number three, what is the story, can they repeat some of the story? How did we get to this? What was the original problem? What were the elements that we brought into this, and know that they were part of the process, cause they were. That’s it, it’s this simple. Those are the three clarifiers that will save you hours of reframing, frustration, and follow-up meetings, so this is a small nugget from my free Unconventional Leaders playbook. The link is in the comments. I highly recommend you get more of that because it will save you a bunch of more time. I have, I purposely placed some great context in there for a reason there are more plays that will save you some sanity.
I’m JoyGenea, unconventional leadership coach, international neurodiversity coach, and a champion for amazing people creating amazing things, but we gotta communicate it so they can help us do that. Bye now.