Week 3: Candid Communication
A fellow business owner read my week one intro and asked me, “What was the response from your team when you asked them to define your company culture?” It was not necessarily 100% all I thought it would be, but we were close. No one was wrong, but it showed me we must fine-tune a few things. Each person is bound to have their interpretation of what I have said. Even in a company with under 20 employees, there is enough variance among our staff to show offshoots that deviate from the cultural principles I had started with.
We are candid with each other. Communication is critical to keeping our team running like a well-oiled machine.
Last week, I shared how we avoid rules. This single cultural principle sets the stage for the rest of the deck. There is an overlap within our six culture points, which is purposeful. It’s kind of like rebar in a concrete foundation. There is strength when the same underlying principle can be found throughout. The avoidance of rules and barriers is critical to seeing this succeed.
Candid communication. What does that look like? Everyone reading this loves to know when they are wrong and need critical feedback, right? I do not fit that bill in any part of my life. Creating something new means you better have a good idea of what you are doing so that it doesn’t come apart quickly, but I don’t work just by myself anymore. I have a team of amazing people who breathe their ideas and experiences into the decisions that are made each day. Their input and view of how things are going can’t be a secret. They must be able to share them.
When I was in the Marines, we had a lieutenant in incredible shape. The guy could run forever and break off the NCOs at any chance. The company CO liked him because we all looked like toothpicks and ran so much, and the Staff NCOs liked him because he could use a compass and not get us lost. I liked him because he genuinely cared about us and wanted to know us more than just a rank and last name. I’m sure his paperwork was in line, and he followed the rigid structure of an infantry unit. He looked great on paper but was a horrible tactician in the field and when we were down range. He had a plan in his head, but he could not relay that plan to us in terms we could understand, nor could he direct our platoon when ish hit the fan. They quickly replaced him because we looked to him to lead, and he failed under pressure. Communicating effectively, purposefully, and correctly would save our lives. Think about it in terms of the team you are leading. Your good communication as a leader determines how successful your team will be.
Good communication must be a two-way street and cannot be watered-down feedback. Your team needs to feel that they can truthfully answer your plan without you responding, “We are just going to do it this way because I said so,” or “We are doing it this way because it has always been done that way.” Your team should be able to question you, and you should be willing to listen. Some of the best decisions we have made at GMG are decisions I made, and then we had to change because one of our team members found a better way to do it. I’ll tell you I’m glad that I listened. You won't fit in well at GMG if you’re heavily opinionated and always get your feelings hurt when your plan is questioned. Some of our industry needs to grow up and not be a flaky basket of emotion that comes untethered when others don’t agree with you.
A couple of months ago, I butted into a situation that one of my employees was handling quite well. Her response was, "Aaron, I need you to stay in your lane!” I took one step back and reminded myself that this was the candid communication I wanted to see. It was direct, needed, truthful, and not in the least disrespectful. It needed to be said because I wasn’t helping. That’s the 1st principle thinking I am going for. Don’t just follow the leader or the plan. If there is a better way, let it be known. I’ve had similar interactions with other employees who have brought in a better software solution or have been able to condense a multistep process that produces a better product for our clients. Some of my original ideas are now long forgotten because my team knew they could interject directly and truthfully.
This idea of questioning and feedback can sometimes lead to awkwardness in a staff meeting when a candid response or question is asked, but you/I/the team need to be mature enough to set feelings aside. Quit the ego-measuring contest behind your title, and remember that you hired great people with great ideas. Do you want robots or unique individuals who are bringing their best? You’ll find that once you begin to implement this, the glass ceiling of your company begins to disappear.