I recently wrote about the sad situation of disconnected directors.
Too many leaders, directors executives or supervisors, are disconnected from the current reality and their people.
The reasons are straightforward:
- In the case of directors, they have become more focussed on compliance and governance and the fear associated with directors’ liability. Consequently they can overlook the need to focus also on a workable strategy and the culture. In some cases they are simply looking for a paid ‘retirement’. They often rely on recent historical data for their view of the enterprise.
- Executives and supervisors are disconnected for these reasons:
- Too busy working on reports, data collection and analysis, emails, ‘important’ meetings etc.
- Don’t know how to authentically connect with their people.
- Already have broken relationships with their people.
- They too often rely on recent historical data for their view of the enterprise.
Reconnecting is straightforward and only requires courage, a little learning and practice.
If you know you are disconnected from your people, or you know of a leader who is, here are the steps you can take to reconnect:
- Become aware that the disconnection is real.
- Identify the root causes of the disconnection, as described above.
- Skill up in the methods and conversations available to reconnect, some of which are:
- Ask or Tell, the power of asking & the force of telling
- Performance Mastery System and Guide
- Senior Executive’s Coaching Guide
- Begin to reconnect with each person you need to, one on one, owning up and saying something like “I’ve previously been remiss in making sure we are connected effectively for work and I’d like to correct that. Can we make time for a coffee and a chat?”
- Then establish a routine of connecting with your direct reports in a regular fashion that isn’t seen as micromanaging but making sure you are aware of where they are at in their work and relationship with each other and you. That they are aware that you do care about them.
- You are then in a position to operate from current attitudes and information to give you a more accurate view of the enterprise and a better ability to predict.
- If you need help in this important aspect of your work, seek out a mentor or a coach.
Disconnection between people in the workplace is a major cause of underperformance, loss of talent and corporate failure.
What do you think?
