“What is leadership?” came as one.
We need leadership because we want to get our stuff done. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is to motivate yourself to get your taxes done or to mobilize 300,000 people to execute a strategy. We need objectives, motivation, and the feedback of whether we are meeting the objectives to move things forward.
With that in mind, wouldn’t you say it would be critically important that we know what it is that we want to accomplish? Unfortunately reality is that we don’t. According to William Schiemann who surveyed organizations for the book called Performance Management: Putting Research into Action, only 14% of employees know their company’s strategy and direction. That’s surprising.
Let’s reflect ourselves. How often have we communicated what we want? Or have we? What have we anticipated about others’ reactions before we utter our words so we can think about saying it in the right way?
Leadership starts from clear communication. Initiating communication. That’s the most important step in demonstrating effective leadership.