Wandering through the computer files – came across this one. Don't know where it originated, do not know who to credit. This is not the work of me, but just something I collected at some point.
"If we agree that it is the leader's Responsibility to create the conditions conducive to success, the first step in that process is for the leader to provide a clear description of what constitutes success. In other words, leaders must be abundantly clear about what matters – and what doesn't.
As a starting point, leaders must consistently communicate what the company is trying to achieve. For example, at Opus we intend to make the most engaging and effective training on the planet – our shorthand for that is training people LIKE to take. That gives our creative and production people a pretty good target – they can ask themselves, "will people enjoy what I'm creating, will they be challenged or intrigued by what I'm doing, will they learn better if I do this or if I do that?" It's certainly possible they'll fall short or be wrong, but they won't be unclear about the goal.
The next step is to help every single person in the company understand how his or her efforts contribute to what the company is trying to achieve. Again, perfect clarity is what we're after. If everyone in the company is working on the exact right task at the exact right time – if everyone is focused on the highest impact activity – success is much more likely.
Every employee needs the answer to two questions: "What is the company trying to do?" and "How do I contribute to achieving that?" Unless employees have almost perfect clarity around those answers, performance and productivity are purely accidental."
Great thought – thought I would share.
Dreaming of Camp,
Joe