Why don’t they get it? The need for context in leadership
“I told them already twice what they have to do? Why do I have to repeat myself?” That’s what I heard back when I asked the CEO of my company to once again reinforce to the entire organization why my project was so important. At the time I didn’t have the language of the Six Domains of Leadership (SDL), which would have helped me (I did succeed in convincing him, but it was not easy).
The above response is a typical response by many leaders. We tend to think that a) what needs to happen is clear and b) telling the troops once or twice is enough. Then we are surprised when the troops do something else. Why? And how many times do you have to tell them?
Let’s start with the second question first, how many times do you have to tell them? As many times as needed to have it absorbed by the troops. I’m not being facetious here. It is of the utmost importance that the team know what’s expected of them. Not just to make sure they focus on it, but that they know what the intent is when the plan has to change (and it will change). A term for this intention is “commander’s intent”, a term that comes from the military as the leaders know that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but a plan is needed and people need to know what the goal is and how to adjust their work. This is the “why”.
