Do leaders make mistakes?
Of course, they do. I have made mistakes, tons of them. Perhaps you as a parent, leader, a student organization officer, have made mistakes, but that is alright based on a few conditions...the conditions that you own up to your mistakes, rectify, and apologize for them.
And while you are in the business of apologizing, do not mess up an apology with an excuse. What I mean is, hold yourself and control yourself. Do not say, “I am sorry for what has happened as I have… done this or that…” Doing so means you are making progress. And then here comes the bummer: “But… the reason why I did what I did is because…” Guess what? You just messed up your apology and the entire thing now is worth nothing!
As I constantly say in my Level Up Leadership seminar-workshops, the most effective way for leaders to increase their credibility is VULNERABILITY; to admit that the leader is human too. Yes, people could forgive and understand their leader as long as he or she sincerely rectifies the mistake and admits the fault. What people will not forgive are leaders who pretend to be perfect.
Now there is another thing that is almost unforgivable. While leaders can afford to make mistakes, leaders cannot afford to be UNCLEAR.
That sends confusion throughout the entire organization, especially when all power and authority is centralized. The number one challenge for any organization is alignment. When there is misalignment, you will hear a lot of noise, but the important voice cannot be heard. It is imperative that leaders are clear with their message. This is why good leaders constantly develop their ability to communicate so that their message is precise, accurately articulated and clear. There is a reason for this.
There are just too many voices out there competing for our attention. The customers should know what your organization represents. The prospective clients should know what your business is. The number one enemy of business is noise. This is the job of marketers and they are responsible for this, if they are not clear with the message they are sending.
The human brain spends calories just thinking about things. When the message is unclear, it forces the person to work extra hard thinking and trying to figure out what the message is, this makes the brain work harder and spend more calories. They would find it easier and more convenient to just shut you out and consider another vendor or supplier that is clear with what they offer that corresponds to what the client needs.
Many companies have mission and vision statements, but here is my question. What is your business? When you ask your people from the top positions down to the person working in the field and at the front line – “What is our business?” “What are we doing?” Would they be able to answer concisely, accurately and clearly? You will be surprised. Most do not.
Messages are hard to convey these days. There was a time when there were only three to five major TV networks, now there are hundreds all competing for attention. Add to this you have Twitter, Facebook and so forth and so on. The message disappears.
I attended a seminar in Orlando a few years ago and an expert in marketing communications said that today, it takes at least seven repetitions just to get a message across. Just imagine that!
The reason for lack of deep engagement is muddled communications.
Unless your business organization can explain to your people what your business is and ensure that the narrative is clearly understood by everyone in your organization, there is a serious threat of misalignment and there will be a lack of purpose and meaning for work.
There are two important questions your people should be able to answer:
What is our business?
How is our business?
Can you answer the first question in not more than two short sentences? As to the second question… it may very well depend on the quality of how you answer the first one.
(Francis Kong’s Level Up Leadership will be back on March 19-20 at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Lahug. Attend and experience two inspiring days of leadership training and network with key people from different industries. For further inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)