Are You Playing Show and Tell with Your Leaders?

During your executives’ leadership staff meetings, are they eager to share their action items with everyone? For example, tell about an invitation they’ve received to speak at a conference, a plaque they were awarded for volunteer work, an offsite they’re planning for their staff. And before you know it, the meeting’s over with no time to discuss meaty issues.

When this happens, do you feel like you’re reliving Show and Tell? Only back in grammar school, your classmates’ first order of business was to explain why they chose their treasured item and its relevance for the class. The second order—probably more important for the teacher—was to practice their budding public speaking skills.

Flash forward many years later. Now, you may just hear executives report their actions, one by one. Everyone is acting fairly autonomously, stating what’s happening in their world (that is, silo). The comments hang out there, without any linkages to anything else—certainly not the corporate strategy.

In this situation, a bright group of overachieving adults act more like children than leaders. They are clamoring for the boss/teacher to give them attention, recognition and praise for what they’re doing.

So what do you do if you find yourself—as I sometimes do—working with a leadership team that’s comfortable with inactive Show and Tell meetings?  What if leaders don’t seem interested in taking a risk to play Leapfrog or anything else as a team that will get the energy and juices flowing? And what if they seem unwilling to engage in genuine conversations with each other—in other words, a sedentary Dodgeball?

Consider taking these five steps:

1.   Point out your observations to the team leader in private. Ask first if you can share something that you’ve noticed. Once you do, be prepared for one of several reactions. Your leader may be genuinely surprised and maybe even mortified. (That happened to me recently. Everyone had become so used to the rhythm of the regular staff meetings that they had stopped questioning what they were doing. The leaders realized that all the meetings she had been attending or leading were some version of Show and Tell.) Or, they may be comfortable with this format because they don’t like questioning the status quo or anything else if they can help it. Or, they may want to change yet aren’t sure how, which leads to step #2.

2.   Offer to help shape the leaders’ agendas for their regular staff meetings and other meetings.  Working on your own or with a compatriot inOrganization Development/HR, you can provide a valuable service—making meetings compelling, stimulating and re-energizing. It starts with a sound agenda that addresses the real issues—operations and organizational health factors that relate to the strategy. Good meeting design with strong agendas is both an art and a science. And as I’ve learned over the years, it doesn’t come naturally to everyone—especially if you need to transform a group of individuals into a team with shared goals and actions.     

3.   Take actions to avoid falling into the Show and Tell trap yourself.  Make sure you’ve not tripped into this rut yourself. It’s easy to do, especially if it’s happening all around you.You need to be aware on two levels: when you’re reporting to your boss and other senior leaders and when you’re leading your own meetings. When we’re all so rushed these days, it’s easy to get satisfaction in checking off the things you’ve done and sharing the news with others. But getting things done does not equate to making a big impact.

4.   Ensure your communication takes the higher ground, addressing strategic topics.  Every three to four months at a maximum, scan the communication you and others have been doing and do a message check. Are almost all of your messages linked to the company strategy? Do they address key issues you’re grappling with as an organization, for example, revenue growth, customer service and satisfaction, innovation, cost management, and other big picture areas? Do the messages have a what’s in it for me (WIIFM) component so employees can make the link between what the company is focused on and what they need to do to get on the same page. If your messages would require a long Show and Tell session, you need to tighten the focus.

5.   Test your progress, especially employee knowledge.  Besides checking the messages you’ve developed and delivered, measure what employees are receiving. How well do they understand the strategy? Are they picking up enough color commentary and interpretation for them to explain the strategy to others? Do they get the connections between the strategy and their job? Ideally, you can do quick pulse check surveys at the end of quarterly all-hands or town hall meetings. If not, consider doing some informal spot checks yourself. Talk with people in the cafeteria. Or call people randomly and ask them a series of short questions. The data you gather can help you and your leaders keep conversations and meetings on track on the important topics.

One caution though. While this is a serious issue, it doesn’t mean that all meetings, messages and encounters need to be serious. In the bleak, fast-paced economic times we live in, we need frequent doses of levity that we can enjoy together.

Just make sure you’re doing more than giving people an opportunity to demonstrate that the only difference between men and women and boys and girls is the size of their shoes and the price of their toys.

Liz Guthridge is a consultant, author, and trainer specializing in strategic change communications. Department leaders of Fortune 1000 companies hire Liz and her firm Connect Consulting Group LLC when they need their people—who are confused, angry or in denial—to adopt complex new initiatives so they can quickly change the way they work. For more information, contact Liz, liz.guthridge@connectconsultinggroup.com or 510-527-1213. Follow Liz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lizguthridge.