Great Teams and Great Companies Have One Thing In Common

Great teams and great companies have many things in common, one in particular is they know how to communicate. 

I was working with one CEO recently who expressed his frustration, with all the histrionics of a prima dona, when a Discovery Audit we had conducted in his organization clearly uncovered that most people in the organization could not say what the organizations strategy was. His frustration became anger and disbelief when we further revealed that even many of his executive team were not clear what the strategy was.

When he calmed himself he asked, almost plaintively, "how is this possible, I have been talking about the strategy for six months?"

There was no doubt he had been broadcasting for six months. He had several town hall meetings in which he talked at people. It was frequently reported that he even talked over people who wanted to stop his presentations with questions. In smaller groups he frequently talked to people about their strat plans - as in "I haven't seen your strat plan yet, where is it?"

What we heard over and over was he never talked with people, engaging them in his thinking, inviting their questions or contributions, encouraging them to build on the strategy, to be co-authors with him, explaining to them how strategy impacts day-to-day actions, investments and decisions of all kinds.

For most people the strategy was the CEO's thing unconnected to their daily concerns. They did not even understand what was required of them in producing the much asked for "strat plans" as the communication was all one-way. Without doubt a failure of communication - but all too common.

So here are a few things things that great communicators have in common:

They talk with people - a two-way exchange of ideas, commitments, excitement, fun, and the nuts and bolts of who, what, when, how and why its all important

They are open, honest and straight - no games, no secrets, no hidden agendas

They know the difference been facts and opinions and opts for the facts when they are available

They actively support each other and look for openings to assist each other - they don't gossip and undermine each other

They acknowledge, appreciate, praise and coach each other all the time, and in real time. They don't postpone feed back for blind 360's or annual reviews

They don't miss any opportunity to celebrate successes

They are not afraid of, or disempowered by, failure. They recognize that when they are pressing to accomplish things that have never been accomplished before - there will be failures. 

They miss no opportunity to learn from failure and then share what they have learned with everyone who can benefit from the insights

The signal to noise ratio is very very high, 90+%.