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Quote of the Day
"Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall."
-- Stephen R. Covey
It's What You Don't Say That Can Often Do The Most Damage
By Bill Webb
A couple of years ago, on an Easter weekend, my oldest son (then 4 years old) got our attention when he emerged from a makeshift bedroom that also serves as a home office at my in-laws' house with a pair of scissors in his hand and a very creative self-administered haircut. He looked like he had experienced a head-on crash with a Weed Eater.
Trying very hard not to laugh and maintain the stern demeanor of a concerned parent, I asked him why he had done it. His answer was, "Because I needed it." In typical, not-thinking-before-you-speak fashion, I said, "Clayton, you're not supposed to cut your own hair." And in very typical 4-year-old fashion, he answered, "Daddy, you never said not to."
Wow! That will get your attention. That phrase immediately throws you into a mental inventory of what else you haven't told your young children not to do. When you think about it, that is a very logical response. Sure a child figures out on his or her own not to do things that will hurt them. Sometimes, they learn the hard way, but what about those things with no obvious negative consequences, other than the need to wear a hat throughout Easter Day? What seems so obvious to us as parents, or leaders, may not be so obvious to those we parent or lead.
As we examine the issue of effective communication as a leadership tool, it is vital that we look at our business and take that same mental inventory of what we have not told our people. What information have we withheld because either we didn't think they particularly needed to know or we just never got around to sharing it? The fact is our employees and associates cannot deal with information they don't have. They can't respond to a situation they don't know about. They simply cannot meet expectations they are not aware of.
Things happen in our business every day our people need to know about. Some management experts go as far as advocating sharing all financial information with all employees in order to give them the information they need to help the company be profitable. There is debate over the effectiveness of that method -- although many companies have achieved great financial results using that concept. In fact, those same companies are very enlightened and likely would achieve some level of success whether they shared financial information with all employees or not.
That being said, I believe companies need to do a much better job of sharing company information. What kind of information? The information they need to take care of your business, including but not limited to:
* Financial information such as key indicators ownership uses to determine fiscal health.
* Key information on key customers so they can deal with each in a unique and effective manner. For instance, information that a key customer is in the middle of renegotiating its business relationships, including the one with your company.
* Management's theory on asset utilization such as:
when to add trucks;
why we keep our trucks three years instead of five or vice versa;
why we don't maintain our own shop or why we do;
why equipment utilization can have such an impact on financial performance.
While all this information may be obvious to you and your top managers, maybe even your dispatchers, many employees don't understand why the company does what it does. Sharing that information can be very valuable. How do you accomplish that? You can't just write out a memo one day that includes everything you've never shared with folks.
One very effective way is through a company publication or some other means in a "did-you-know?" format. For instance, you might address the vehicle lifecycle issue by saying, "Did you know that by trading our trucks every three years, we are able to reduce our maintenance costs by X number of dollars and, in turn, our equipment is much more dependable and we have fewer lost revenue days because of unusable equipment? In fact, since we have adopted this policy, we have increased our profit to the bottom line by X dollars."
Again, this information is not heart stopping in substance and is obviously not news to you and some others. However, helping the average employee better understand why the company does what it does will help empower that employee to make unsupervised decisions (let's face it, they happen every day) with a better understanding of the company's goals and objectives.
So the next time one of your employees walks into your office with scissors in their hands (metaphorically speaking) and a bad haircut, before you ask the question, "Why did you do that?" make sure you have been communicating effectively the information they need to make the right decisions on your behalf. Be willing, as a leader, to share important information, both good and bad. Knowledge and information equal power. Provide your people with the power they need to take care of your business and your customers.
Be a leader today and every day!
Bill Webb is senior vice president at FFE Transportation Services, Inc., a publicly held refrigerated carrier based in Dallas, TX. He is also the founder of The Blue Flame Project (www.theblueflameproject.com), a nationwide leadership initiative, and the author of the upcoming book "Igniting The Blue Flame: A Call to Leadership." He speaks throughout the country on the issue of leadership. This article first appeared in the Truckload Carrier Report.
