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Transformational leadership is all about steering the organization through change and that business outcomes are achieved because of the commitment and engagement of employees. One of the essential skills required to achieve this is to communicate change to their teams, however frequently they are not equipped with the appropriate tools to help them focus on the key message and to ensure that their team members are all facing in the one direction towards the new organizational vision.
What is needed is structure and process and team briefing which is a formal communication cascading process via management is a tool that perfectly fits the bill. It has three levels of cascading messages:
1. The first section of team briefing is completed by the CEO and it is the top 5 issues that he wants communicated throughout the organization. This is discussed with his executive team. 2. The team briefing is then circulated to all the executive team members and they complete the second section of the team briefing by going back to the senior team for their division and together deciding on the top 5 issues for their division and then lastly the top 5 issues for their teams. 3. The final third section of the team brief is the only part that continues to change because it is about what the top 5 issues are for the immediate local team.
The reason this works is simple. The only aspect a manager has to think about is what is happening in the organization that will effect his team that week or month depending on the frequency of the team briefing process. The rest of the information is already determined by the divisional head and the CEO. The team brief should only take around 15 minutes so it can be incorporated into a regular team meeting.
Team briefing has the added discipline of occuring on a regular basis and and therefore all leaders and managers can know in advance and plan for the next team briefing session.
Transformational leadership is not just about ensuring that all employees understand the new direction of the organization. It is also about changing the behaviour of leaders and managers so that communication with their teams is consistent and aligned with what other employees are being told in the company. Regular followup by the company president or divisional head simply by asking employees if they have attended a team briefing will ensure that they occur as required.
All these factors combine to ensure that team briefings achieve the desired outcomes.
1. Make sure that you put in place a simple process 2. Make sure that the CEO drives it and that his direct reports understand the importance to the CEO - not you. Afterall you are not their boss, he is. 3. Ensure that the topics are the type of content that management are comfortable and knowledgeable about 4. Provide a feedback loop, again this is part of the process, if there is a question that management do not know the answer to, there must be a formal easy process for them to follow to quickly obtain the answer and respond to the employee. 5. Team briefings should only take 15 minutes, they can also be incorporated into regular weekly meetings.
The best aspect of team briefing is that is it a very easy tool for leaders and managers at every level of the organization to use to ensure that consistent messages are delivered to employees in a timely fashion. There will however always be topics of major significance that employees will just simply want to hear from their Company President or CEO. This includes leaders and managers throughout the organization - this is the essence of transformational leadership, communicating with leaders at all levels of the organization and tailorimg messages to suit the audience.
What is needed is structure and process and team briefing which is a formal communication cascading process via management is a tool that perfectly fits the bill. It has three levels of cascading messages:
1. The first section of team briefing is completed by the CEO and it is the top 5 issues that he wants communicated throughout the organization. This is discussed with his executive team. 2. The team briefing is then circulated to all the executive team members and they complete the second section of the team briefing by going back to the senior team for their division and together deciding on the top 5 issues for their division and then lastly the top 5 issues for their teams. 3. The final third section of the team brief is the only part that continues to change because it is about what the top 5 issues are for the immediate local team.
The reason this works is simple. The only aspect a manager has to think about is what is happening in the organization that will effect his team that week or month depending on the frequency of the team briefing process. The rest of the information is already determined by the divisional head and the CEO. The team brief should only take around 15 minutes so it can be incorporated into a regular team meeting.
Team briefing has the added discipline of occuring on a regular basis and and therefore all leaders and managers can know in advance and plan for the next team briefing session.
Transformational leadership is not just about ensuring that all employees understand the new direction of the organization. It is also about changing the behaviour of leaders and managers so that communication with their teams is consistent and aligned with what other employees are being told in the company. Regular followup by the company president or divisional head simply by asking employees if they have attended a team briefing will ensure that they occur as required.
All these factors combine to ensure that team briefings achieve the desired outcomes.
1. Make sure that you put in place a simple process 2. Make sure that the CEO drives it and that his direct reports understand the importance to the CEO - not you. Afterall you are not their boss, he is. 3. Ensure that the topics are the type of content that management are comfortable and knowledgeable about 4. Provide a feedback loop, again this is part of the process, if there is a question that management do not know the answer to, there must be a formal easy process for them to follow to quickly obtain the answer and respond to the employee. 5. Team briefings should only take 15 minutes, they can also be incorporated into regular weekly meetings.
The best aspect of team briefing is that is it a very easy tool for leaders and managers at every level of the organization to use to ensure that consistent messages are delivered to employees in a timely fashion. There will however always be topics of major significance that employees will just simply want to hear from their Company President or CEO. This includes leaders and managers throughout the organization - this is the essence of transformational leadership, communicating with leaders at all levels of the organization and tailorimg messages to suit the audience.
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