On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Are You Asking Your Team to Read Your Mind

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Are You Asking Your Team to Read Your Mind Bosses often tout the importance of everyone singing from the same choir book or a variation of that theme. The point, they stress, is that everyone needs to communicate constantly so that team efforts are being directed efficiently and productively towardthe same goals. Why is it then that many workers believe their bosses arent inclined to follow the same advice? One of the most common complaints is that workers feel they dont know exactly what the boss is thinking and key information iskept from them. In such cases its not that workers believe that the boss is being deliberatively secretive, but more a matter of the boss for some reason or another is not giving them key information or important details. The result is that workers become frustrated and disengaged, and the boss fails to meet strategic goals because workers are unable to coordinate their efforts. Be repetitive and concrete In his book, Good Boss, Bad Boss, Robert Sutton cites the case of the miracle on the Hudson when Capt. Chesley B. Sully Sullenberg III landed a plane loaded full of passengers safely on the Hudson River. While the plane was failing, flight attendants repeatedly called to passengers to Brace, brace, heads down, stay down. Sutton notes that such repetitive and concrete guidance isnt just effective during emergencies. The things you say over and over have the most impact if they specify what to do and when to do it, he writes. As a boss, your job is to find the equivalent of Brace, brace, heads down, stay down for your followers. Still, managers these days are scrambling to keep up with their duties, just like members of their team. They feel they dont have time to yell brace, brace every day and want workers to bemore self-directedso that the managers can get other tasks done. Is there a way to bridge this divide between what managers can realistically communicate every day and what workers need to know to get their jobs done? Transparency leads to engagement The key may be that the boss is the one who will pilot the plane to safety, but workers also have to be willing to do their part andfollow critical directions. A team member who tries to go his or her own way will not only undermine the boss, but lead to hostility and dysfunction in a team. So, here are some ways to ensure the team and the boss are on the same page: Use checklists.Sutton points out in his book that checklists were developed by pilots before World War II, and doctors and nurses find that using simple checklists with patients requiring intravenous lines in their veins decreases infections and deaths. Teams with checklists of basic procedures are less likely to forget a step and the boss can be assured he or she doesnt have tomonitor every aspectof a common process. Eliminate complexity. Brain research shows that experts often are not the best teachers because their experience and knowledge allow them to automatically respond to issues that may boggle the mind of a beginner. Thats why communication among team members must be kept simple so that the novices arent left in the dust. Bosses need (read the rest here)