Your team isn’t lazy

TRUE FICTION

Stories that never happened — but are always true.

A few years ago, I was brought in to work with a leadership team at a mid-sized company.

The CEO’s opening line to me was:

"David, my team just isn’t motivated. I can’t get them to put in the effort."

Now, I’ve been around enough boardrooms to know that “lazy” is a label that usually says more about the leader than it does the people. So I sat in on their weekly team meeting to see for myself.

What I found was telling.

No one really knew what the priorities were for the week.

Everyone had a different interpretation of the company’s goals.

And when it came to projects, the phrase “I thought we were doing this” came up more than once.

It wasn’t laziness. It was confusion.

You see, people can’t hit a target they can’t see and if they don’t know what matters most, they’ll fill their time with whatever’s in front of them, which often isn’t the thing that will move the business forward.

When I sat down with the CEO afterwards, I told him matter of factly

“Clarity is your main job and if you don’t give it, you’ll keep paying for it in missed deadlines and mediocre results.”

Within weeks, after putting a few clarity rituals in place that included clear priorities, shared definitions of success, and a little more communication, productivity and morale were up. People knew what they were about and were very clear on where the CEO was leading them.

This might not seem like rocket science, and to be fair it isn’t, it’s common sense. But when ego’s need satisfying and performance is an act rather than taking decisive action, what should be simple becomes very complex.

That’s why as executive coaches we are OK in being truth tellers.

We are not emotionally invested in whether it makes you feel better, but rather if you are doing what you promised others that you can do for them and for yourself. That’s why you hire us.

It’s amazing what happens when people know exactly what they’re aiming for.