Stephen H Baum Leadership

I asked the members of my CEO peer advisory group yesterday to relate their experience with communication breakdowns: what patterns have they observed? how often do they happen? would a tool to reduce their number and severity be valuable?

The most frequent breakdown is an after-the-fact discovery of confusion about what the CEO requested. The listener walked away with less than clarity. In other instances, people said “yes” to the CEO without knowing whether or not the request could be satisfied. And the CEO found out far too late about the obstacles. And it is not rare that the CEO floats and idea and people take it as a demand. That is how musings of the CEO become closings of sales offices or repainting of headquarters (just ask Steve Kaufman about his first few months as CEO of Arrow Electronics). 

These breakdowns occur every day at all levels in the organization. And they waste time and energy of everyone concerned, if not cause real problems with customers, suppliers and others. 

One tool, offered by one of my members, is “The Five W’s.” Whenever he makes a request, he requires his direct report to follow the Five W’s:

– Who is responsible? (not you)

– What is the deliverable? (absolute clarity) 

– When is it due? (a fixed date)

– What are the major milestones? (just a few)

– Write it down. (play it back to me or send me an email)

There is a broader framework for the Five W’s developed  by Strozzi Institute. It has the added benefits of installing a language of commitments, making possible the pinpointing patterns of breakdowns in the steps from request to acceptance to performance to results, and serving as a model which can be cascaded down the organization. It is called Conditions of Satisfaction and I will post about it in a week or two when I have feedback about its implementation from my members.