Kadi Cole, author of "Sticky Note Leadership", is back to give you a few tips on how to effectively communicate your vision with your team.
You have a vision, a passion, and a direction for your business. How do you get that vision and excitement across to your team so that you’re not pulling the train by yourself and everyone is pushing together?
Kadi Cole, the author of “Sticky Note Leadership,” is back to share a few tips for sharing your vision.
One of Kadi’s favorite leadership quotes is, “If you’re leading and no one is following, you’re just going on a walk.” One of the hardest parts about leadership is taking what’s in our brain and what we’re most excited about and really translating that so that other people can catch on and come with us.
The first thing you need to do is be able to articulate what your vision is very clearly and simply. Many of us who lead businesses and organizations have a very strong mental capacity. We see the big picture, we understand how it all fits together, and we’re very strategic. Sometimes when we cast a vision, it can be a little bit too complex for people to want to be a part of or understand.
You need to be able to simplify your vision into something that is sticky. Make it a rhyme or jingle, something that will stick in people’s minds. The best way to know if your vision is sticking is if you hear your team repeating the vision to each other when you’re not even in the room. You’re looking for something that might not include all of the details of your vision but is sticky enough to pass along.
You also need to know how to connect to the emotions of your people. Passion is an emotional quality; it’s not intellectual. Part of that is helping people know why staying where you are isn’t really acceptable anymore. We must go to this new frontier. Here’s what we’re going to do and here’s what we’re going to be. Even though that’s going to be awesome, it’s only 50% of it. The other 50% is helping your employees understand why it’s going to be a disaster if you stay here.
Ultimately, you need to capture people’s emotions, connect them to the vision, and make the vision simple and sticky.
I would like to thank Kadi for talking with us today. Again, I cannot recommend her book highly enough; I will probably be reading “Sticky Note Leadership” every month for the rest of my life. Leadership is not necessarily taught on a consistent basis, especially if you have a smaller business or if you’re in the sales business, so this book is full of super great tips. You can get your own copy here.
As always, if you have any questions, just give me a call. I would be happy to help you!
