Re: The engagement thing - An Open Letter to the CEO from Your Team.

 

Dear CEO,

We - your team - are here for you. In every sense.

Do you ever wonder why everything seems to be much harder than it should be? We do too. You've hired us to do the work you want to get done. We've recently heard you say that you want to build engagement and collaboration within the organization.

We hope that you mean it. We want to collaborate and we want to care and we want to engage, but there are some things holding us back.

First - We have no idea what you're up to. Or what you want. You might think we do, but trust us, we don't. We do not understand your objectives and your strategy. And, perhaps most importantly, we don't know what kind of decisions you're making. If you are still working out some of the issues, let us know where you are on the journey. Include us. If you have made progress in your thinking share it with us often. Really often - not just on quarterly calls. An internal blog or more informal notes to us on a regular basis will help us feel more connected, understand and support your work.

Second - because there is this mystery about what is going on in your heads - a lack of transparency - we invent and imagine your reasoning. What we make up is usually entirely wrong. We invent all kinds of strange justifications for what we see - or don't see - you doing. A little transparency will not only build our confidence in you, but it will help us build our relationships with each other.

Third - Because we don't know your thoughts on the purpose and value of our organization or whether and how you're trying to form them or fulfill them, we struggle to work with one another as a team. We lack the key criterion for collaboration - a shared sense of purpose. My esteemed colleague over there is doing what he thinks is right, or feels serves his interests, and I'm over here doing the same. Since we don't have a shared goal or framework for evaluating objectives, we don't have shared interests, and we have trouble agreeing on the right path. It's not always pretty. Our mutual respect is eroded. Sometimes it can get nasty. Guess who suffers? We do. And you do. And our customers do. And our shareholders do (I've heard you might own some stock as well).

Fourth - That missing sense of purpose? It also impacts our ability to make a decision. And yours. Many decisions become political in the absence of a clear goal or outcome. Many important issues become a matter of opinion, because there are not clear criteria for decision making - that is, there's no clear vision which guides other decisions small and large. Worse - we're never certain when a decision is final, because political decisions tend to get made and remade - it's never clear when it's over, and we spend way, way too much of our valuable time and energy fighting these battles rather than serving our customers. We lose our will.

Fifth - We are, as I said, on your side. If you give us the chance to be part of your team you'll win our hearts and minds. We want to be won. We want to be recognized for our expertise and hard work, and feel that that work is effectively directed at a meaningful outcome. We assure you that we understand the market, our customers and our business, and that we know how to make it better - but we do need the alignment of good leadership so that our efforts amplify one another rather than cancel each other out.

Sixth - Platitudes can be toxic - please avoid them. We all know what's going on here, and when you tell us that you recognize it too, you give us confidence that we can in fact make progress and make a difference. When you give us a whitewashed version of reality, well that is something that's very transparent. We really do understand that most issues are not simple. We understand that there can be a lot of gray area. Show us where the gray is and how you're trying to clarify it. Give us substantive insight into which is which and how you're currently thinking about the bad and the ugly. We won't bullshit you if you wont bullshit us.