When working with me…

Lots of leadership litterature (and blogs – like this one) gives tips and hints on how to have better communication in the team.

Here’s a simple, easy and useful one that doesn’t take much to implement:

When people start working together, have them sit down and around the table finish the sentence:

“When working with me it’s useful for you to know…”

My recommendation is that you do it often. At the start of a project is obvious, how about at the start of a meeting? There might be something that’s important for them to share today. How about as part of the Monday morning session?

Here’s couple of examples I have heard:

When working with me it’s useful for you to know:

• that I am NOT a morning person, I’d like to have a slow start and then catch up during the day.
• that I’d like to know WHY we do this – it’s important for me to know the purpose if you want to engage me in your project.
• that I’d like to see the details and HOW to get there before we set off. I usually do not get too exited about visions only.

We are all different. Telling each other about our differences can only help.