Be clear
Every day, an adult makes over 200 decisions about food alone, culminating in an astonishing 35,000 conscious choices about everything from what to eat to how to communicate. This data overload can be overwhelming. As leaders of an organization, one of our primary responsibilities is to provide direction and guide decision-making within our teams. It is essential to help our teams navigate the vast array of data points they face daily, identifying patterns within complex business situations. Our role is to distill this information, offering a clear path towards opportunities and team success. We must provide clarity.
Leading a high-performing startup team in a dynamic market is akin to embarking on a quest for a legendary wonderland, and it is my responsibility to guide us safely in that journey. The path may not always be straightforward—indeed, it often isn’t. However, if resources are limited, and I provide ambiguous directions, the outcome could be disastrous, derailing our mission and jeopardizing the team’s wellbeing.
Therefore, when sharing your insights and decisions, think them through carefully and strive to offer as much clarity as possible. For a business leader, indecisiveness can be more detrimental than making a wrong decision. A mistaken path can often be corrected once it’s recognized, but in the absence of a clear choice, progress becomes impossible. Providing clarity enables the team to move forward confidently. Commit to honing your communication skills as a leader, ensuring that you consistently provide clear directions on what the team should pursue and what they should avoid.
Be transparent
Imagine dedicating your time, energy, and dreams to a cause, only to discover that a significant decision affecting you was made without your input. The feelings of disrespect, unappreciation, and betrayal are natural, and such experiences erode trust in the organization. If transparency is lacking, employees will gradually lose faith in the very cause they work hard for, ultimately weakening the organization from within.
To avoid this pitfall, ensure your organization values transparency. Numerous studies show that workplaces prioritizing openness have better success in recruiting the right talent, retaining good employees, fostering innovation, and achieving organizational goals.
Various communication tools and methods are available to help leaders cultivate a transparent environment. Explore these options and select the ones that align with your leadership style and team culture. Focus on nurturing trustworthy relationships among individuals and teams. Create a work environment where every team member understands the company’s objectives, their importance, and the roadmap to achieve them. Each member should know where to share their knowledge and voice their concerns, as well as ask questions about their work.
Transparency doesn’t mean oversharing or adding to the information overload prevalent in modern workplaces. It’s about providing employees access to relevant information that impacts their roles and involving them in the information-sharing process. Not every employee needs access to all organizational information at all times; a structured flow of information is essential for effective business operations. However, everyone should understand how information is organized and why this structure is beneficial. Clearly communicating how company information is disclosed and distributed is a vital aspect of a workplace transparency policy. And the most important element in making this transparency policy effective is that you, as the leader, must walk the talk.
Be consistent
When I began building my latest startup, I realized the importance of leading with consistency. As a founder and CEO, my role is inherently dynamic, focused on creating innovative solutions that deliver customer value and expand market opportunities in a rapidly evolving industry. I thrive in this creative environment, and the company culture my team and I have nurtured excels at solving complex business challenges with ingenuity—an essential competency for growing a biotechnology business.
Every day presents us with new problems, solutions, insights, and decisions. We are in a constant state of evolution, which is beneficial for growth. However, I quickly realized that as a leader, I must provide our fast-growing company and team with as much consistency as possible. Consistency in leadership and team behaviors builds confidence among team members, making them feel secure and supported as they understand what to expect from the company and what is expected of them. When employees recognize their leaders as reliable and dependable, they can channel their creative energy into driving the company forward.
No matter what business you are building, invest in demonstrating consistency in your leadership and communication. The returns on that investment will be remarkable.
