by Michael Holland
Part of the art of leadership is the give and take of that information which is not common knowledge. There’s a barter of sorts which occurs between leaders as they share bits and pieces of information they know, or sort of know, or are conjuring up as they piece together disparate information. Some folks seem to have a lot of information to share; others, not so much.
Within every organization, there is an informal pipeline of information that goes among and between leaders and employees. Leaders add their bits and pieces of information to this flow, and as they do, they either increase or decrease the current – the speed – of the information flow.
The quality of the information flow is always subject. We all know that as information is passed around again and again, the quality tends to decrease, become soiled, and sometimes even be totally destroyed. The information is massaged and interpreted in a multitude of ways, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
The size of the pipeline may conversely correlate to the capability of top leadership to communicate well, meaning the less the executives are talking the more likely employees will make up wild and crazy stories. But this isn’t always the case, as some great organizations encourage a large informal communication pipeline because the pipeline creates agility and connects both sources and consumers of key information more efficiently.
Whether your organization uses the information this way or not, take a moment to think about your last 10 informal discussions with peers or employees.
- What information was shared in that conversation?
- Since you were the source of input to the information pipeline, so to speak, what were your intentions with the sharing and what was the quality of the information being discussed?
- Did you increase the clarity of the flow, or only make it murkier?
- Did you help make the organization more productive?
As you ponder these questions, remember:
The higher up you are in the food chain is directly proportional to the impact and speed you will have on the information and pipeline.
Make wise decisions regarding the what, how, when and why of your addition to the flow.
Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers
- Whether your organization uses the information this way or not, take a moment to think about your last 10 informal discussions with peers or employees.
- What information was shared in that conversation?
- Since you were the source of input to the information pipeline, so to speak, what were your intentions with the sharing and what was the quality of the information being discussed?
- Did you increase the clarity of the flow, or only make it murkier?
- Did you help make the organization more productive?
- As you ponder these questions, remember: the higher up you are in the food chain is directly proportional to the impact and speed you will have on the information and pipeline. Make wise decisions regarding the what, how, when and why of your addition to the flow.
