Writing - A Key Leadership Skill
I’m Andy Temte and welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! Start to your weekend with me by exploring topics that span leadership, business management, education, and other musings designed to support your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement.
One of the unpleasant truths of leadership is that the people who populate your organization (at all levels) are constantly trying to divine your position on myriad topics - everything from purpose and vision to the stack ranking of current-period priorities. Like it or not, as a leader, you are a significant topic of conversation and your position on issues matters.
The less visible you are, the more active the water-cooler will be. Infrequent communication from the top provides more oxygen for conspiracy theories and rumors to thrive. Conspiracy theories and rumors breed significant emotional waste that can negatively impact morale, engagement, and productivity.
Earlier in my career as a leader, I believed I could say something once or twice and my team would “get it.” It bewildered me how twisted messages would become once they were released out in the wild. In an effort to solve this communication gap, I started writing. I wrote annual letters, quarterly updates, posted more frequently to LinkedIn, and wrote articles that appeared in trade magazines and blog sites.
Although I had help with proofreading and solicited opinions prior to publication, the vast majority of my written communication—both internal and external—was produced by my own hand. It’s hard work, but I feel strongly that what you choose to put in writing should be carefully considered and the words should be your own.
So what’s the payoff from doing more writing?
Clarity: It’s very easy for another party to twist your verbal comments to fit their personal narrative, but it’s much harder to cherry-pick and bend the written word. Whether it’s an annual letter, quarterly update, or weekly muse, you’re establishing a level of clarity that’s not possible with other forms of communication.
Concision and Logic: The act of writing forces you to carefully construct an efficient argument or thesis. In verbal communication it’s easy to get off track and ramble incoherently. Writing makes us slow down and think much harder about the points we’re trying to make and whether those points will be clear and understandable to the intended audience.
Creativity: I find that the process of writing sparks new ideas and makes neural connections that add significant value to an idea, position, or recommendation. Yes, bouncing ideas around in a brainstorming session is a highly valuable exercise, but I almost always find new ways of looking at an issue or problem when I commit pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard).
The Cascade: I’ve derived great value by using my writing as a conversation starter with direct reports and their teams. Specifically, I would schedule one-on-ones with my direct reports and ask them to come prepared with residual questions they have about company goals, the North Star, or anything else I’ve written about that needs clarification. I also asked my directs to share feedback that they received from their team members on the same issues. To triangulate, I arranged “skip level” listening sessions with my direct reports’ teams to field comments/suggestions and answer any questions they may have. Don’t underestimate the power of a skip level listening session. You’d be surprised how much critical information gets filtered out (usually unintentionally) by your direct reports. Getting as close to the work as possible is key.
The Importance of Reading and Writing: By routinely putting your thoughts on paper, you’re sending a strong signal to your peers and colleagues that reading and writing are important pursuits to should be prioritized. I frequently lament about how little we read on a daily basis and how our skill level as writers has taken a real hit in the age of Xes (aka tweets), emojis, and text messages.
In legacy business cultures, knowledge was power and team members fought hard to keep information to themselves to ensure the safety of their jobs and prove their importance to the business. This behavior led to inefficiency, single points of failure, and a very active water-cooler information economy.
Today, we live in an age of inclusion and accessibility. Knowledge is still power, but obfuscation and information hoarding should not happen within the four walls of your business. As we aspire to flatten organizational structures and tap into the rich vein of ideas and innovation that resides within our people resources, improving the fidelity of communication up, down, and through the business is of paramount importance.
It’s July of 2024. Start giving some thought to your annual letter now! Write memos to members of the c-suite outlining your priorities for budget season—which is just around the corner. Your colleagues will appreciate the effort you put into build clarity so that everyone can row together toward the company’s North Star.
