If we aren’t paying attention (and sometimes even if we are), there are three things that happen naturally in all companies: friction, confusion, and underperformance.
Friction is a naturally occurring state that happens when you have more than one person working in a company. Hire two or more people, and at some point, you’re going to experience some friction. Friction around priorities, direction, rules, systems—you name it! Friction is the result of people having different ideas and methods, as well as unique viewpoints, communication styles, and personalities.
Confusion naturally occurs as people “hear” different things and move forward without getting alignment, clarity, or shared agreements.
Underperformance is the result of teams operating within a culture of friction and confusion. They don’t meet their goals. They don’t move toward the vision. They experience turnover. They become disheartened.
The remedy? Leadership.
If these three things happen naturally in every organization, good leadership is responsible for everything else, or anything else.
Solid leadership communication and decision-making are what turn friction into collaboration, confusion into clarity and alignment, and underperformance into achievement.
Unfortunately, many leaders I’ve work with have been defining leadership as guidance, strategy, and systems. And while all of these are necessary, nothing creates a high-performing team like clarity, alignment, and coaching. The good news? All three of these can be easily and quickly learned.
This week, remember that friction, confusion, and underperformance will always happen naturally within an organization of more than one person. Everything else is leadership. You can have collaboration, clarity, alignment, and high performance. It takes solid leadership, and LionSpeak is here to help.
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
— Ronald Reagan
