Leadership as a Conversation: Intentionality

The last element in leadership as a conversation is intentionality.  Authors of the book Talk, Inc. Groysberg and Slind state, “(intentionality) enables leaders and employees to derive strategically relevant action from the push and pull of discussion and debate.”

Further, they note, “One way to help employees understand the company’s strategy is to let them have a part in creating it.” Years ago, I attended Dale Carnegie leadership training.  There the instructor echoed this same idea, “People want to live in a world they help create.”

So how does a leader involve everyone in the company’s strategy?  At Intertech, we do a “Town Hall.” Once a year, all employees take part in the half-day Town Hall session.  At the Town Hall, leadership isn’t present.  Employees share ideas and provide feedback.  This information is used in the leadership team’s SWOT analysis at our yearly strategic planning session.  Three of my favorite questions Town Hall questions are:

  • What’s one thing we should stop doing?
  • What’s one thing we should start doing?
  • What’s one thing we should always continue doing?

Well that’s it… this is the final post in leadership as a conversation.

Up Next:  How to get IT and the overall business working effectively together.

standardSeptember 13Tom SalonekLeadership