Have you ever wondered why people work in silo’s, have different views on priorities or sometimes think their work is more important than others?

The famous saying used in the London Underground ‘mind the gap’ makes a great analogy for what is On the Table this month. There is a game where a message is whispered to the first person and then passed along to the next person. By the time it gets to the last person the original message is hardly recognisable. A gap appeared in the retelling of the message.

Sometimes it feels like this is what is happening at work -ever wondered why?

When even the smallest gap appears in alignment and clarity from the leaders,messages and priorities canbe distorted and by the time it reaches deeper into the organisation the gap can bevery wide.

An example of this is a company where the salesteam re branded their salespitch with a slogan thatwas completely different from what the marketing team were developing.

This happened because when the leadership team left a meeting where they had all agreed that a rebrand was required, but two of the leaders thought it was their job to develop it. They had not been clear about’who must do what’ to implement the decision.

Cohesive teams who have high levels of trust, are able to engage in constructive debate in pursuit of the best idea, commit to their decisions and hold each other accountable get better results.

When they are completely aligned on key message,this minimises the risks of silo’s and keeps everyone focussed on what’s important right now.

Sometimes gaps appear when there are low levels of trust in a team. Imagine a situation where a decision is made but someone on the team doesn’t agree with it.Rather than have the difficult conversation and get to the bottom of the issue, they leave the meeting and ignore the decision or worse, implement something completely different.

How can this be avoided so that no one falls through the gap?

There are 6 questions thateveryone in the companyshould know that will help create clarity: 

 

1.Why do we exist?
2. How do we behave?
3. What do we do?
4. How will we succeed?
5. What is most importantright now?
6. Who must do what?

The recorded message played repeatedly in the London Underground reminds us to ‘Mind the Gap’, it’s purpose is to continually remind passengers to stay focussed even on what seems small and routine tasks.
In the same way, leaders must also be ‘Chief Reminding Officer’, keeping everyone in the organisation on track and aligned.

We passionately believe in creating healthy organisations and cultures, wherepeople can thrive, and businesses can be more successful. Work matters, and itshould be enjoyable and allow people to use their natural talents to the best of their ability.

I’d love to hear about what’s happening in your company and share some thoughtsabout what you could to ‘mind the gap’. Book a discovery session on our website or contact us at [email protected] and arrange to meet for coffee to chat.