This week my husband had his annual review. He had prepared himself based on last year’s review and his boss’s leadership style, so he wasn’t surprised by the outcome. Last year, his boss made him create an action plan for the year and they reviewed it together.  There were a few things that really rang out in my mind.

The first one was communication. My husband is an introvert. He is very smart and speaks up when needed. This past year was the first year he and his boss worked together so it took a while to figure out what his boss’s communication style was.

Quite frankly, he didn’t have a solid one. On my husband’s plan, he was to have better communication, so the boss wanted to be copied and emailed on just about everything. When his boss said he didn’t do that, my husband said that he had and emailed the boss consistently, his boss’s reaction was, “Well, you know I’m not good with checking my email.” He had communicated that is how he wanted to be kept in the loop but did not hold up his end on making sure he was involved in that communication.

The second big issue was that his boss put something on the improvement plan that my husband had started and did not complete and his response was, “I had that on there but I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it.” My gut reaction is that he did not set him up for success, but for failure.

That leadership style is not one my husband is accustomed to. He has flourished and done well with leaders who say, “This is what we need to get done. Now let’s go do it together,” instead of “go make it happen with little to no direction.”

Leadership is a very complicated thing.

During our talk last night at our weekly date, I realized why their team is not excelling and accomplishing all the things they want. They lack structure and leadership. I have been in many leadership positions in my time and know I have grown even more in my leadership role in the past few years. About three years ago, Trainertainment adopted a lot of the EOS System. We have implemented L10s to make our meeting time meaningful and more productive. We also have implemented quarterly and yearly meetings to set goals and define our strategies.

The most meaningful parts of this process have been setting clear and realistic goals each quarter, gaining a vision of where we were going as a company, and having well-defined values of what Trainertainment is as an organization. Every quarter we leave our meeting knowing everyone on the leadership team is on the same page. Every person in our organization knows our goals and our vision and base their decisions on our core values. It seems simple but I’m amazed by how many organizations do not have a solid foundation like that. By having such clear strategies as our foundation, we have been able to meet our goals and exceed expectations.

I challenge you to think about your role as a leader, not just to your leadership team but also all your team members. Do you have a clear vision? Core values? Realistic goals? Does every person in your center know and share your vision? Do they really know and understand the core values? Do they know your goals and what their role is in getting there?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Don’t hesitate to reach out to me.