Earlier this month, Fierce held our mid-year strategy session. Prior to the meeting, Fierce CEO and President, Halley Bock, sent out a request to the entire team to send two critical challenges, one cultural and one strategic, that were a top priority. Everything was on the table. At the session, we broke into teams and held beach ball meetings to begin to innovate, solve, and elaborate on eight of those challenges. On the day of the session, the room was literally buzzing with the energy of so many perspectives coming together.
It’s never super easy to open yourself up and ask for feedback. To start the conversation with: I see that this might not be working – how can I/we make it better?
It takes bravery, skill, and discipline.
Sometimes leaders will hold a strategic session, yet they don’t invite perspectives from different levels and departments within the company. What information might your support staff be able to share with you that is critical to your team’s success? Can you honestly say you know the top two cultural issues each of your employees feel the company faces right now?
Great leaders are always innovating, asking questions, and exploring the answers. They open themselves and their companies up to the people they’ve trusted with their business, and they listen.
If, as a leader, you want to make your job harder and perhaps create strategy that is not supported, then make your decisions in a bubble. However, you have to know, that there is another way.
Are you tapping into the genius of your team?