The following story is from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why (Portfolio, 2009):
“On a cold January day, a forty-three-year-old man was sworn in as the chief executive of his country. By his side stood his predecessor, a famous general who, fifteen years earlier, had command the nation’s armed forces in a war that resulted in the defeat of Germany. The young leader was raised in the Roman Catholic Faith. He spent the next five hours watching parades in his honor and stayed up celebrating until three o’clock in the morning.”
The year was 1933.
Does that surprise you?
For many of us the assumption is that Sinek was explaining the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.
He was describing the day when Adolf Hitler was sworn in as the chancellor of Germany.
Sinek’s point was to draw our attention to how our assumptions affect our behavior. Assumptions, he marks, are our “perceived truths” (Start With Why, page 11).
It's important to understand how our assumptions, our perceived truths, impact our family business. In our most recent session of the NextGen Leaders group, the focus was on creating an effective mission and vision for ourselves and discovering how a mission and a vision make our family business more effective and successful.
When it comes to business, we often make assumptions around three key areas:
relationships, communication, and accountability. In our relationships, we make assumptions because of patterns that exist in the relationship. We draw conclusions from past experiences with people and we allow those experiences to guide our decision making moving forward. If there is a co-worker who has been reactive when corrected about their behavior we would assume that to correct them again about the same behavior, or even different behavior, will result in the same reaction and so we may end up avoiding a necessary confrontation. One of the questions posed during our discussion was to consider how often we don’t talk to a particular person because we “already know what they are going to say.”
Our assumptions in communication lead us to believe that our point is getting across effectively, and that our employees are clear on our expectations. We may miss the fact that we could be asking someone to do something when they have not been given clear instructions on how to complete the task, the timeline on which it should be completed, or even what to do when they have questions about the task or any materials and supplies they may need to do the work. When I was in college I worked for a family-owned business here in Columbus. They specialize in building new sections of railroad and in repairing tracks damaged by flooding. One day I was given the task of refueling one of the company’s specialized machines, which required me to secure a fifty-gallon drum, a fuel pump to affix to the drum, and appropriate transportation to deliver the drum to the site where the machine was in need of fuel. I was a college student hired to do office work. I did not have experience in the field, or even in the yard where the tools and vehicles which I needed were kept. I received very little instruction – they did provide me with a map to the machine – and once I got the equipment I set about to complete the task. I got to the gas station and removed the empty fifty-gallon drum from the back of the company truck, placed it securely in front of the diesel gas pump, and proceeded to fill the drum. Once the drum was a third of the way full, I realized a key factor in completing the task. I should have left the drum on the truck, because once it was completely full there would be no way I could lift it back onto the truck. I would have a full fifty-gallon drum and no way to get it where it needed to go. I set to work rotating the drum as close to the truck bed as I could get, then proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes lifting with all the strength I had. I managed to get the drum back onto the truck and made a mess of my clothes in the process. The rust and splashing fuel from the drum ruined my clothes, clothes that I wore specifically for office work and not for laboring in the field. I was able to complete the task, and I learned a great deal, but having been given clear instructions and guidance would have made the job much easier and saved me from having to buy another outfit for work. When we make assumptions in our communication we set our people up to fail.
It's obvious that accountability is important (an assumption itself!) but do we know how it applies in our family business? Among our team, we like to say “When everyone is accountable no one is accountable.” What we mean by that is that when we assume that everyone knows that they are the ones responsible for completing a task there is a lack of follow-up. It’s easy for us to assume that everyone carries the same load of responsibility. It's also easy to think that everyone knows the standard to which they are being held accountable. How many times have we said “No one said anything so I must be ok?” How many times have we thought “The people I’m leading know what to do and why it’s important,” when they may not understand it the way we do?
This is how having a clear mission and vision establishes us for success. When we know what we want to accomplish (vision) and how we are going to get there (mission) we align our values toward that goal. Those values act as the compass that allows us to reach the goal. We eliminate assumption and our communication becomes more effective because conversations happen around the mission. Dr. Benjamin Hardy likes to tell the story of the 2000 British Men’s Rowing Team. Britain hadn’t medaled in rowing since 1912. When the team started training for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, they got clear on their vision: to win a medal. That vision allowed them to hold each other accountable with one simple question that defined their mission: Will it make the boat faster? Every decision the team made – what to eat, how to train, how to spend their social time – was filtered by answering that question. Anything that did not align with their vision (winning a medal) was eliminated because it would not serve their mission (to make the boat faster).
(Sullivan, Dan, with Dr. Benjamin Hardy: The Gap and the Gain, The High Achiever’s Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success. Hay House Business, 2011)
Getting clear on our vision and mission allows us to lead our people with accountability because the standard has been set. Once the standard has been set, we’re able to create procedures and pathways that get us to the goal. We are no longer measuring success around an assumption or around the things we cannot control; instead, we are measuring success by how we’ve defined it as a company. Our communication becomes more effective because it’s directed at the mission and informed by our values. It eliminates guesswork when it comes to what is expected of our people and that increases motivation and efficiency.
The story from Simon Sinek at the start of this blog post?
It could accurately describe both Hitler’s and Kennedy’s inauguration.
So if you thought it was about Kennedy and were surprised to learn it was about Hitler, you weren’t wrong.
I just didn’t want you to assume anything.
Mike O’Donnell
Executive Coach
Leadership Consultant
Integrated Leadership Systems
If you are a next generation family business member who is interested in topics that address leadership roles in your family-owned business, please join us at these Next Gen Leaders monthly sessions. Contact Amy at adotts@familybusinesscenter if you have any questions about this group.
About the Author:
Mike O'Donnell is an in-demand speaker, presenter, trainer, and leadership coach who believes in empowering leaders to pursue their purpose. An artist by design, Mike's unique approach to equipping leaders unlocks their innate creativity toward building their vision for life, business, and legacy. He is passionately committed to developing a life-giving community of leaders in Columbus who share the art of their business with the world. Mike is an author across multiple platforms and his mission is to help you become the leader you were meant to be.