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I'm at a company that seems to be struggling with how to dictate a vision but then obtain buy in from the workers. They keep playing this game of throw out an i

I'm at a company that seems to be struggling with how to dictate a vision but then obtain buy in from the workers. They keep playing this game of throw out an idea, hope the workers will all understand and implement in the same direction, and everyone will have great success. The middle managers (the VPs and Directors) are essentially useless as they are passing forward the leadership 10,000 ft view. The managers are stuck implementing in their area and thus no two teams operate the same way. The workers are then in this area of constant upheaval as nothing seems to get accomplished the way leadership expected. I read these articles as they seem to have come out every year first Google then Zappos then various startups. Leadership communicating to workers never seems to work out well as companies grow. They operate at too high a level and unless there are a solid structure of guidance to go across teams/individuals it makes it difficult to all row in the same direction. It makes sense that a UI team is going to operate at a different cadence to the services team to the data team, but if you don't have managers over each function at least there will be chaos in my experience.

josephg 2y ago
I have a really leadership test at every place I work at: Can I, and everyone around me, tell the story of how the random thing they're doing today connects all the way up to the company's big picture goals? When this works well, its obvious to everyone. "Today I'm triaging a bug that comes up for our customers. We want customers to have a delightful experience, keep giving us money and recommend us to their friends." / "I'm writing a technical blog post. I've been asked to blog more because it helps us attract good talent, and good talent will help us make better software." But its heartbreaking how often teams and people fail this test. "Oh, I'm doing this but I don't know why. My boss asked me to do it. But she didn't tell me the reason and I didn't ask." / "Yeah we're all working hard on this product but there's another team doing basically the same thing and in 6 months all our work will probably be scrapped." / "Our scrum meetings are an absolute waste of everyone's time. My boss admitted over drinks that we only do it because it makes our team look good in the meeting with all the big bosses." Sometimes the problem is communication. Sometimes its a lack of initiative on the ground - eg "I learned to stop asking questions like that". Or a lack of mentorship to junior employees. Sometimes its a lack of leadership from the C-suite, or incompetent middle managers or VPs or something. But whenever people can't explain the point of their work, something is going terribly wrong in the company, and I hear a calm voice playing in my head: "Please take a moment to locate the nearest exit. It may be behind you. In the event of an emergency, ..."
duxup 2y ago
> Leadership communicating to workers never seems to work out well as companies grow. Do leaders at the tip top of larger orgs "care" if their communication works out? Every larger company I've worked for the top leaders stated their case and just ... left the room. It wasn't a conversation, or any kind of communication I would expect where someone validates that everyone is on the same page. What follows is inevitably middle managers repeating what was said, again no real validation that anyone got the point and everyone rolls on. Communication from "leadership" at big orgs is always more just communication AT everyone and that's it ... In such situations it's hard to imagine the top leadership really care beyond getting their noise out in the room / email / etc.
1015toNutley 2y ago
Registered a new throwaway account, because I wonder if you and I work for the same place - except I don't think that our higher-ups care whether we understand the idea or not, but we must implement it anyway. Is your company, by any chance, based in San Mateo and Raleigh?
drewcoo 2y ago
> Leadership communicating to workers never seems to work out well Well the first problem is management calling themselves "leadership." Then there's communicating "to" instead of "with" a separate group of "workers." Someone who tries to convince me to do all the work is not a "leader." That scenario seems more like a setting for a fable than a healthy work environment.
keybored 2y ago
What do you expect when you have such vacuous and non-owning words for management as “leadership”. “The leadership of nation X”, “the leadership in the company”. They’re huffing their own self-important smoke without taking direct responsibility. It leads to very passive and indirect statements.

josephg 2y ago

I have a really leadership test at every place I work at: Can I, and everyone around me, tell the story of how the random thing they're doing today connects all the way up to the company's big picture goals? When this works well, its obvious to everyone. "Today I'm triaging a bug that comes up for our customers. We want customers to have a delightful experience, keep giving us money and recommend us to their friends." / "I'm writing a technical blog post. I've been asked to blog more because it helps us attract good talent, and good talent will help us make better software." But its heartbreaking how often teams and people fail this test. "Oh, I'm doing this but I don't know why. My boss asked me to do it. But she didn't tell me the reason and I didn't ask." / "Yeah we're all working hard on this product but there's another team doing basically the same thing and in 6 months all our work will probably be scrapped." / "Our scrum meetings are an absolute waste of everyone's time. My boss admitted over drinks that we only do it because it makes our team look good in the meeting with all the big bosses." Sometimes the problem is communication. Sometimes its a lack of initiative on the ground - eg "I learned to stop asking questions like that". Or a lack of mentorship to junior employees. Sometimes its a lack of leadership from the C-suite, or incompetent middle managers or VPs or something. But whenever people can't explain the point of their work, something is going terribly wrong in the company, and I hear a calm voice playing in my head: "Please take a moment to locate the nearest exit. It may be behind you. In the event of an emergency, ..."

duxup 2y ago

> Leadership communicating to workers never seems to work out well as companies grow. Do leaders at the tip top of larger orgs "care" if their communication works out? Every larger company I've worked for the top leaders stated their case and just ... left the room. It wasn't a conversation, or any kind of communication I would expect where someone validates that everyone is on the same page. What follows is inevitably middle managers repeating what was said, again no real validation that anyone got the point and everyone rolls on. Communication from "leadership" at big orgs is always more just communication AT everyone and that's it ... In such situations it's hard to imagine the top leadership really care beyond getting their noise out in the room / email / etc.

1015toNutley 2y ago

Registered a new throwaway account, because I wonder if you and I work for the same place - except I don't think that our higher-ups care whether we understand the idea or not, but we must implement it anyway. Is your company, by any chance, based in San Mateo and Raleigh?

drewcoo 2y ago

> Leadership communicating to workers never seems to work out well Well the first problem is management calling themselves "leadership." Then there's communicating "to" instead of "with" a separate group of "workers." Someone who tries to convince me to do all the work is not a "leader." That scenario seems more like a setting for a fable than a healthy work environment.

keybored 2y ago

What do you expect when you have such vacuous and non-owning words for management as “leadership”. “The leadership of nation X”, “the leadership in the company”. They’re huffing their own self-important smoke without taking direct responsibility. It leads to very passive and indirect statements.