Every year, Master Teacher Ed Perry leads Acton Scholars in the People Management course. Here is an excerpt from one of his classes on communication:

If there is one ingredient that is essential to successful leadership, it is trust. Trust starts with honest company-wide communication every day.

Honest, forthright communication is surprisingly tough for people to tolerate. We live in a business climate full of taboos on telling or being told the truth. Instead, we become passive aggressive and encourage others to be the same. Allowing passive aggressive behavior and gossip to become prevalent can kill your company. As the leader, you have to break those taboos. Only you can do it.

How do you get there?

One great tool is frequent all-hands meetings with frank two-way communication. In these meetings, tell employees what is working for you and what is bothering you. Listen to what is working for them and what is bothering them. And here is the tough part: solicit their constructive criticism. Watch how people watch you when someone gives you public constructive criticism. How you handle that criticism will set the tenor for the whole company. When handled properly, that simple act will encourage honest communication and a sense of “team.” That’s why we practice it in class at Acton. Set a culture where you and your executive team look for the best thinking, including criticism, from your employees. It will produce mutual trust.

Think about these questions:

• What company culture do you create when you accept and act on criticism from your employees?
• How honest will people be with you when you are open to them every day?
• How will your company perform when employees feel safe in looking for opportunities to improve? What happens to employees’ performance when there is nowhere to hide, when no one in the company tolerates bad behavior?
• How does this behavior affect morale, your company culture, and your success.

Ed Perry is a Master Teacher at Acton. He has also been the founder, CEO, president or managing director of nine successful companies in the areas of engineering, consulting, enterprise software and venture capital.

Tags: Advice, Ed Perry, Leadership, People Management, Teachers

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