Teach your team to provide you trustworthy information promptly.
Leaders are often forced to make decisions quickly based on the information their team provides them. In order to guarantee the success of an organization and its leaders, a team must have the communication skills to provide their supervisors information in an accurate and timely manner. These communication techniques should be established before a crisis occurs.
Leaders who make decisions based on accurate and timely information protect themselves and the organization from liability.
To guarantee that you are well informed:
- Set expectations with your employees. Communicate to your team that you expect complete, accurate and verified information on critical issues.</li
- Stop the briefing if your questions are not being answered. This is a sign your employee does not have the complete facts. Do not begin investigating the issue on your own. Require your staff to return when they have all of the information.
- Explain your preferred manner of communication. There are times that it is appropriate to send you an email or text. There are other situations when it’s necessary to receive the information by means of a phone call or in person. Train your staff which method of communication you want for a variety of scenarios.
- Discuss with your team which issues require immediate updates and those that do not.
- Follow through with your communication expectations. Set boundaries and stick to them.
Leaders must have accurate and timely information when making crucial decisions.
