Powerful. Patty McCord

higher level before they’re told so much about the down and dirty of the business, no? What if the department is in trouble? What if the company is struggling to build a market for a big new product? Won’t they be freaked out? And can they really be trusted with so much information? Of course, some information must be kept private, but you can absolutely convey the intensity of the competition you’re up against and share the major challenges being faced.

      It’s ironic how little information about strategy, operations, and results is generally shared with employees throughout companies. After all, public companies share that information with the whole world these days. Why should the investors on earnings calls know more about what’s happening in your business than most of the people working in it? I think it would be great if companies held the equivalent of an earnings call for all employees. In fact, why not have them listen to the actual earnings calls?

      If your people aren’t informed by you, there’s a good chance they’ll be misinformed by others. If you don’t tell them about how the business is doing, what your strategy is, the challenges you’re facing, and what market analysts think of how you’re doing, then they will get that information elsewhere—either from colleagues, who will often be equally ill informed, or from the Web, which loves nothing so much as a rumor of doom or a juicy conspiracy theory.

       Team Coaches Are the Model, Not Guidance Counselors, Professors, or Entertainers

      So many companies spend so much money on—and ask employees to devote so much time away from their jobs for— formal training classes. Much of this time, money, and effort is misplaced. As sports coaches will tell you, there’s no better way to learn how to perform than to be in the game.

      A little while back I was consulting to a young company I love, and the learning and development head told me that their younger people needed to learn to be better managers. I asked, “What do they need to know how to do?” She answered, “Well, they need to be better managers.” I said, “Specifically doing what?” And she said, “Management.” I pressed, “But what part?” She responded, “Well, we’re going to have to have a full curriculum with conflict management and interpersonal communication.” Those are probably the two most popular classes in the training canon, and I’m sure they’ve helped some people become better managers. But if I could pick one course to teach everybody in the company, whether they’re in management or not, it would be on the fundamentals of how the business works and serving customers. This is the information people most want, because they know they can take it and run with it. Courses on conflict resolution they generally roll their eyes about, not to mention resenting the time away from their work.