Application of Concepts from Leading Out Loud

Page 49, first paragraph: “To win followers, leaders must transfer more than information. They must also transmit what they see and feel so that others see and feel it.”

While reading Leading Out Loud, by Terry Pearce, the above statement made a great impact on me because the lesson I learned during a course of two months was outlined in two sentences. During the first year of my current employment I was presented with a challenging project. The project involved the development of a computer application that would expedite data processing and report generation. My team was made up of two developers and seven technicians. The technicians in the team were tasked to beta test the application because they would be the ones using this application after it was developed. Technical staff’s involvement and input was crucial for the application to function effectively but I failed to engage and motivate them. I never received any feedback, positive or negative, from the technicians and the developers were awaiting my instructions on how to proceed with the design.

Initially I thought that the technical staff was reluctant to the proposed change and that was the reason for their limited cooperation. I was under the impression that staff had all the information at hand about the overall project. One day a team member asked me what the purpose of this project was and how it relates to his daily tasks. That is when I realized that I had done a poor job in communicating the vision, strategy and value of this project to my team, especially the technical staff that was tasked to use the application on a daily basis. I called in a team meeting and communicated the purpose of this new application. I knew that the team was looking for something more than information. They needed facts and how the new workflow impacted them. I explained how I envision the new application to streamline workflow and make their job easier. After the meeting, I knew I had successfully engaged the...