Context Is Leadership's Highest Leverage Tool

Something's been bugging me for a long time and I wonder if you feel it too. In most places I've worked in there's a pattern of confusion that leads to some version of the following across the organization (and tends to get worse as you go “down” the org chart):

I'm working hard and trying to get things done, but I'm in meetings and chat threads all day trying to get aligned with my partners and other teams. I'm borderline burned-out and I'm not sure if what I'm doing is having the right impact.

I don't get the full vision for my company. What's the plain language story that gets me excited about what the future will look like if we do our jobs right?

I can't point to our actual strategy. I need a clear plan, not just vague aspirations or goals, that helps me understand what we're collectively focused on so I can make sure my work aligns to it.

There may be localized clarity in different groups or teams, but if you're feeling any of the above you're not crazy. What you're missing is the foundational context for your work.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Does my organization have a compelling, well-understood story of what the world will look like if we succeed (a real vision)?
• Do I understand the key blockers to achieving the vision — what's truly getting in our way that we can focus energy on?
• Is there a designed plan to overcome these blockers and get us closer to our vision (a real strategy)?
• Are there specific actions and policies in place to support the execution of our strategy?
• Are there a handful of "heartbeat" metrics that measure how well we're achieving our key strategic outcomes?
• Is there a set of principles — shared organizational beliefs — that drive everyday decision-making?

These are the contextual roots of a well functioning organization. If you're a leader it's your job to get these in place and to regularly evangelize them. Together, they become a powerful set of high-leverage tools for trust, alignment, and everyday decision-making that:

• Provide meaning that inspires people to do great work
• Focus the organization on what's important for better, more cohesive decision making, prioritization, and execution
• Unlock the problem-solving creativity of teams
• Give leaders time back and get them "out of the weeds" by safely empowering teams to make more decisions on their own
• Reduce attrition and create a compelling reason for people to join your organization (true believers)

If you're a leader, the risk in not doing this hard work is negative leverage — you'll actually amplify the drift towards misalignment and waste because you leave it up to your teams to assume your vision, your strategy, your goals, etc. People want to do great work and they want their organization to succeed. The energy is there. But it's the clarity of purpose that allows that energy to self-organize into something remarkable.

My plea to leaders: Take the time to lean back and do the introspective work with your leadership partners. Broadcast these foundational ideas until your teams are sick of hearing about it. In doing so, you will create a “paved road” for your teams to drive on. This is some of the hardest work you'll do, but it will pay tremendous dividends and the results will be amazing to watch.

Much of my thinking draws directly from the writings of Marty Cagan and Richard Rumelt, whose work has profoundly shaped my perspective (with a little Margaret Wheatley sprinkled on top). Some of these ideas deserve deeper exploration — I'll expand on them soon.