Conversations over meetings
They say as CEO you need to work ON the business, but sometimes you gotta work IN it to understand how to work ON it.
I've been in the weeds for the past 6 months:
- seeking understanding of our people
- looking at our systems
- what exists or doesn’t
- asking why many, many times
- getting to know the team
- getting involved a whole lot, then removing myself
- making lots of decisions of what to cull, keep and create
Some of this has come in the form of keeping my head down and doing the work, but the most significant part has been having productive conversations.
What does working “in” or “on” the business actually mean?
Where do we draw the line of what counts as working in or on the business? To me it feels a bit too black or white.
To work on the business, we need to understand what happens in the business. How can you properly understand everything without getting involved in the business?
This doesn’t mean you have to do the day to day work, but we shouldn’t deny that sometimes it helps us to understand how the business functions. Looking from afar creates some understanding, getting closer up brings greater clarity.
There is a sense of harmony through balancing the two.
Conversations as a way to work in the business
One way I look at this is how conversations lead to clarity and action. I’ve come to love the conversations we have as they set the tone of how we move forward with confidence.
When I have conversations with our team, I feel like I’m working in the business. It then helps me to understand how to work on the business.
In the world of work we too easily default to ‘meeting’ as a way to make decisions. I’m opting these days to see them as conversations. They feel less intimidating and they give us more flexibility with how we can choose to proceed.
CEO conversations are crucial, some examples of how they help:
- talk through challenges
- brainstorm new ideas
- give insight we would otherwise not see
- opportunity to offer our help
- see different perspectives
- pair on problems and creation
- strategise a way forward
- have empathy for the team
- identify gaps and needs
- can create consistency with culture formation
This is not a complete list, just a few examples of the how conversations help.
What I’m increasingly excited about is seeing businesses as communities and how I can take my community thinking to apply it to how we build businesses.
Conversations are crucial to community, and they’re most definitely essential for creating a great business culture, and that is what I’m striving for.
Communities can get tiresome when there are too many conversations and not enough action, the same principle applies in business. The conversations that feel great are the ones where we can see the progress we make.
What I’m excited for:
I’ve been a bit disillusioned recently and finding it hard to find things to get excited about. I’d like to set an intention to log and then share what brings joy and hope to my indiependent world view:
Until next time!