An innovative way of understanding the “real work” of leaders and managers, as well as guidelines for convening two of the most important types of conversations in organizational life. Leaders and managers – at all levels and within all types of organizations – are always impacting both the productivity and the culture of their organizations, whether they’re aware of this or not. Effective leadership is about purposefully and consciously improving productivity and creating a healthy corporate culture… and it all happens through these two fundamental types of conversations. What Do Leaders Do? At a fundamental level, we say that leaders get paid to have effective conversations!  That is, leaders get paid to interact – in language, of course – with others in such a way that the following results do get produced: And the following results do not get produced: Good leaders are responsible for both the culture and the quality of execution within their organizations. Toward these ends, two types of effective leadership conversations have been identified as especially important. Consider your own organization, and your role in facilitating and designing these conversations: Conversations for Orientation – to build shared understanding of the big picture, mission, goals, objectives, organization, standards, and values. Over time, these conversations are the vehicle for creating and sustaining a particular workplace culture. They establish the overall context within which everything else occurs, and “set the mood” for moving forward together. Conversations for orientation include a compelling story of the company, where it’s going, how it’s going to get there, and why it’s worth going in the first place. These include on-boarding (for new employees) as well as on-going (periodic, for all employees) conversations. For most successful organizations, these conversations occur in some form continuously and periodically throughout the life of the company. Conversations for Implementation – These conversations are the “essence of execution” and are the ways employees and leaders alike coordinate action with others and actually get things done collectively. At the heart of these conversations are requests, offers, promises and commitments. How are requests made? Are they clear and specific? How are commitments generated and how are they managed? What is the level of clarity, shared understanding and shared commitment? What has become the “norm” when people fall down on managing their commitments? How is accountability practiced? The invitation is to become more purposeful regarding the ways in which you and your organization set context and create shared understanding (Conversations for Orientation) and accomplish real-world goals (Conversations for Implementation.)  Take an active role in designing and facilitating conversations that produce the environment and also are the tools for accomplishing anything and everything together. Like this Tool Tip? Get Lots More in these eBooks! [wpsc_products category_id='80' ]