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Punchy, actionable insights and tips to make the life of the team leader a breeze.
[00:00:00] Pia: Aligning your team behind a clear direction that everyone understands is motivated to achieve and can deliver to is probably one of the most fundamental keys to success, and also where a whole lot of challenges can lie. Welcome to today's connect, the first in a mini-series, focusing on alignment, bringing your people together, and helping them make sense of their work and actually achieving more. Woo-hoo. I'm Pia.
[00:00:26] Dan: And I'm Dan, and this is Sqaudify Connects.
[00:00:29] Yeah. You know, we are trained as managers and employees to fix problems, aren't we? You know, we look at what's happening now. We spot things that aren't quite working well. We decide what to do next, and we get on with it. That's our day job.
[00:00:42] Pia: But it can unle us in a cycle of tasks without meaning. Ooh, that's another definition of insanity. Whereas effective leaders, on the other hand, add an important element to this way of thinking. Before focusing on the current state, they always consider what it is that they are trying to achieve and why. And this gives meaning to action, which is just so I. It also gives the problem context and helps us to prioritize what the most important thing is to fix and ensure that our actions are aligned.
[00:01:15] Dan: We call this the three Ws. It's actually three questions. Each one's starting with the W, hence the name. And first one is as Pia just said, what are we trying to achieve and why? You then look at the second W and that is where are we now? And then finally, how do you close the gap with the third W? What's next?
[00:01:34] Pia: The first question, what are we trying to achieve and why we can abbreviate that to W1, and it's so useful when planning. Instead of doing a situation analysis and planning fixes, which can just take us down a rabbit warren of different opinions and complexities, having a clear vision of the outcome aligns a team, and having an idea of why Connects the team to a purpose. It's also much more energizing and you'll be surprised how much common ground there is.
[00:02:08] Dan: So your experiment this week is to try the three Ws in multiple ways and see what impact it has. In meetings, try starting with what do we want to achieve today and why? Notice when the conversations get stuck in the weeds and use that W1 question to get everyone back and aligned around the goal. You can even use it in concise ways. For example, in emails or in conversations. We've all read rambling emails that don't quite make sense. Try using the three Ws structure to help you to really deliver powerful communication. Check the show notes for resources and try the three Ws on for size.
[00:02:43] Pia: This is a potentially transformational week. The three Ws is one of the most powerful leadership frameworks, so enjoy trying it out and seeing how it can transport your results. See you next week.