The Enemy Is Inaction

Starting new conversations and changing the way things are where you work can seem daunting at first. Often we have a sense of what's needed but we don't have the right words to put it in motion. Ben has you covered. This is the email he sent to his team after our first meeting that's led to some major openings in his culture.

Hi,

In staying true to our company culture of continually working on ourselves and being better leaders and experts in our field, I've been doing some study on effective management and leadership of high-level organizations, and more than a little self-reflection on my own areas of improvement. I've decided to make the following changes going forward:

1. Out of respect for everyone's time, our weekly one-on-one meetings will now be 30 minutes and start and end on time.

2. The focus of these development meetings going forward will be for me to support YOU in your personal career development, NOT for me to micromanage you and go through your task list.

3. I'm committed to showing you more trust and respect by focusing these meetings on big picture themes and priorities.

4. I will also trust everyone to let me know anytime you do not have what you need to achieve your goals.

5. I am going to pull myself out of our weekly "directors calls", and let you run those calls as you see fit.

6. I will be scheduling some additional brainstorming or launch meetings on specific projects, but these will not be a regular weekly requirement.

7. Finally, I'd like to discuss this new format with each of you individually.

Please let me know you got this.