FortyTwo Studio – What sweeties do you share?

We recently held our 'year so far' and strategy catch-up day. A regular commitment where we review the year and discuss what's next together.

It's always a great opportunity to share what's going on behind the scenes and I'm always keen to be open and honest about all aspects of the business - including financial.

I wholeheartedly believe that for a small company, it is vital to be transparent in all key areas of the business. If you want to encourage real ownership and ensure your team can see exactly where and how they contribute to the output, the culture, the clients, the financial performance, and any other relevant factor then being open about every area of business performance is essential.

Yesterday we covered the successes (and it's been a cracking year despite the world trying to ensure otherwise), how well our plans for 2021 and beyond are progressing and of course the challenges - the conversations that can sometimes be thought of as difficult.

Key areas of the business where attention is required, hard lessons we must learn from specific projects, how we must adjust to working in this new world and most importantly the actual details of HOW we can all contribute towards improvement in such areas.

I actually love those conversations. They are about moving the dial from good to great and are always helpful for us as a team growing together.

Looking to sharpen up our skills, our approach or processes is never a bad thing and always to our collective advantage. As long as you don't develop a 'blame culture', are clear on actions and outcomes, you should trust your team to take up the challenge to go for it.

We are very fortunate, we have a great team, clients, suppliers and a good chunk of ability amongst us all. However, business and strategy updates are pointless if it's only as a back-clapping exercise.

Talking through any rough areas in an open, clear and definitive way as well as the successes are what everyone and the business needs. At its heart, strong Conscious Leadership is about authentic leadership and authenticity only comes when you communicate fully and you are able to share all the sweets - the hard caramels as well as the chocolate raisins.

After all, whilst a chocolate raisin is gone in a flash, the hard caramel lingers longer and ultimately is far more satisfying.

Anyway, enough of this terrible (and slightly creepy) analogy.

How do you share progress with your team?