Robust Dialog
A lack of robust dialog kills the internal progress of a business.
Robust dialog is the ability for people to speak openly and clearly about the real concerns of a business and to have them genuinely heard and taken into consideration. In my experience, the presence of robust dialog moves our company quickly toward its goals. The absence leads to stagnation or, worse, decline.
Robust dialog requires emotional fortitude. Emotional fortitude allows you to hear criticism and not take it personally; it allows you to appropriately focus on the matter at hand, not your emotional responses; it allows you to also feel comfortable making requests of others. Emotional fortitude, in turn, allows others to feel comfortable bringing up required/requested improvements and changes, knowing that appropriate, fair and required actions will be taken as a result.
When I feel “out of touch” with my business, employees or customers, I look to see where communication is stifled. I then take a step back and see where I’ve shut off forms of communication. Opening communication channels is the first step. The second is to lead and direct those channels of communication.
In any relationship, business, personal, romantic or otherwise, someone must lead. Someone must always “go first.” If you lead a business, department or even just a single person, that responsibility falls wholly on you.