One of the great lessons in communication that I learned several years ago from one of my seminary professors, Dr. Bob Tuttle was, “People are DOWN on what they are not UP on!”
When people are “in the dark” on a situation – or when we “surprise” them with information – they will tend to react negatively to what is going on. This is a mistake I made too often as a younger leader. I mistakenly thought if I told people too much ahead of time, they would just “block” me from doing what I wanted.
I’ve found the opposite to be true. The more time and the more information I give people in advance of a decision or an action, the more likely they will be to support the idea. (If it is a good idea!) But if I fail to communicate clearly about what is going on, they will begin to doubt my leadership – and my ideas! (And if I try to “force” a decision too quickly on limited information – the response will usually be negative!)
So if you want to Lead UP be sure to … keep people “UP” on what’s going on in your organization!
