One of my standard jokes when I see someone walking against the flow of traffic at an event or similar situations is to say to them as we pass: “Now you know how a salmon feels.”

Most smile and move on. Some have no clue. I know, kind of corny but I like to have a bit of fun with people.

Think about this from the point of view of your company. If you’re the leader, do you feel like a salmon…you want to go one direction, but everyone on the team seems to be heading in the opposite way? Or, are you someone a bit farther down in the organization and you see other people not supporting the vision and mission of the company…you seem to be the only one trying to meet the goals of the organization?

Some years ago, my team was tasked with accomplishing a major project that required significant input and help from other teams. I happened to have an excellent project manager who was my lead on the project. She was great at having conversations with all levels within the company.

I was struggling to get one of the teams to do the things that were required of them for this project to be successful. My PM happened to be traveling with the VP of the other team, so I asked her to find out what she could. I was stunned when she came back and told me of their conversation. The VP told her that she had informed her team to attend the meetings we called, agree to the goals, but to not do any work on that project.

In other words, one of us was the salmon; either I was because I was the only one working towards the project’s success or she was because she was not doing what was supposedly a company priority. As I investigated more, I soon found out that I was the salmon. The top leaders were giving lip service to this project, but really didn’t care about it. 

You all know what this means; a lot of time and money is being wasted. What kind of a way is this to run a company? If something is not important, why work on it? And if it is, why aren’t resources being applied to it?

Look around at your organization; are people working on what is important to the organization? Or are they doing work that does not move the company forward? How are you supporting the goals of the organization?  Are you the salmon or are you causing other people to be salmon?

Getting your team going in the same direction is one of the most important aspects of being a leader. The direction needs to be understood by each and every person on your team. Not only what the direction is, but how that will move the company forward and why it is important for you to go that direction.

There are times that you do need to go against the current. But if you find yourself there all the time, perhaps you should check why that is the case and make the changes necessary to get on board.

This month, one of our topics addresses steps to take to get consensus from your team. It’s called How to Create Consensus. Attending this workshop will help you discover how to get your team on board what needs to be done to move forward. Register here by April 10. 

If improving your management team’s skill set is important to you, let’s talk for 30 minutes and I’ll help you figure out what to do about it. To schedule a time to talk, call 720-515-8081 or email john.reeb@crestcom.com.