Aptly put, communication is key👍🏿.
The setting was a primary school – kids were running an athletics relay race. One child runs, and passes the baton to the next person. One team was clearly winning, until the baton was handed over to the last kid in the team. Then the lesson began. Instead of the kid continuing to run to the finish line [by maintaining the direction of the race], he ran the other way. In other words, he practically erased the progress made by the earlier runners. As you watch the video, you will see the coach shouting at the kid to turn around, and run in the appropriate direction. My Question to us: Do you think the coach communicated the purpose of that race to the last kid? Possibly, he assumed that he knew - and that he would follow the direction of the race. Bad things happen in firms because the business objectives are not well communicated to team members, making some to come and erase progress made by others. As a business leader, take time to communicate the objective and what WINNING really means - and do not assume that everyone understands. And the more you communicate, you may not even need to coach during the "business relay race".
