David Cummings on Startups

Three Basic Questions to Answer for Every Employee

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David Cummings

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In Patrick Lencioni’s book The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, he talks about the following:

  • Immeasurable – if nothing is measured, then nothing can be improved
  • Irrelevant – it’s critical to know who the work affects
  • Anonymity – knowing and caring about personal life is important

In a similar manner, there are three questions entrepreneurs should answer for every employee:

  • Who’s my boss?
  • What’s my job?
  • How do I know if I’m doing it well?

It seems simple, but you’d be amazed how many employees can’t answer these three little questions. Why? Many leaders don’t spend the time to build a healthy organization. Great leaders know that everything depends on great team members, and the foundation is the culture of the organization.

What else? Can you answer these three questions for everyone in your company?

Comments

2 responses to “Three Basic Questions to Answer for Every Employee”

  1. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    This is a really interesting post. As an organization, I think we are getting there 🙂 For the big companies today that most people consider to have a strong, well-defined culture, I am be curious to learn at what stage all employees were able to clearly answer these questions. Are there any trends? Do they all realize this around the same time or at different points in their existence? And not to go too negative with it, but is there a point-of-no-return where if a company does not have a strong sense of culture, they likely never will. FYI – I am not the CEO of my company

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  2. April Clarke Avatar
    April Clarke

    I have a business with a partner who manages a totally different side of the business than I do. He has to manage people as well on this side and I drill these questions into him all the time. It’s so important for people to know their role and how they can do well in that role. Good post.

    Reply

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