Being tidy

Years ago, a regular visitor to my home, a friend, said "I love coming here - it makes me feel so much better about how tidy my house is".

Now, I am not saying that tidiness is not important to me but there are clearly some gaps in my capability in this area. Most of the time I know where everything is - although in the kitchen drawer I can never find the vegetable peeler.....

Recently though I got to walk round a production facility - heavy manufacturing. And one of the things that struck me was how tidy everything was. Places for everything from sanders to spirit levels. And it made me think that this was tidiness for a purpose - partly safety of course as tripping over a saw could be rather painful - but more than that - because having everything in a clear place would make it easier for people to find, for people to work together efficiently.

So, I am thinking about applying tidiness to the world of work. At a high level this could be about having a really clear plan/strategy that everyone can understand and see their part in.

But it was the much more practical aspects of working together in a tidy way that struck me. Especially during times of uncertainty (and boy are we experiencing some external headwinds at present!) people look for certainty, for structure, process, regularity. They want to know where to find the tools to do their jobs! Or having the opportunity to give feedback on the tools and to be listened to and properly heard. So.....

• Get the right meetings, governance and structures to allow everyone in the team to understand the role that they are playing
• Continue with meetings even when you have not got lots to say. Value them as an enabler for the wider organisation to stay aligned, empowered and engaged. Value time spent listening
• Challenge your personal preferences as a leader - changing the frequency of meetings or leaving work and decisions to the last minute might work for you but it might not allow people to work with you as well as they could

So, if you don't love tidiness, that's fine! But to scale your impact as a leader and allow your teams to be at their best then you may need to put personal style to one side and think about how to run a tidy team.