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Before You Say "Synergy" Again...

โ€œ๐—ช๐—ฒโ€™๐—น๐—นย ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒย ๐˜€๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐˜†ย ๐—ฏ๐˜†ย ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ดย ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟย ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒย ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ย ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑย ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ดย ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ย ๐˜๐—ผย ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒย ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ย ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ตย ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟย ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€.โ€


Canโ€™t you just picture the heads in the room nodding along?

It soundsโ€ฆ important, right? Impressive, even?


And canโ€™t you also picture those same heads huddling together ๐˜ข๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณย the meeting, whispering:

โ€œWaitโ€”what exactly are we supposed to do?โ€


We love our leadership buzzwords. And honestly, thatโ€™s not always a bad thing. Used well, they can help us capture big ideas in short phrases. But when our goal is to impress instead of clarify, the message gets muddyโ€”and so do the results.


Letโ€™s break down a few common leadership buzzwords from that opening sentence:

๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐˜†ย โ€“ When people, teams, or organizations work together in harmony to be more effective.

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐˜š๐˜ฐย ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ: Do you mean cooperation? Merging efforts? Increasing value or reducing duplication?


๐—”๐—น๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ย โ€“ Everyoneโ€™s on the same page about where we are and where weโ€™re going.

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐˜š๐˜ฐย ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ: Who needs to coordinate? Whatโ€™s the shared vision?


๐—ข๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒย โ€“ Getting the most out of our resources: time, money, people, tools.

๐Ÿ‘‰ So ask: Are we repeating steps? Paying for overlapping tools? Can we streamline?


๐—˜๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟย โ€“ Giving people the authority to act without waiting for permission.

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐˜š๐˜ฐย ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ: What decisions can your team make without you? Do they know the goalโ€”and their guardrails?


The truth is: just because ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถย know what you mean doesnโ€™t mean your team does.

If you want action, name the action.

If you want to celebrate results, share what actually happened.

If you want alignment, start with shared understanding.


We lose credibilityโ€”and connectionโ€”when we focus on sounding smart instead of making sure people actually ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ตย what weโ€™re saying.


Buzzwords arenโ€™t bad. They just need a little unpacking to make sure everyone is, ahem, aligned with us.


So tell usโ€”๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ดย ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆย ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑย ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ป๐˜ป๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅย ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถโ€™๐˜ฅย ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜บย ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณย ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณย ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ?



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Welcome to Leading Out Loud - Real Talk for Real Leaders

This series is for leaders who are done with leadership "fluff." 

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If you're curious, forward-thinking and trying to lead with both clarity and integrity in a messy, fast-moving world - you're in the right place. Keep reading for short reflections that revisit classic leadership ideas with a fresh lens, and challenge us to rethink the habits and assumptions that no longer serve us.

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Zero jargon. No silver bullets. Just questions worth asking.

 

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