No, this is not a movie review! Just because I have watched thousands of movies over the years, doesn’t make me qualified to review. If you are asking though, I would give it an 83% on one of those rating services. If you have not yet watched this Netflix original, you may want to watch it and then come back to this article later.
Okay, for those of you that stuck around to read, here it is.
Transparency - Trust - Integrity - Faith
These are the things that I took away from this movie. In the film, there is a giant asteroid hurtling through space directly towards Earth. One automatically thinks Bruce Willis will save the day, but not this time. In this version, those in power (read politicians), have found out that this rock has trillions of dollars worth of rare earth minerals embedded in it. They hatch a much too late plan to mine this. They fail.
Don’t Look Up, is a cry from those that can see the truth staring at them, but do not want the people to know. They can see the rock entering the orbit and atmosphere, and therefore they can see the end. Half the world isn’t looking up, because they have been duped by those in power. They want to believe that the politicians are doing what’s best for them. The movie could be viewed as a satirical look at how the pandemic has been handled.
What we learn from this? And how to apply it to your business or organization.
Transparency
In your organization, what are you hiding from the team?
What do you think they do not know about?
What things may cause them to panic a bit?
Is it that Cash Flow projections look weak in the coming months? Did you inform them about the quality issue that could cause some negative feedback? Or maybe that one of your key managers might be leaving for the competitor?
Let me let you in on a little secret. If you know, they will find out.
Secrets can’t be kept from everyone. Telling the team not to look up, is poor strategy. You can’t inform everyone about everything, but when confronted do not deny it. Make it a point to inform your team about the good, bad, and ugly on a regular basis. Do this with some form of regularity whether its an email or YouTube, let them in on the bigger picture. By coming to them regularly, you can also be open with them by saying that there are some things that can’t yet be discussed at this time. Be consistent. Be open. Be transparent.
Trust
I look at trust as a pool of water. As you develop and your career grows, water is added to your pool. Picture an above ground pool filled to the top. This is you as you have reached the corner office.
Each time you break a trust, a hole is punched in the side of the pool starting from the top and moving down. Those holes are punched over time and out pours the trust. As the water runs out so does your career (effectiveness) as a Manager or CEO. The trust that we are speaking about is either with your team or your stockholders, but you can’t afford too many holes in your pool. You will spend more time patching up than filling up.
Integrity
Doing the right thing when noone is looking. It’s as simple as that.
When you are in the office alone with your thoughts, reams of data have poured in, and you need to make a decision, if you have built your career on integrity, your team knows that you are thinking of them. It may not be a decision they like, but because you have been open (transparent) and you have developed the trust, those being affected by this decision will respect it - because you have lead with integrity.
Your integrity matters.
What are they saying about you when you leave the room?
That is your legacy, and if you have integrity - you won’t be sorry.
Faith
When you have lived your life with Transparency, Trust, and Integrity, your team will have faith in your judgement. Your customers will believe that you are not taking advantage of them. Whether it’s your employees, a team of volunteers, or your customers, they will follow you if they have faith. You can take them on this new road, introduce a new product, or change courses on a new path. Faith is the intangible asset. The more open, honest, and true you are, the more deposits you make to this account.
What does all this mean? It means look up, look left, look down and out … Don’t hide what matters to those that matter to you. Make sure your team can see the same things you can, so that you are both on the same path. Having common goals and vision is important, so you must be looking at the same thing.
You never know if they may see something that you completely missed.
At the Kole Performance Group, we help you with your communication strategy and help you build teams with your common goals in mind.