{"id":6300,"date":"2018-11-26T21:03:03","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T03:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=6300"},"modified":"2018-11-26T21:03:03","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T03:03:03","slug":"how-to-use-a-tuning-fork-to-drive-clarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/26\/how-to-use-a-tuning-fork-to-drive-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use a Tuning Fork to Drive Clarity"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a leader do you ever walk around with a tuning fork in your hand?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might not carry the actual instrument with you, but I\u2019ve learned that watching for \u201ctuning fork moments\u201d can be a crucial leadership tool.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I learned this in conversation with a teammate who didn\u2019t seem to understand the direction our organization was heading. Sensing his confusion I sat him down one day and helped him get back on track.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I finished he said, \u201cScott, that was a tuning-fork moment.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I loved that term. As I thought about it, here\u2019s what I learned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
An actual tuning fork is a simple tool used as a standard of pitch to tune musical instruments. And like a piano tuner, I learned that my job as a leader is to chime the tuning fork to make sure my team is operating with complete clarity.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I soon came to see that there are 4 key components of tuning-fork leadership:<\/strong><\/div>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>A \u201c6th<\/sup>\u00a0sense\u201d ability to perceive misalignment<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As a leader you must be constantly listening and watching for indications of very subtle mission drift among your team.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>A patient, listening posture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Leaders\u00a0must follow up a hunch about mission drift with a casual, inquisitive conversation. The job is to confirm, or dispel, the notion that a teammate has drifted off course. Such a conversation must be safe and unthreatening.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>An environment of affirmation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If a teammate has drifted, chances are they are only off-base by 10%. Affirm the 90% they are getting right.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>A clear ringing of the tuning fork<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now, you\u2019re ready to ring the fork. This involves unflinchingly pointing out where the drift has taken place, and ensuring your teammate\u2019s understanding is back on pitch.<\/p>\n

Tuning-fork leadership is an ongoing, never-ending process. Mission drift is inevitable in every organization. And just when you think you\u2019ve brought everyone back into alignment it will be time to re-clarify things for someone else on the team.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Is everyone in the organization clear on our overall direction?<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Is everyone clear on our highest present priorities?<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Does everyone see how their contribution fits into the big picture?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    If the answers reveal any fuzziness it could be time for clarifying conversations.<\/p>\n

    Keep your tuning fork handy\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a leader do you ever walk around with a tuning fork in your hand? You might not carry the actual instrument with you, but I\u2019ve learned that watching for \u201ctuning fork moments\u201d can be a crucial leadership tool. I learned this in conversation with a teammate who didn\u2019t seem to understand the direction our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1017,738,478,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-communication","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6301,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300\/revisions\/6301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}