The Role of the Chief Reminding Officer in Leadership

Aug 9

Leadership is hard. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to casting vision and getting people to follow you on a journey. Different motivations drive everyone, and it’s the leader's goal to align others' motivations with the desired outcome. If you are anything like me, you love learning; it’s a lifelong pursuit. You read articles, watch YouTube videos, listen to audiobooks, the works. I find myself most of the time highly motivated and driven to learn and pursue excellence. Still, there have been weeks lately when it's hard to stay generally motivated, not to mention the challenge of staying motivated for months on end. You may not even be close to ‘burnout,’ but motivation can waver from day to day. This is why having a plan, accountability partners, and being part of a community can be so helpful in reminding you to stay focused on the things that matter. If, as leaders, we are sometimes unable to find the motivation ourselves to keep pressing on, why would we assume that our volunteers and staff will remain self-motivated?

For readers like me, you likely have heard of Patrick Lencioni. (On a side note, is it just me, or is he competing with John Maxwell for the most leadership books authored? Just my two cents.) As I have read a few books by him recently, a concept in his writing keeps coming to mind: the concept of the Chief Reminding Officer (CRO). Lencioni talks about how it's important to have leaders actively recite vision and purpose, which is crucial for effective leadership and organizational health. Lencioni emphasizes that leaders must continually communicate and reinforce the organization's core values, strategy, and priorities to their teams. This role is vital for creating clarity and maintaining focus within the organization. So today, this article will be a reminder (see what I did there?) to get out there and share the vision God has placed on your heart with your staff and volunteers. Let’s break down the keys to becoming the CRO for our teams.

The Importance of Constant Reminding

Lencioni argues that leaders often fail to communicate enough due to the fear of being redundant or insulting their audience's intelligence. However, the truth is that over-communication is necessary. Employees need constant reminders to internalize the organization’s mission and goals. Lencioni famously notes that you aren't communicating enough until your employees can imitate your key messages when you're not around.

The Concept of Chief Reminding Officer

Lencioni delves deeper into the idea that a leader's primary function is to remind their team of the core mission and values repeatedly. He explains that many leaders fall into the trap of thinking their job is about setting strategy or being a visionary. However, he argues that the real work of a leader is in the daily, sometimes monotonous, task of reinforcing what’s most important.

The Psychological Basis for Reminding

The need for constant reminding is rooted in psychological principles. Humans tend to forget and get distracted, especially in a fast-paced work environment. This is why frequent reminders are essential for keeping important information at the forefront of staff and volunteer minds. In your brain, there is a fundamental process that governs motivation it's called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). RAS, on a fundamental level, is a network of neurons in the brain that filters out unnecessary information and helps focus on what’s important. By repeatedly communicating key messages, leaders can train their team’s RAS to prioritize and remember their church's vision and mission, helping them to stay focused on what matters most.

The Six Critical Questions

Effective communication involves reiterating the organization's culture, strategy, and priorities frequently. It’s about embedding those elements so deeply that they become second nature to every team member. Before we start to share the vision and mission of our church with our teams, let’s take a second to remind ourselves (especially if we are the ones setting the vision) of the ‘why’ behind what we do. Lencioni suggests that leaders must answer six critical questions to ensure organizational clarity:

‘Why does our church exist?’
‘How do we behave?’
‘What do we do?’
‘How will we succeed?’
‘What is most important right now?’
‘Who must do what?’

These questions form the foundation of what needs to be communicated repeatedly to the team.

The Role of Repetition in Leadership

Repetition is key in the role of a CRO. Samuel Johnson states, "People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed." This quote underscores the necessity of reiteration in leadership. It’s not enough to communicate the company’s values and priorities once; it must be done consistently.

Practical Steps for Leaders

To implement the CRO role effectively, leaders should focus on three key practices:

Inject Positive Content: Counteract the natural negativity bias by regularly sharing positive and inspiring messages. This helps in creating a positive mental framework and fosters a productive work environment.
Daily Reminders: Leaders should remind themselves and their teams daily about their core values and purpose. This can be done through personal declarations or mantras that reinforce positive and truthful thoughts.
Frequent Team Communication: Use meetings and regular check-ins to reiterate the organization’s values, vision, and priorities. This constant reinforcement helps in building a strong organizational culture and keeps the team aligned with the company's goals.

The Impact of Effective Reminding

Effective reminding has a significant impact on organizational health. It helps in aligning the team’s efforts with the company’s strategic goals and ensures that everyone is moving in the same direction. Moreover, it fosters a sense of purpose and motivation among employees, as they understand how their work contributes to the larger mission.

Let’s take a second to consider this from a fifty-thousand-foot perspective. What are the consequences if we, as leaders, fail to act as CROs? What would it look like if we did not remind our teams of the things that matter? The consequences will likely look like general misalignment and confusion within the team. Simply put, it will look like people are investing time and resources into projects that are not making a significant impact on supporting the church, ultimately hindering the organization’s performance. As leaders, we want teams to work on projects on purpose, for a purpose. In this simple thought experiment, you can see how critical the role of a CRO is in maintaining clarity and focus within a team.

Addressing Common Challenges

Leaders often face challenges in fulfilling the role of a CRO. One common challenge is the fear of redundancy. Leaders might worry that constant repetition will bore their employees or fear it will be perceived as wasteful or inefficient. However, the reality is quite the opposite. Repetition is necessary for embedding key messages into the organizational culture. Lencioni advises leaders to embrace repetition and view it as a tool for reinforcement rather than a redundant exercise. (You may even notice in this article the constant reinforcement of these concepts.)

Another challenge is the tendency to get caught up in strategic planning and neglect the day-to-day communication tasks. Leaders must balance their visionary roles with the practical aspects of daily reminders. Lencioni suggests setting aside specific times for regular communication and sticking to this schedule diligently. This helps in ensuring that the critical messages are consistently reinforced.

Conclusion

The concept of the Chief Reminding Officer is more than just a title; it’s a crucial aspect of leadership that involves the continuous reinforcement of the organization's core values and objectives. By adopting the practices of a CRO, leaders can ensure that their teams remain focused, motivated, and aligned with their church’s mission. This approach not only enhances organizational clarity but also builds a resilient and cohesive team.

For more detailed insights on this topic, you can explore Patrick Lencioni’s discussions on the Table Group’s website. By embracing the role of a CRO, leaders can drive their organizations towards greater success and create a work environment where everyone is clear on their purpose and motivated to contribute to the collective goals.