• 5 months ago
BY BEATRICE DIXON, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, THE HONEY POT COMPANY

Here's how Musk aims to streamline the flow of information by circumventing chain of command.
Transcript
00:00Elon Musk has had plenty to share with business owners over the years, and he's spent plenty
00:11of time thinking outside of the box.
00:13But his take on chain of command may be one that more business leaders should consider
00:18in a world disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
00:21Here are three things, according to Elon Musk, you should do to improve your chain of command.
00:26Number one, remove the hierarchy.
00:29The chain of command has long been a part of the corporate world.
00:32For Musk, however, that kind of hierarchy is a very inefficient system.
00:37When messages are being pushed up the chain of command, they can get stuck in bottlenecks.
00:42They may also change in tone, importance, or context as more people communicate them.
00:47Even if a message remains intact on its way up, it may take too long to get to the right
00:52person, creating potentially costly problems for the company.
00:56Number two, communication is key.
00:59In a letter penned to his Tesla employees in 2018, Musk says, communication should travel
01:05via the shortest path necessary to get the job done, not through the chain of command.
01:10Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves
01:15working elsewhere.
01:17A major source of issues in companies come from when communication doesn't flow freely.
01:22As he told his Tesla employees, it must be okay for people to talk directly and just
01:26make the right thing happen.
01:28Number three, adapt.
01:31Business leaders need to think seriously about blowing up that chain of command since it
01:34can easily fall short.
01:36And in a time when businesses are under pressure, nothing that hurts the company's ability
01:40to communicate should live on.

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