Excel Is Not A Leadership Tool

One might think this would be obvious but yet somedays it seems this may not be the case. Microsoft Excel is not a leadership or communication tool. There, I said it, out loud.

 Ever since the advent of computing and the injection of business productivity application into the business office ecosystem, it has become both prolific and easy for organization and efficiency software to be conflated with leadership and communication behaviors.

 Why is this the case? The simple answer is that many business and cultural models are centered on productivity being the definition of success. But the truth is that getting the right things done at the right time is way more impactful and effective than getting a bunch of things done.

 Measures of business and organizational success are a much bigger can of worms to pop open but for now I’d like to recalibrate on a simple thought.

 Organizations, full of people, who are very different in a multitude of ways, can find productivity applications like Excel or others helpful as a tool to organize information and make sense of certain things, but truly impactful leadership and communication happens through relational vision, directional orientation, connection, and purposeful contribution. Avoid the risks inherent in planning boards and file folders alone.

 Don’t attempt to talk to people or lead them through rows and columns. Instead, look them in the eye and see each other, and apply that connection to what really needs to be accomplished for the organization through connecting and doing it together. Performance will leap forward in a way no pivot table will capture.