Elon Musk advocates for open communication at Tesla, emphasizing that employees should bypass traditional chains of command to solve problems quickly and efficiently. He argues that allowing direct communication between departments enhances agility and intelligence, which is essential for competing against larger car companies. Musk warns that managers who create silos within the company weaken overall performance and hinder cooperation. Key points from Musk's email: - Information should flow freely without going through a chain of command. - Employees can communicate directly with anyone, including upper management, to expedite problem-solving. - Managers must actively work to prevent departmental silos and foster a collaborative environment. - The focus should always be on the company's success rather than individual departmental achievements. - Agility and intelligence are crucial for competing in the automotive industry.
This email from Elon Musk emphasizes the importance of direct communication within an organization, which helps Engineering Leaders address common issues related to bureaucratic silos and slow decision-making processes. An actionable takeaway is to encourage open communication across all levels, allowing team members to collaborate swiftly and efficiently for the benefit of the entire company.
Throughout the years, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has demonstrated the art of masterful communication.
The following is a perfect example: It's a copy of a previously unpublished email Musk sent to Tesla employees a few years ago. Sent with the subject line "Communication Within Tesla," it explains the problem with how information is transmitted in most companies, and how things should be different at Tesla.
Here's the email (which Tesla has verified was sent to all employees):
Subject: Communication Within Tesla There are two schools of thought about how information should flow within companies. By far the most common way is chain of command, which means that you always flow communication through your manager. The problem with this approach is that, while it serves to enhance the power of the manager, it fails to serve the company. Instead of a problem getting solved quickly, where a person in one dept talks to a person in another dept and makes the right thing happen, people are forced to talk to their manager who talks to their manager who talks to the manager in the other dept who talks to someone on his team. Then the info has to flow back the other way again. This is incredibly dumb. Any manager who allows this to happen, let alone encourages it, will soon find themselves working at another company. No kidding. Anyone at Tesla can and should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company. You can talk to your manager's manager without his permission, you can talk directly to a VP in another dept, you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone without anyone else's permission. Moreover, you should consider yourself obligated to do so until the right thing happens. The point here is not random chitchat, but rather ensuring that we execute ultra-fast and well. We obviously cannot compete with the big car companies in size, so we must do so with intelligence and agility. One final point is that managers should work hard to ensure that they are not creating silos within the company that create an us vs. them mentality or impede communication in any way. This is unfortunately a natural tendency and needs to be actively fought. How can it possibly help Tesla for depts to erect barriers between themselves or see their success as relative within the company instead of collective? We are all in the same boat. Always view yourself as working for the good of the company and never your dept. Thanks,Elon