We thought very hard before launching this. Does the world really need another blog about leadership and team management?
One of the reasons we’re building Kommon is that we know managers already feel pulled in too many different directions. They’re already spread thin across pressing deadlines, team development, and that guy who wants approval to use their company gym subsidy for paintballing because that’s his chosen form of exercise (yes this actually happened). So amongst all this, is there something we can say that’s worth your attention?
Well, as part of building Kommon we spoke to managers and people professionals from a whole range of companies, from startups to global investment banks. Over 85% said they weren’t getting any meaningful assistance from their organisations in becoming a better manager and developing their teams. And when they looked online for advice, the picture didn’t get much better.
Writing to genuinely help managers
Does anyone really need another article on the ‘54 ways to give better feedback’, or ‘105 questions to ask at your next one-on-one’? Well, perhaps whoever’s in charge of SEO marketing at the author’s company needs it - but certainly not the manager.
That’s not to say that there isn’t some brilliant stuff out there (Rands, LeadDev, First Round, amongst many others - we salute you) but we have heard from managers that it can get crowded out by noise which is at best over-complicated and at worst irrelevant to their daily roles.
Like those we’ve referenced above, we want to give managers another place they can rely on to provide concise, relevant, readable stories which help them become better at their job. The whole ethos of Kommon is helping managers solve their own problems rather than having to wait for their HR department or senior leadership to catch up. This blog is part of that mission.
We say ‘stories’ because we think we can often learn the most from the experience of others, and so we'll generally seek to ground our writing in real-life tales of what other managers have worked through and how they’ve grown.
We've begun the blog with some articles based on all the interviews we did with managers as part of designing Kommon. They're a little broader than other pieces we'll publish but we wanted to share some insights from those conversations and make it clear who we're building the product for and why. So we explore why managers are so important, why they don't currently get the support they need (particularly some of the issues with management training) and how we think technology might provide some of the answers.
We won’t always get everything right, and we encourage our readers to let us know when they feel we’ve missed something. Similarly, most of what we know, we’ve learned from others, and we’re absolutely open to guest posts and other initiatives to bring wider perspectives to our readers. Please get in touch!
Not everything we post will be applicable to every team, but we think that most of the time, our posts will contain something which managers can take away to help them feel that bit more confident in their daily role. Longer articles will always contain a 'Busy Manager's Summary' at the top so you can get the key points, even if you don't have time to read the whole piece (although we hope you come back later). You can also subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter so you never miss a post.
So in answer to the original question - does the world need another leadership blog? We have humbly concluded that, if we’re writing it like this, then yes.
If you have any comments or questions about this piece, please use the live chat, contact hello@inkommon.com or contact us.
