If you’ve been in a leadership role for any length of time, you know that it’s better to listen than to talk. Of course this is easier said than done. How many leaders have you seen who talk, talk and talk more? Unfortunately ego gets in the way….even for YOU! We do it with the best intentions, because of course, we know more of what’s going on in the organization and for that reason the information we wish to share is crucial (at least in our minds) for team members to receive and understand if our organization is going to continue to be successful.
There seems to be a similar communications process in most organizations. It goes something like this:
- Senior leaders arrive yearly to deliver a new “Mission or Objective” talk …usually filled with Power Point slides on last years results and this years stretch objectives with considerable attention to the “gape” between the two. Almost always is a slide or two linking all of this to team member’s personal performance metrics for the upcoming year’s reward, non-motivational performance package.
- Senior leaders arrive to announce the implementation of new organizational, system or process changes considerably laced with Power Point slides with justifications on why the changes are needed from the consultants that came up with the ideas.
- Senior leaders arrive to explain why the new organization, system or process aren’t working and what the plan is to fix them so they will.
- Senior leaders hoodwink themselves into believing they’re communicating by adding a 5 min Q&A at the end of their presentations … and the cycle goes on! Sometimes they even formalize “action plans” from these Q&A sessions with promises of doing something about the challenges identified.
All through this communications nightmare, front line leaders spend copious hours supporting/justifying organizational direction and the message from senior leaders or worse case, they throw their hands up in despair … point to “them” and tell their team, “It’s not me … I don’t believe it either!”
Besides the considerable “Change Management ” issues I’ve painted in the above scenario, there are some personal leadership communication skills that can be learned and applied to help leaders negotiate through their organization’s communication culture.
Great people centred leaders listen and seldom speak, but when they do, it’s usually to ask questions. How you ask questions either results in receiving information that is useful and can be acted on to drive organizational success and performance or delivers information that continues to justify your perception of the status quo.
So what can leaders do to help their communications persona?
Here are some tips:
1. Formulate all your presentations in to stories. Yes, you heard right! I said stories. Why? …because all through human history anything worth while was handed down through stories. Done right, your story will have a plot, characters, good and evil, right and wrong, villains and good guys. Done exceptionally right, and you’ll leave your audience hanging …wanting more AND anxious to ask questions.
Here’s what it could look like. Your story is about people surrounded by a common foe (competitors) who are bent on their destruction, but they have a secret weapon. Thorough team work and innovation they have developed a new system that gives them an edge in their battle. Unfortunately, from within they have a traitor that is holding them back called “implementation”. You need their help. What can be done? How can they help?…..
2. Stories last no longer than 10 minutes EVER!
3. Wait ….say nothing …until it feels really uncomfortable, then count to 10 slowly. Almost always some one in your audience will fill the silence with a question. Silence is a leader’s golden opportunity to gain knowledge. Most human beings can not tolerate a void or absence of talk in a group. Use this to your advantage. Do NOT fall into the trap of “shallow” leaders by being the one to fill the silence.
4. If no one speaks, ask “open ended” questions.
Lets talk about open ended verses close ended questions. A close ended questions goes something like this; “What do you think we should do about our new system?” or “Does any one have any questions on our new objective?” or “Is your department fully up on using the new process?”
The answers you’ll get back from these types of questions will be: ” Throw the system out. we want the old one back.” or “Nope, no questions here on the new objectives. Look good to me.” or “New process..oh yeah..right. Yeap, we’re up to speed.”
Open ended question go something like this; “Your team has run into some interesting challenges with the new system. Can you tell me the one that is giving you the most concerns?” or “Our first objective means an operation reduction of 2.5 million dollars for your department. What will you cut first?” or The new system is only processing 10 percent of your departments total work load. What is preventing completing all our transactions in the system?”
I guarantee that if you use open ended questions effectively, you may not hear what you want to hear, but you will hear what you need to hear.
5. Stay away from “why” questions. They cause people to fell like you’re looking for fault, who’s to blame and finding the fall guy to sacrifice. Use “what” questions where ever possible.
Make these suggestions work for you. The only sure way is to start now and practise, practise practise every time you’re with team members.
