Blah, blah, blah
Leadership communications -- blah, blah, blah! That's how most people experience most leadership communications. Most are long winded email updates written by someone other than the leader or quarterly presentations on fancy Powerpoint slides (also written by someone other than the leader).
The subject matter of these communications is usually the organization's strategy. The strategy often comes off as sounding like platitudes. People feel preached at, bored or leave wondering what their role is. So how can you be different?
First, leadership is personal. People want to know what you really believe in and they want to hear that in your own words. All leadership communications are an opportunity to engage people in your personal vision. So, write it yourself. Write your own speeches. Write your own email updates. Use your communications people to guide you but don't let them write for you.
Second, communicate often. More often than you think you should. People aren't motivated by 4 communications a year. To motivate people you need to build relationships. To build relationships, you need to invest time. So plan to communicate every couple of weeks, using many different formats (emails, blogs, meetings, hallway chats). I find blogs to be one of the most effective tools for this. Blogs are short. Blogs are personal. Blogs are frequent. More leaders should blog.
Third, be real and be interactive (another reason blogs work). Share both your successes and your challenges. Ask questions of your people. Every leader has something that is keeping them up at night. Ask about that thing that keeps you up at night. Get your people's opinion and help them see the complexity of the issue. Have a real dialogue with your people.
Finally, sit at their desk. Not literally but figuratively. See yourself sitting at the desk of one of the people you are talking to. Ask yourself, "What do I need this person to do differently tomorrow? What do they care most about each and every day?' If you don't know the answers, ask. Make sure every communication closes with the answer to one of these two questions.
Posted by Claire Carver-Dias on January 20, 2011
Communications, Leadership, Personal Effectiveness, Strategy Development & Execution
