Article 20: The Many Skills Needed by Leaders Part 5

INTRODUCTION:
There can be no doubt that great leaders are good listeners but just as important is the ability to speak. I’m not talking about getting up in front of big crowds and delivering a rousing speech. I’m talking about the everyday ability to convey an effective, efficient, succinct, and meaningful message. I am reminded of a fellow educator who reveled in the opportunity to show off his elocutionary skills whenever possible. And, indeed, he was quite polished in his delivery. There were never ums or uhs there were rarely any pauses and he could speak on almost any topic at the drop of a hat. But, after he completed his message hardly anyone in the audience had a clue as to what was said. No one knew what to do based on the message delivered. It was up to his lieutenants to translate the message into actionable pieces of information people could use. I frequently wondered why he didn’t just divide up the group into subgroups and have the direct supervisors tell them what they needed to know and what they were expected to do. But I already knew the answer to that question. That would have robbed him of the opportunity to be on the stage delivering another rousing speech to the troops, which they all enjoyed, but was wholly ineffective.

Sending out effective verbal communications is really not difficult. It can be done with an economy of words and a laser focus that results in actionable knowledge for those receiving the message. There are three parts to such a message and I’m sure you are all aware of these parts. They are the introduction, the body of the message, and the conclusion or summary. In the introduction you tell your audience what you are going to tell them. In the body of the message you tell them what it is you want them to know. And in the conclusion or summary you tell them what you told them along with what you expect them to do with that information.

Not sure how to do this? Here’s an example but I’ll spare you of most of the details that would be given in the body:

Introduction: OK team. Over the next few minutes I’m going to tell you about a new procedure we are going to implement here at XYZ Company. This procedure will help each of you be more effective at completing the required virtual paperwork for the sales, design, production, budgeting, and delivery of our products. It will also help us make sure we are all working towards the same goals and not at cross purposes.

Body: As you all know we have had some difficulty making sure that what we sell can actually be designed, manufactured, packaged, and delivered in a timely fashion and in a way that produces a profit without hamstringing our customers. So from this point forward we are going to use the following virtual paperwork process:

1. Sales proposals will be reviewed by sales, design, manufacturing, packaging, finance and delivery department team members in a common meeting before the proposal is delivered to the customer.
2. Each department will begin their part of the virtual paperwork process during that meeting.
3. No sales proposal will leave the meeting and no person will leave the meeting until everyone is 100% committed to meeting all of the requirements of the proposal and everyone signs off on the proposal.
4. To begin with we will begin everyday with these cross departmental meetings and then as we see how things go we may be able to adjust to having these meetings as needed.

The success of our company depends on our ability to do this. We have lost too many contracts because once a sale is made we cannot deliver the products on time, on spec, and on budget. We can and will do better. I am committing myself, 100% to this process. We can no longer use the excuse of “they” screwed up and didn’t get their job done on time because there is no they, there is only we. If we lose many more customers we are all in trouble. So not only do we need this common focus for our sales proposals we all need to find a way to get our products to our customers at prices they can afford yet still return a profit to our shareholders, meet the engineering specs requested and the quality standards customers have come to expect, and meet the deadlines our customers need.

I know there is some internal rumbling go on already. Sales department, I know you will see this as an unnecessary hurdle and that it will hurt your ability to get out there and sell. Well you know what, if we outsell our ability to deliver I believe that will eventually hurt sales more than this process can ever hurt sales. And design, I know you don’t want so much pressure to get the XYZ designs completed faster than you feel you can but you know what, if we can’t deliver a quality product to our customers when they need it, they’ll buy it from someone else and you’ll have nothing to design. And production, I know you hate these hurry up and produce and then wait for the next assignment. You’d prefer to balance things out and work at a steadier pace. But if we can’t get the products out the door when they are needed-well you know what I thinks. And finance, I know you are always watching the bottom line. You want us to spend less and charge more but we have to find a way to keep the quality up, our costs down, our employees satisfied, and our customers’ needs met. This is a tough assignment but I know we can do it.

Summary: Let me summarize, we have a new process that begins today. No one is exempt from using the process, not even me. I will post the process in the meeting room and every proposal will have spaces for each department to sign off on and our customers will see that we are all committed to the terms of the proposal. I know we can do this and I know you all want this to succeed so let’s go do it. Any questions?
So there is a brief talk from a business leader to her troops. It take sales than 5 minutes to deliver all that information. It is succinct and focused. No one can be confused about what it was about and what is expected of them. Anyone can do this. It’s not about fancy language and smooth delivery. It’s about saying what needs to be said in a way that can easily be digested and put into action.

Sometimes communication will require that leaders broach some very difficult subjects. For those times the methods discussed in this article can be of great help. But the bottom line is still and introduction, a body, and a summary. Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them and what actions they are expected to take as a result of the communication.

The Many Skills Needed by Leaders Part V:

SPEAKING:
A critical part of leadership is the art of effective communication. We’ve already discussed listening but we need to consider the art of speaking as well. Too many people take a very indirect approach to telling people what they think. This can create confusion which leads to misunderstandings. Although the direct approach can be unpleasant, it is our experience that it is far less unpleasant than having your message misinterpreted. The key is to learn to speak your mind without being offensive. We teach a technique that allows people to speak their mind while also being respectful of others. This technique has 5 main parts:

1. Stating the observed situation or circumstance. This can be what you think you’ve heard, seen, or otherwise discovered.
2. Next is seeking clarification. It is important to realize that how we “see” something is affected by our own experiences, biases, beliefs, and values.
3. When you’ve received clarification share with the other person or the group how you feel as a result of what you’ve experienced and the clarification you’ve received.
4. Ask your communication partner/partners how they feel about all that has transpired.
5. Suggest that we all work together to come to an agreement as to how we move forward from here.

Here’s an example of how this might work. Imagine a member of the team you are leading is reported to have said that you are a very ineffective leader on this project. You immediately have choices to make. Will you ignore the whole thing and hope it goes away? Will you jump all over the offender as a traitor to the cause? Or will you use the 5 step technique outlined above.

Using the 5 steps from above your first step would be to calmly and respectfully but very directly say to the person, “it has been told to me that you do not respect my ability to lead this project.” It is very important in the entire exchange that you are not accusatory, derogatory, sarcastic, or angry. If you want to make the leadership process work, you need everyone to know that you are fair and open and interested in the success of the team. Now you would ask them for clarification so you might say: “First of all, is this an accurate statement? Is this what you believe?” If it is, what is it about our experience together that leads you to conclude that I will be ineffective?” Now it’s time to listen and listen carefully. Once the other person has confirmed, clarified, or denied the statement, it is time to share how you feel about the situation. Let the person know about your frustration or anger or disappointment. Let them also know that your desire is for everyone to be able to work together effectively and efficiently so that we can successfully complete the project. And then, once again it is time to get information from you teammate. Now you want to know how he or she feels about this situation. Finally, enlist the other person’s help in charting a simple path, where everyone pulls together towards achieving the desired outcomes from the project.

SUMMATION:
In every organization the need for clarity in conversation is essential. Real clarity only comes when we put certain practices behind us and choose never to use them. One of these practices is attribution. We all do it and when acted upon the results can be very deleterious to the organization and the people within the organization. Attribution is the act of assuming I know another person’s motives for his or her behavior as it affects me. It is about attributing others words and actions to motives we frequently possess ourselves or motives our minds tell us are accurate based on our perception of the world. If I am a naturally skeptical person I am likely to attribute more malevolent motives for actions to others when those actions hurt me.

To create clarity in communication it is critical that we find out why others do what they do or we need to ignore motives all together. Knowing that most of us cannot ignore the why when another person’s actions directly affect us our best course of action is to have the crucial conversation.

To get to clarity requires that we ask the right questions. Unfortunately what we often do is ask: “Why did you do that?” This is rarely a good idea. A much better question actually comes as a result of a statement on my part that clearly lays out what’s going on in my own head. I have found the best approach is something like this: “I heard that you decided to move my desk down the hall. As I think about this happening, I wonder why I wasn’t asked about that move. In fact I got a little upset about having this done to me. Can you help me understand what’s going on?”

By rephrasing my question from a why did you do this question to an observation and my thought process stemming from that action I open up the opportunity for a real conversation about what’s going on. Perhaps the other person has a really good reason for having my desk moved or maybe she just thought I wouldn’t care. Either way, I can find out why it was done without sounding defensive or accusatory. And I’m showing that I am interested in finding out reasons not just out for a fight.

In many organizations the conversation might have been more like this. “Hey, you moved my desk! Why?” And this will usually be said in rather loud and accusatory voice. This will then often elicit a response that is equally loud and accusatory. What’s going through each person’s mind is that the other person is unreasonable and is out to get them. And the truth is never uncovered. But when the more open conversation is used and the other person is calmly given an opportunity to explain what’s going on, a reasonable resolution can often be reached.

Try using a different approach. Try not to attribute other’s action to what you think it was all about. Try to find out what’s really going on and give them the benefit of the doubt. It will help your organization be a better place for everyone involved.