7-minute read
What often separates good leaders from bad is the ability to communicate.
From an early age, we are taught to speak by learning, repeating, and stringing together words, yet communication – how to influence, successfully convey a message, and employ verbal and non-verbal techniques – we learn organically.
If you’ve ever been around a two-year-old in the “No to everything” phase, you’ve seen the taught skill of speaking and the organic learning of communication in full display.
As promised last month, this month is focused on strengthening communication in three areas that often define a leader’s trustworthiness and competence: vision, change, and crisis. Indeed, this is a vast topic.
Here, we will focus on people-centered communication techniques in these areas that are easy to implement and measurable.
Before diving into tactics, let’s spend a moment on common communication barriers. We’ve all struggled with communication at some point. The MindTools 7 C’s of Communication worksheet is a clear, usable guide for crafting compelling communication and overcoming common communication obstacles.
Communicating Vision, Change, and Crisis
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou
Communicating a vision, change, or crisis is complicated because each represents a departure from the status quo. Breaking from any routine, positive or negative, breeds stress and uncertainty and puts leaders under a microscope.
Your team will assess your ability to lead and your trustworthiness by how well you convey certainty and provide direction as you disrupt business-as-usual. In any communication that results in change, lead with a people-first mindset.
Empathy and strategy are equal partners in a people-first approach. Outlining how strategic goals support culture and career helps the team see how their role contributes to the outcome. Teams that operate within this mindset have higher retention and productivity rates.
So, before enlisting the marketing and communications team or a savvy board member to develop the objective, determine the audience, select the channels, and map the timing and rollout, prepare for the only question that matters to your team: “How will this (change, vision, crisis) affect me?”
Answer this question first, because any change, even a positive one, is an implicit threat and puts your team into personal risk-assessment mode. Being replaced by AI, being layered, or being laid off are worst-case scenarios that will swirl around and breed gossip and rumors until you provide clarity on WHY the change is needed and HOW it will affect individuals. Until then, anything you say is noise.
Clarity matters for creating certainty. For any communication,
Set the stage: “Today we’re talking about…”
Deliver the message: “This is what X looks like for the organization and by department…”
Summarize: “If we do this well, we’re expecting this result…”
What follows are organizing prompts for a people-first approach to communicate vision, change, and crisis.
Choose which prompts serve both your purpose and your people.
Vision
Spoiler alert: Face time matters. Be visible and accessible.
Taking an organization in a new direction is exciting. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the momentum generated by the vision’s creation. When communicating a new vision, organize your message around its outcomes for the company, culture, and careers. As each department has a unique role, communications should be tailored to the specific group.
Company: Why the company will be stronger as a result. What the risk factors are, and why these are acceptable.
Culture: How teams can collaborate to realize the vision. Who will lead the rollout effort. How department managers will integrate the vision into professional development and workflow planning.
Career: What new skills/technologies can be learned, and what that means for job security.
Before introducing the vision to the entire team, meet with team leads to discuss their roles and responsibilities and how the vision will be incorporated. Then, meet with the entire group to outline the high-level vision and field initial questions.
Give teams time to absorb the initial information. Attend team-specific meetings to discuss your vision for the team, then turn it over to the team leads to add details and reprioritize workplans.
Change
Change is often destabilizing, even when it’s positive. In initial conversations, focus on the reason for the change, the likely outcome, and what is known. Be honest about what isn’t known. Be clear about what you don’t yet know and as transparent as is reasonable.
After the initial conversation, schedule frequent updates to fill in details as they emerge. Keep line managers close and well informed, as they will field most questions and need to translate change into specific job functions.
Managers need direction on both the tone and the content of the messaging so they can accurately communicate it to their teams, keeping them energized and positive. Conversely, if it’s bad news, don’t sugarcoat it. Say what and why it is, and how the issue is being addressed.
In all cases, schedule multiple interactions for the team to generate ideas or commiserate. Creating cohesion makes people feel like they have some control over the outcome. This will help the team embrace the change you seek more quickly.
Crisis
In times of crisis, your team wants assurance and a calm, focused leader, not someone building the plane and flying it at the same time.
Plan for crisis when things are calm. First, choose your crisis team. These may include advisors, team members, or peers. Arrange for them to meet and get to know one another so each understands the team’s value.
This group will help you develop a crisis plan, including a discussion of which facts are relevant, the message elements, who needs to be informed, in what order, and the distribution channels. Information leaks lead to rumors and internal chaos, so establish accountability to prevent them. This pre-planning will help you meet the moment with speed and clarity.
Even if you aren’t calm, and you probably won’t be, practicing positive nonverbal communication with focused eye contact, relaxed body language, and a confident tone and manner will be reassuring to your team.
Checking your progress
What we’ve discussed is a lot of planning. For checking your progress, you can use this riff on design thinking adapted for people-centered communications.
Develop your outcome-based message
Deliver the message confidently
Debrief with advisors and your team for feedback
Decode reactions to your communications to learn what is sticking and what’s not
Demonstrate your commitment with a plan for continued communications or improvements
Consider any leadership communication about vision, change, or crisis a first impression with your team. The goal is to leave people feeling confident in your ability to move forward. Your team will follow your lead; set the stage and role-model the behaviors that support your culture.
Too many facts early on can be confusing and overwhelming. Build in time, even in times of crisis, for people to absorb what you are saying and formulate questions. Be available to answer. This will make them feel more secure and valued.
How you make people feel in critical communication moments is what people remember and what defines your leadership legacy.
Thank you for reading.
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