As a leadership team, it is vital to communicate regularly and openly with you teams. Together you have made decisions and have clarity over who is doing what and by when. You will understand why the decision was made and how it will enable the organisation to achieve its objectives. You will agree a communication plan, so everyone on the team sings from the same hymn sheet and show alignment and create safety for your people.
HOW WILL YOU COMMUNICATE YOUR MESSAGE TO ALIGN YOUR PEOPLE?
One complaint most people raise in employee surveys is about communication. Leaders say we communicate all the time and are often perplexed when they hear this. They pull together team briefs, posters are put up around the building and perhaps a quarterly newsletter is sent around the offices. They might engage in town hall style meetings or even create lunch with the leader sessions. All are great tools to reinforce a message, but they consistently miss the mark.
Most leaders are at a loss as to what people actually want when it comes to communication. For me it is really simple and is about getting back to basics. The human factor wins every time. When I talk to leaders on a one-to-one level, they speak from the heart about what matters to them and why they do what they do. It really moves me and makes me believe in them. And then I ask them to say those exact words to their people and they say they can’t. They think they need to be all formal and business-like, but it is only when they speak from the heart that people will really follow them.
Note about the Importance of Communication
You know how it is yourself. You get a text message or email from someone, you interpret what they are saying based on your own thoughts and feelings at the time. You have no other reference point since you can’t hear their tone or see their body language. Or imagine that group email communication: it feels bland, impersonal and lazy. Mass communication can be highly effective, but it has to be human.
"The purpose of communication is to create a connection between you and your audience so that they can receive your message with the impact that you intended."
Lucy Barkas
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