How would the people you lead describe you as a leader?
Calm? Constructive? Inspiring? Autocratic? Micro-managing?
What do they base this description on?
Your vision?
Your results?
Your financial prowess?
None of these.
They base this decision on how you communicate.
Your fantastic vision, results and financial prowess might impress them. It’ll certainly impress the City, or the Board, or the Exec Team – all key stakeholders, of course.
But how people assess you, as a leader, will come down primarily to the way you engage with them.
Every single interaction is interpreted and summarised by people around you, and builds to their perception of who you are as a leader.
It doesn’t matter what your intention is when you communicate.
It’s how people experience it that counts.
A quick example
One senior leader I coached was frustrated because his team kept asking for his input. They weren’t taking ownership and failed to drive things forward. What was wrong with them? Could I coach them to be different?
Meeting the team, I discovered the reason for their lack of independent action. Their boss would provide the brief, then ask for something different when they presented their recommendations. Talk about constantly changing goalposts!
It was frustrating and resulted in wasted effort plus a sense of never getting it right. To avoid this, they got into the habit of checking in frequently to make sure they were going in the direction he wanted. ‘Small step, then check’ was the accepted practice.
The team saw their boss as indecisive and nit-picking.
The leader’s perspective? He felt that he was giving helpful feedback and refining output.
How to change things
In your busy leadership role, it can be hard to get communication right. However, if you want to have a productive, engaged and confident team, you must continually fine-tune the way you interact with others. A fabulous vision, a breakthrough strategy and world-beating financial prowess will be undermined if you can’t communicate with the people you lead.
The good news
We all have the ability to engage with others in a way that inspires, engages and motivates.
You don’t have to dazzle with your story-telling skills, ooze charisma as you schmooze your way around the (virtual) office, or even let it all hang out with your no holds barred authenticity.
You can still be you and it’s easier than you think.
Next week I’ll share with you the four attributes that the best communicators possess, and how you can learn these too.
In the meantime, if you’re frustrated at something your team is doing right now, ask yourself if it could be the way you’re communicating? And equally, if you’re thrilled with how your team is performing, what are you doing right?
What might you need to tweak or build upon?