Communication Strategies for Leaders: Own the Message!

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Meryl Frank Harari, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

In a recent presentation on strategic leadership communication, I challenged meeting participants, an accomplished group of managers, to react to a concept that Bert Schuster, my former boss, told me many years ago:
“The responsibility for communication rests with the communicator.”
Some participants flat out rejected the idea as I had done when I first heard this in my early 20’s. “What if I am talking to someone who doesn’t understand English? What if the person is not smart enough to grasp the message?”
Others accepted it conditionally: “Well, OK. Maybe if I have to get something across that’s a mandate, that would be my responsibility – but then they have to accept the message!” Or, “I have to earn my listener’s credibility before they will even be open to hearing my message.” Or another: “Well, if I tried and they still don’t get it, there’s nothing more I can do. I have fulfilled my responsibility.”
The more we talked, the more the managers seemed to embrace this concept of responsible communication. I could see that I was making my point and actually communicating!
Here are some of the ideas we considered. If you are charged with communicating, either verbally or in writing, then doesn’t it make sense that you are also charged with getting your message across to your listener? And have you also noticed thatlistening is not necessarily hearing? Has it ever occurred that what you said and what your audience heard were two different messages?
As a leader, “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere”, said Lee Iacocca.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen many leaders who don’t stop to consider what they want to say, which medium will best deliver the message and why they even want to say it.
What is the goal of the communication?
As Pam McLean, CEO of the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara puts it, “Awareness is self-correcting.” So as a leader, your first step is to be aware: stop and think about your communication. If you just slap your preferred style of communication on every situation and assume it’s going to work for you, I’m afraid you’ll do so at your own peril. As a leader you are always on stage and always communicating. It is your responsibility and the stakes are high.
Communication is one of those critical life skills that you can never get too good at. Each new person and each new situation, presents a new communication challenge that I suggest you, as the communicator, must own. Otherwise, why bother?
To be an effective communicator, there are many tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years. Here is my top 10 list. Hopefully, you will take away a new nugget, or two.
1. Communicate with purpose, on purpose.
2. Begin with the end in mind. What’s your goal? Who needs to know what?
3. Intention does not matter; perception is reality!
4. Determine the best medium for your message. Use all forms of communication, e.g. verbal one-on-one, meetings, presentations, voicemail, written memos, electronic mail, conference call, webinar, etc.
5. If your email, conference call, presentation, etc. raised more questions than it answered, you did not communicate your message—refine and try again.
6. For mass email blasts, always get an extra set of eyes on each outgoing document. Don’t assume you can be the final proofreader if you’ve been living with the document.
7. Don’t assume you’ve been heard; check for understanding.
8. Always challenge yourself: How can I communicate more effectively? Specifically define the outcomes you will expect for each situation or task; don’t leave it up to the imagination
9. When communicating verbally, make sure your non-verbal message is consistent with your words.
10. Be deliberate and take enough time to communicate. Don’t rush!
Finally, I have been passionate about communication my entire life and work on it all the time. While spontaneity is nice and can be cathartic, effective communication needs to be deliberate and focused on the listener. If you make sure you think through what you want to say, how you want to say it and reality check why you are broadcasting your message in the first place, then you have a shot at really being heard.
And for all this wisdom my mature self says, “Thanks, Bert Schuster, my enlightened former employer, wherever you are!”