9-Dec-08 9:00 AM  CST  

Communication (excerpt from Foundational Leaders, a book by Bob Chapman, Ph.D.) 

If you are going to be a leader of strategic execution, you are also “signing up” to become a great communicator. That is because communication is the essence of leadership. Leaders can do little without communication.  Communication is the act of imparting, conveying or exchanging ideas, feelings, knowledge, information, intent, and strategies which inspire others to act in ways they otherwise would not act. Their actions in turn will produce results that otherwise would not occur. Communication is core to successful strategic execution.

If communication is so important, how come so many managers are so mediocre at it?   I think it is because communication is viewed as an “add-on to the real work of strategic execution.” It is, “nice to do when we have time” for many managers. It is viewed as optional rather than crucial to the task at hand. As a consequence many prospective leaders inadvertently undermine their own effectiveness with unintended communications. While they think they are telling their employees how important they are to the success of the business, the message given to employees is the opposite. Because communication is treated as an afterthought rather than central to strategic execution, these managers unintentionally signal to their employees that they are not important and at the end of the day really do not matter…even when the words coming out of the managers mouth is “how important you are.”

Communication in Strategic Execution

Communication is to leaders like air is to the human body. It is critical for survival and success. Let’s look at an analogy:

The bodies of athletes in top condition process air very efficiently. Couch potatoes on the other hand, have bodies that do not process air efficiently and therefore require their bodies to work much harder.  Persons whose bodies cannot effectively process air are quickly limited in activities and have compromised health systems. The analogy follows. Top quality leaders are effective in communications, while “couch potato managers” are often panting from trying to stay caught up. Those with compromised effectiveness in communication are seldom able to provide leadership at even the most basic levels.

Success in execution begins with a change in the listening of the people for those who are providing leadership. As long as the listening is one of distrust and overt skepticism, communication and change are likely to be hard. Communication is a two way affair. It is the flow of information, etc. from one person to another. It is also the filter through which the second person hears and sees what is coming from the first person. Too often the focus is put entirely on getting the message right and using the proper words. Of equal importance is how the message is being received. The quality of the reception will have a greater impact on action than the quality of the message that is sent.

Since communication is a two way affair, it is important to identify how the employees “listen” to those in management. That is, how open are the employees to hearing what the managers are saying? Do they listen from a perspective of respect and trust, or do they listen from the perspective that management only is concerned about management and cares nothing about the people? I like to use the word "jaundiced" to describe this type of listening. In many businesses, jaundiced describes how people experience communication. In a physical sense, jaundice indicates a medical condition in which a person’s body is not processing bile properly, and their skin turns a yellowish color. One of the symptoms of jaundice is “yellow vision”, which means what the term says. Ironically the occurrence of yellow vision as a medical condition is quite rare, yet it is used frequently as a literary allusion. The illusion of the yellow color has been applied to “yellow journalists” who are considered to be biased in their reporting. This distrust of what is being said and written also applies to the communications in business. Many employees view what they are told as being biased and inaccurate, if not overtly jaundiced. Such a listening for communications from managers will undermine the execution of even the best designed strategies.

Communication is Core Not a Chore

In too many cases communication about the strategic execution can best be described as an afterthought. Communication is something that we do because we need to.

Let’s use an analogy of communication being a chore or something we do because we need to. Let’s use the very common activity of “taking out the trash”. I take the trash out once, maybe twice a week. Is it something that I am committed to? No. Does it make a difference in my effectiveness? No. Would I be happy if someone else did it for me? Yes. Do I feel empty or deprived on those trash days were I am away? No. Taking out the trash is something that I do. It is not an expression of me. There is no joy in taking out the trash; rather it is simply something to be done. It is a chore to be handled or managed. How much does communication in your company look like a chore to be handled or managed?

Communication is usually thought of as something to be done.  It is a way of reducing a potential problem. Seldom is communication thought of as the core or essence of leadership.

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

• When you see a young girl dance around simply because it is a sunny day and she is happy, what do you experience? I experience the joy that the young girl has with this moment. It is not a big deal, yet it is raw with authenticity and expression. 
• What do you see when you see a young boy score a goal in football/soccer game? There is often a blend of excitement and surprise. There is a sense that a group produced a sublime accomplishment.
• What do you see when you see a supervisor talking with a group of employees?  Do you see unbridled joy? How about raw authenticity and expression? How about excitement and surprise? Chances are that what you see is a chore, like someone taking out the trash.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Communication

As a leader of strategic execution, you will want to assess the effectiveness of communication about strategies as well as execution plans. I am providing you a series of questions to use for an assessment of your communications. If you have already started the execution, you can use these questions to evaluate the current effectiveness. If you have not started yet, use these questions to assess prior implementation projects as well as other attempts to create change with customers and within your business.

I suggest you give a rating for each question. Try using a five point scale, where five is a good rating while one is low rating.

1. Does the term communication refer only to the message?

We often have a mistaken impression that communication is one way. That is, flowing from managers to employees. Successful communication occurs when sounds and printed materials pass from a company representative to an employee or other stakeholder. Do your communication efforts involve intentional means of listening to employees? Is a safe area created for employees to be candid and honest? If your answer is yes, rate yourself a 5.

Too often the term communication is used to denote sounds and printed materials flowing toward employees. If you stand back and think about it, that’s silly. Yet many in business talk and think that way. Let me give you a little provocation on this subject:

Do you think that every sound you hear is music? OK, I know that those of you who have seen the musical ‘Stomp’ have found that sounds you never thought possible are entertaining, but ‘Stomp’ aside, do you hear every sound as music? When your neighbor’s dog is barking in the middle of the night do you wake up and think, “Ah music”? Do you wake up and think “Is that Mozart my neighbor’s beagle is singing” (a.k.a. barking)? This is not likely your reaction.

Neither do employees hear “music” in the sounds that come their way from some supervisors or managers pretending to communicate. Your neighbor’s beagle may be thinking a Mozart aria and yet to you it sounds like a dog barking at a cat. Too often your employees listen to communication coming from their managers in much the same manner as you listen to your neighbor’s dog.

2. Does your communication provide clear direction?

Do your employees know what is expected of them as result of the communication? Do they know what actions you would like them to take? Do they have a sense of how you want them to be with customers and at work? Often that is not the case. Let me give you an analogy:

How often have you been driving and found yourself lost? You stop and ask for directions from a “local.” What is the chance that you now know exactly what you are to do to find your desired location? It all depends on the clarity in the speaking of your” local expert.” If the directions are clear, there are usually visible landmarks as well as clarity on the action you are to take. “Go to the second stop sign and turn left.” Most of us can follow that. If on the other hand, your local expert says “Well, geez. I think it’s over yonder…”

Which type of “local expert” are you? Is your organization providing clear direction to a business that is in the midst of major change?

To make matters worse, managers are often told that they cannot discuss the details of the strategic execution until everything is approved by some higher authority. The concern is a valid one that key information not be leaked or disclosed that would compromise the business. In some cases there are regulatory or legal reasons for not communicating, and yet the communications do not improve once the limitations are raised. However, often this guidance is taken way too far. What happens is that communication is not given to those who need to have an idea what is coming, and worse little thought is given to how and when communications can be started. That is we give zero thought to what will be communicated until the “deal is done.”

While management may have good justification for limited communication during “black out times,” that is not to say that planning the communicating should not be at the heart of planning the strategic execution. To employees it seems apparent that management does not think of communications as the core of the work, rather as a chore to be done from time to time.

Just as neurons are essential to your functioning as a human, communication is essential to a business. While there are many individual cells or neurons, these cells constitute a system called the nervous systems which is essential to your functioning. While each are individual cells, something magic happens when they work together. So do the individuals in a business when there are communicated to and given directions. Fortunately our bodies do a better job of communicating with the cells than we do in business in communicating with individual employees.

The direction provided should also mark the boundaries that are important in execution. Mark means establishing a limit or boundary, with immaterial things as well as territories. It tells the employees what is “in-bounds” as well as what is “out-of-bounds”. On a golf course, posts are use to “mark” what is out-of-bounds. These posts tell the golfer that there is some danger in this area, and to be very cautious in looking in that area for their ball. It says, “Caution: this is out of bounds and not in the proper direction toward your destination.”  In medieval Germany the term mark was used to denote a pillar or post to denote a boundary or position of land. These marks were made with a stone or group of stones, which were tangible guidance for the people. Likewise stones are used for marks on hiking trails, so that hikers are pro-vided with direction to their intended destination.

What types of markers are given to your employees? Are there clear directions? What is your rating for the clarity of direction provided in your communication?

3. How effectively is guidance provided to employees?

Communication is essential to employees knowing what is expected of them, how they are to act, and where the business is headed. Too often this guidance is taken for granted by managers. “We told them” is a familiar retort. Yet “telling them” does not assure that effective direction has been provided. Further, the “telling” may have not been all that clear in the first place, since it was hastily put together at the last minute.

Guidance could be thought of as telling how to do something. My father was quite skilled at things mechanical, while I posses the “recessive gene that makes one non-mechanical”. My dad would give me guidance on how to do something mechanical, e.g., working on the engine of the car. I am sure that to him the guidance was abundantly clear. However to me it was not clear. He had “communicated”, but clear guidance was not received over where I was standing. So it is with you. The effectiveness of guidance provided in your communications is determined by the recipients. It is what they get and understand, not what you said.

Since success in execution rests on the effectiveness of guidance that is heard or received by employees in communication, you would think that it is actively assessed. Yet that is not the case. You would also think that the preparation is thorough to reach the concerns and perspectives of the employees. Also that is often not the case. Too often the guidance sounds like one manager talking to another, rather than being designed to be listened to by employees. It is like physicians who use technical jargon and expect the listener to thoroughly understand what is being said, even though they have little exposure to the medical terms. Usually the patients have little clue as to what the physician is describing. Often management communications are so filled with abbreviations, buzz words and technical financial-legal-management jargon that any guidance value is lost. Hence the importance of asking yourself, “Is guidance being heard? Do our employees know what we are asking them to do?  Is our guidance thoroughly thought through from the perspective of the listener?"  Effective guidance comes from communication that is thorough and well-prepared.

4. Does your communication evoke action?

Action on the part of others is crucial. Not only do you want action, but inspired action. Do you see inspired action occurring? Effective communication is designed to evoke actions from others. One clue is to look at the requests that are made of employees in the communication. Is it clear? Is it something that the employee can do? For example, if you ask each employee to “Be safe, work safe and look out for the safety of those around you”, that is something each and every employee can do. Too often there are not requests for action that the employees can act upon. A special time for communication evoking action is when a business is in the midst of crises. Even though there is less time to develop the communication, being explicit in the requests of employees is critical. Let me give you an analogy:

"Jury-rigged" is a nautical term for a solution that is applied after breakage of an important piece of equipment. On a modern racing sailboat this is likely to be a torn sail, a broken piece of gear or a broken spinnaker pole. The innovativeness in finding a way to “jury-rig” in the face of a broken piece of equipment can be the secret to winning or losing a race. My first race was years ago. I had excellent crew, and we were winning this local regatta. We won the first two races and had a big lead on our closest rival in the third race, when an important piece of equipment broke. It was metal fatigue on a part that I never even thought to check. Fortunately, the crew found a way to cleverly jury rig the boom so that we could finish that race, which was the last race of the day. By the next morning I had located parts that we could use in the interim and race on the last day. We won first place only because of the crew’s innovation to jury-rig the boat in the face of interesting challenges. Upon reflection, it was communication between the crew that allowed us to be successful. I was a complete novice at the time, and so could not give useful directions. Fortunately others were more capable, and I listened. What happens in your business when something unexpectedly bad happens? Is there quality communication? Is there the rapid response to provide the guidance and jury rig so that people can receive effective communication even in difficult times?

What happens when there are nasty surprises in your business? It happens to all of us. What matters are how we react and respond. Do we provide guidance and make explicit request of our employees so they can act capably and gain confidence as a consequence of the event? Too often managers spend too much time playing the blame game and not near enough time inspiring actions from their employees.

5. Do our employees experience assurance from our communications?

Marshalling your employees to act is one of the major challenges in business. Getting people to act usually comes after they have learned that they can trust those in leadership.  Trust follows assurance. That is, people will trust once they have a sense of assurance about the people whom they are considering placing their trust in. Assurance is provided through the leaders identifying what needs to be considered as well as listening to point of views of others. Leaders learn to lean on others around them for insights and broader perspectives. People come to have assurance when they see that their leaders are capable and resourceful.

In addition to capability, assurance is gained as a result of honesty in thinking and speech. It is ironic that people often are willing to accept liars as politicians, but not as team leaders and managers. If you are to reassure your employees, there needs to be a strong sense of credibility and integrity in the actions and speech of you and your leaders.

6. How inclusive is your communication?

Miniscule numbers of employees are often involved in the communications about changes in the business. There seems to be a bottling up of communication and data that is done all in the name of maintaining proper boundaries for communication. Too often managers are so concerned with averting a misspeaking about a pending change that they do not communicate at all. While the managers may keep the lawyers happy, they are inadvertently sending a very strong message to the people in the organization. Not communicating is perhaps the strongest communication of all. “What you are not saying speaks volumes.” While managers may ask their employees to “understand the constraints,” they also need to communicate directly about what they can talk about. That is, be explicit about the boundaries of the constraint. Also managers want to be explicit in saying the date they will be back to talk with the employees and give a full explanation as to what is occurring and what this means to the business.  Employees will be understanding of the constraints on their managers IF the managers come out directly and say, "On XX date, I will be back to you and we will discuss this in detail."  What often happens is the managers do not make such a statement about constraints, do not promise to come back at a later date AND do not ever get back for a complete discussion of what is happening.

Effective communication is inclusive. Ineffective communication is exclusive. What happens in your business?

Improving Leadership Communication

The first step in improving leadership communication is making the commitment to do so. That is, being purposeful and intentional about communication as the core of leadership and strategic execution. If that awareness stays in the forefront, most leaders’ communication effectiveness quickly improves

1. Spirit in communication

Your spirit must come through in your communications. What happens when you communicate full out? What happens if you do not constrain yourself, and settle for the mediocre in communications? What tepid is to cooking, mediocre is to communications. What often is missing in communications is the spirit and heart of the communications. Just as voice is in writing, spirit is in communications.

You know that when you read a favorite author you can hear them speaking when you read the writing… like they are talking to you or telling you a story. So it is in communications. There is a voice that is speaking through the communications. It is not like a voice descending from on high. It is not something that is aloft floating down to earth. Rather it is the heart of the earth speaking to you as the listener. When powerful communication is occurring, you can feel the reverberations from the commitment of the speaker. Have you been in a concert where there were large amplifiers and speakers? You could literally feel the impulses of the sound coming from the large speakers. Authentic communication is like that. Rather than the impulses being produced by large electric amplifiers, the impulses are created by one heart speaking to another. There is the sense of real people talking with real people, and magic comes from this connection. It is hard to describe what it looks like when a leader is speaking to a group of employees. These may be hourly shift workers, who are in dirty uniforms with grease on their faces and hands. Yet the intensity and honor of the communications is like angles that are descending from on high.

Communication is an honor between people. To have the proper spirit, it is not an after-thought. The gift in communication is the spirit that occurs between people, and inspires them. Spirit to evoke action is not something that is done after the fact, but rather it is in the gift of communication and honor between people.

2.    Enlightened communications

Enlightened communication is rigorously telling the truth to the best of your capability. People are inspired when their leaders speak from their heart and tell them the truth. Ironically this is most evident in challenging and difficult times. Your employees want to know that you know what is going on, that you share their concerns and pain, and that you are talking authentically and directly with them.

Enlightened communications always begin with honesty. The only constraint to your honesty should be the limitations of language. By that I mean your capacity with the language.

Enlightened communications evolve from telling the truth all the time. Let’s look at what I am not saying:

•    Which version of the truth should we tell them?
•    We will tell the truth when is it convenient.

You want your people to know they would hear a strident noise if you were telling anything less than the whole truth.

If you are restricted from talking about something because of legislative or regulatory reasons, you will say so directly and then will “fade to black” on the subject. You want to make it clear that you will not talk about something that is “off limits for now” rather than saying something that is misleading or intentionally inaccurate.

If we want to be enlightened in our communications, we begin with being truthful and honorable toward our selves and our employees. Blinking is a bad thing. The word “blink” means to deceive and turn away. Further, in competitive situations one does not want to blink when face to face with ones competition. What happens in communication with a blink?
Those of us who are parents probably remember a time when we caught our kids lying, or at least trying to lie. One time I was flying to Mexico with my two young kids and one of my partners. My kids were young, and were playing a card game called BS. It is essentially a game of bluff, where you try to lie your way to winning regardless of the cards that you have been dealt. My two kids were behind me in the plane playing with my partner, Mike King. I heard him laughing, and after the flight I asked him what was so funny. He told me that my son was not really able to lie, so when he needed to be telling a lie he would look out the window rather than looking at my partner. That is worse than blinking. Yet it was a wonderful communication from my son. He had been raised to know that lying was a bad thing. From earliest days we had a deal. He could tell me anything he wanted as long as he did not lie to me.

What sort of a deal do you have with your employees? Do they think you would look out the window and give away the card game because you are not wired to lie? What would they say about you?

3. Sharing the future

Your job as a leader is to create a future for the business, and then make that future available for your employees to see. That is how engagement of employees actually works.  You describe a future, and then each employee chooses to join in with you in acting to build that future.

While speaking about the future is a major role of managers, too often there is a discomfort in talking about the future. It is ironic that managers are more comfortable speaking about problems than they are the future. They can talk about challenges this week and this quarter with ease, and yet struggle when it comes to communicating about our future. Perhaps this is because the problems this week are tangible while our future is not tangible. It is actually created and invented. The best way to speak about the invented is from ones commitments, and ones heart.

There is myth among managers that “buttering up a person” is a good way to gain favor and participation of employees. While butter is spectacular on popcorn at the movies, it is a miserable mistake in communications. Rather, you want to talk as directly about the future and the business as completely and openly as possible. Said another way, maximum candor and detail. I have a client who describes this as “getting it all on the table: blood, gut and feathers.” This analogy from bird hunting implies putting everything in the open for communication and inspection. It is making everything open for observation. There is a funny thing that happens with full and complete communications. While it is not always pretty, it is authentic and reaches people in a place that is authentic and appreciated.

Often I have spoken with managers prior to a talk or communications session with a group of employees. The managers are jumpy because they were concerned with what the employees would think. My advice is always, tell them the truth as clearly and plainly as you know how. Do not add anger, condescension, fear or any other emotion that is not authentic. Simply communicate as cleanly as you know how.

4. Enable broad participation of employees

 “Custer’s Last Stand” is one of my favorite Bill Cosby comedy routines. Cosby starts off talking about how referees have the coin toss before a football game, and the team that wins the toss gets to chose whether to receive the kickoff or to defend a particular goal. Cosby imagines how history would have been different if each big event would have started with a coin toss. In this routine, Custer calls heads and the coin ends up tails. The Indians win the coin toss, and then the referee tells Custer that he and his men must go down into the valley and wait till “all the Indians in the world ride down upon you.”

How often do your employees feel like they are part of Custer’s army who just saw the General lose the coin toss at the beginning of this battle? Do they feel like they are doomed in the upcoming clash? Do your employees think they can make a difference? OR do they feel like they will simply go down into the valley and wait for “all the Indians in the world to ride down upon them?” Do they see a “chink” in your management team’s armor?

 

For additional information on this KCB Publishing article, please contact:

Robert Chapman
(713) 223-7233

Source: Bob Chapman, Ph.D.

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