The best way for the new leader to improve skill in communication is to be quiet. Shut up. Then listen. As Stephen Covey has suggested in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People seek first to understand, and only then, to be understood. If the new leader can do only one thing, listening is certainly likely to have the most immediate impact. While a good beginning, it will not be enough because there is a communication revolution under way, and the new leader must ride the wave of that revolution. The global economy makes new demands for better communication.
After becoming a better listener, the next most important thing to understand about communication is that we do not know whether we have succeeded until we find out what the person or persons, to whom we sent the message, actually received and understood. A presentation, whether before a group, by phone or by email cannot be judged successful until we probe to determine how our message is being received. The new leader cannot stop to do formal studies after each communication; however, they can do spot checks. This alone makes them more sensitive to the audience and to the fact that, if the message was not received, there was no communication. It is the audience or receiver who determines success is communication, and not the sender.
In the past the leader could learn writing, reading, speaking and listening skills and be satisfied with their skills. With the advent of the internet and new telecommunication options, the new leader has to develop more specialized skills like researching on the net, writing an email, and reading from a computer screen. They must add these new skills to other basic skills such as speaking in public and listening on the phone. In the future, with technological improvements in video, the new leader will have to make the best use of electronic conferencing. However, none of these will eliminate the need for writing clearly, reading quickly for comprehension or speaking to groups of various sizes.
The new leader seeks to continually improve their writing skills. While there are similarities, writing a memo to be distributed on paper is not the same as writing an email. While both require attention to spelling and grammar, an email must be brief while a memo can contain greater elaboration within the basic document. An email is also considered to be less formal than a memo. Improvement in presentation skills is also imperative. Talking to three people in your office will tap different skills than presenting to a thousand stock holders. But both sets of skills can be essential for effectiveness.
The worst method of communication for leaders is “guess what I am thinking.” Mind reading is not a skill that should be expected in employees. Some leaders justify their mistakes in communication by saying they like to play it ‘close-to-their chest’ or they use a ‘need-to-know’ criteria. No matter what the rationalization may be, the inability or unwillingness to communicate renders such leaders far less effective.
The new leader must become a great communicator.
