6 Leadership Communication missteps that can lead your company to success or failure.

Poor communication from leaders can disrupt a team’s structure and performance. Leadership communication can make or break your company. Leaders need to pay attention when communicating with their team to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Poorly delivered messages can lead to confusion, disorganization, and a decline in overall revenues. On the other hand, effective leadership communication can create a sense of certainty and accord among staff, resulting in a more productive and profitable organization. To ensure that your communications have the desired effect, avoid making these five common mistakes.

Not communicating at all

One of the most common mistakes leaders make is failing to communicate with their team. This can take many forms, from neglecting to update employees on company changes or developments to not providing clear instructions on tasks or projects. Poor communication creates an environment of uncertainty and confusion, which can lead to decreased productivity and morale.  It can also make team members do what they think is right, instead of what the company really needs.

How to correct it: Make a point to regularly communicate with your team, whether by holding weekly meetings, sending out regular updates or simply being available to answer questions. Establishing and maintaining clear communication lines will help ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals.

Communicating too much

While it is important to keep your team updated, inundating them with information can have the opposite effect of what you intended. Trying to cram too much into one update or email can overwhelm employees and make it difficult for them to process everything. This can lead to apathy or even resentment towards company communications.

How to correct it: Be concise and focused on your messages, highlighting only the most essential information. If you have a lot to communicate, consider breaking it up into smaller chunks or sending it out over a period of time. Employees will be more likely to engage with messages that are easy to digest and relevant to their needs. Make it a standard practice to ask employees how they like to be communicated with. In some instances, employees might prefer and appreciate a phone call or an in-person meeting. You do not know if you do not ask!

Being inconsistent

Another common mistake leaders make is being inconsistent with their communications. This can take the form of sending out sporadic updates, skipping team meetings, changing the expectations for projects without warning or communicating different expectations to different stakeholders regarding the same matter. This inconsistency can create confusion and frustration among employees, who may feel they can’t rely on their leader for direction.

How to correct it: Try to maintain a consistent communication schedule, whether holding weekly meetings or sending out regular updates. Let your team know in advance if there are any changes to the schedule or expectations. This will help employees feel they can count on you for consistent guidance and leadership.

Being vague in your communication

When communicating with your team, it is important to be clear and specific about what you expect. Vague messages can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, ultimately hampering productivity. For example, simply telling employees to “be more productive” will not likely result in real change. Being inclusive or respectful does not mean that you cannot be honest or direct in your communication style, but it does mean that honest, reciprocal communication should be valued on your team.

How to correct it: Be specific in your communications, giving clear instructions on what you expect from employees. If you want them to increase their productivity, give them tangible goals to work towards and a timeline for improvement. The SMART goal framework can be helpful for both managing priorities and improving the communication that supports them. This will help ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives.

Not listening

One of the most important aspects of effective communication is listening. This means taking the time to hear what your team has to say, whether it’s feedback on a project or concerns about their work environment. Active listening shows employees that you value their input and are willing to work together to find solutions.

How to correct it: Make a point to listen carefully when employees are speaking in individual conversations and team meetings. If you are not sure you understand, ask clarifying questions. And once they’ve finished speaking, take the time to consider their input before responding. This will help ensure that you consider their needs and concerns.

Not providing context

When sending out updates or giving instructions, leaders often forget to provide context for their employees. Without this context, employees may struggle to understand the purpose of the message or how it applies to them. As a result, they may feel disengaged or even resentful.

How to correct it: Make sure to provide context for your communications, whether you are sending out an email update or giving a presentation to the team. Explain why this information is important and how it will impact employees. This will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and invested in the message you’re trying to communicate.

The mistakes above can have a serious impact on your company’s communications. However, if you catch them early and make the necessary corrections, you can avoid any potential damage. Are you making any of these mistakes in your own communication? How will you correct them and empower your team to hold you accountable for improving?

Are you an Effective Coach?

Ask 150 people if they have good common sense, and more than 95% will tell you they do. Ask them if they are good coaches, and almost as many will say yes. Executives we talk to assume that if they’re good managers, then being a good coach is instinctive.

This would be good news, if it were so, since more and more Companies are expecting managers to coach their subordinates.

What’s more, employee surveys conducted over the past decade show that subordinates want coaching. My own experience demonstrates that effective coaching raises employee commitment and engagement, productivity, retention rates, customer loyalty, and subordinates’ perception of the strength of upper-level leadership.

Unfortunately, coaching is not something that comes naturally to everyone. Nor is it a skill that is automatically acquired in the course of learning to manage. And done poorly, it can cause a lot of harm.

What’s more, before they can be taught coaching skills, leaders need to possess some fundamental attributes, many of which are not common managerial strengths. Indeed, some run counter to the behaviors and attributes that get people promoted to managerial positions in the first place. Here are a few of the attributes that can be measured to determine what might predict who would make the most effective coaches. You’ll quickly see the conflict between traditional management practices and good coaching traits:

Being directive versus being collaborative. Good managers give direction to the groups they manage, of course, and the willingness to exert leadership is often why they get promoted. But the most effective managers who are also effective coaches learn to be selective about giving direction. Rather than use their conversations as an opportunity to exert a strong influence, make recommendations, and provide unambiguous direction, they take a step back, and try to draw out the views of their talented, experienced staff.

A desire to give advice or to aid in discovery. Subordinates frequently ask managers questions about how they should handle various issues or resolve specific problems. And managers are often promoted to their positions because they are exceptionally good at solving problems. So no one should be surprised to find that many are quick to give advice, rather than taking time to help colleagues or subordinates discover the best solution from within themselves. The best coaches do a little of both.

An inclination to act as the expert or as an equal. We’ve all seen instances when the person with the most technical expertise has been promoted to a supervisory or managerial position. Organizations want leaders to understand their technology. So, naturally, when coaching others, some managers behave as if they possess far greater wisdom than the person being coached. But in assuming the role of guru, the well-meaning manager may treat the person being coached as a novice, or even a child. Still, the excellent coach does not behave as a complete equal, with no special role, valued perspective, or responsibility in the conversation.

Leaders can learn to be more collaborative as opposed to always being directive. They can learn the skill of helping people to discover solutions rather than always first offering advice. They can learn how satisfying it is to treat others with consummate respect and raise employee commitment through two way collaborative communication.

Poor Performance or Lack of Communication

Recently one of my clients shared his frustration with one of his employees over what he perceived as a consistent shortcoming on the employee’s part. My client felt that this employee’s consistent failure to perform one task in a particular manner was unacceptable and he wanted me to help with taking disciplinary action.

I asked my client if he ever communicated his expectation of the specific criteria he was looking for in this report, i.e. content, format, the importance of presenting it this way. My client said no, but he should know this stuff, its common sense, he’s been here a while.

I then gently advised my client that he was really at fault here. I explained that if we have not clearly communicated our expectations to someone, then we have no right whatsoever to be irritated when that someone falls short of those expectations. To expect an employee (co-worker, friend, off-spring or spouse for that matter!) to meet expectations that have never really been communicated is simply unrealistic and sets that person up for failure.

A key component of communication in leadership is the ability to set our team up for success, by clearly defining what is expected of them and the manner in which you visualize those expectations being met. Then, if they have a different vision for how this task can, or should be accomplished, they have an opportunity to bring their adaptation of ideas to you for input and/or approval. Otherwise, they may proceed with their own ideas and when those efforts are met with disapproval, it can be disheartening and dis-empowering.

Clearly, there are times when a leader needs to give their team wings to fly with their own ideas and their own processes. In those situations, the leader needs to praise the positive results and/or let their team deal with the consequences and fix the problem if those process doesn’t work out.

But in those situations when a specific expectation is an imperative, respectful leadership and respectful communication requires that those parameters are clearly established up front.

A simple thank you

Think of the last time someone really thanked you for doing something. Especially if that something was normal to you and you certainly didn’t go out of your way. You felt good and probably wanted to do it better next time. You cannot underestimate the power of a simple thank you. A long and sometimes grueling workday can melt away when staff members know their efforts were appreciated. It’s amazing how the last interaction of the day can become the last thought and make employees look forward to coming in the next day, knowing that their contributions were noticed.

The most effective leaders I know work diligently to thank their people. The validation can come from end of day departures and acknowledging extra effort on the fly, to even just thanking them for doing their normal work, giving input, or being positive throughout the day. These leaders know the value of their people and their basic need of feeling important, the feeling that their top three needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (belonging, esteem, and self-actualization) are being met.

Take every opportunity to find reason to thank as often as you can. That presentation didn’t go quite well? Thank them for the time and effort they put in to it anyway. The account dropped out to do business with a competitor? “You did a great job meeting their needs Marcie!” The 2nd shift comes in when your first shift leaves; thank them for working strong during the evening hours. Simple and genuine acknowledgement yields committed people and sustained performance.

Thanking your people for their everyday efforts is a simple and easy way to make a powerful lasting impression in your organization. Make every connection a reason to find and give thanks to your people.

 

Serious Kindness

The best advice I can give to a new manager is to be kind and caring and make the world a better place for your employees. This does not mean that you should be a pushover or a patsy. You still need to get your work done, be a star performer, etc. but serious kindness gets you serious results.

It’s not always easy to be kind. It’s hard when you have to tell people with no talent for what they are doing that they are in the wrong field or when you have to terminate someone and tell them this will help them find what they are good at. Equally hard is when you have to tell a person who has lots of talent and skill that their co-workers really don’t like them because of their communication style, sarcasm, negativity, oh and let’s not forget “body odor” and that if they don’t improve (correct) they may not succeed in their role.  This is difficult news to pass on, and managers who don’t care ignore the problem or shuffle the person off to a new, unsuspecting manager. A kind boss helps a person find a new path, and sometimes that means termination.

Many times in my role I have to help people see why their current job is not a good fit for them. As a manager, you are a counselor, helping people to see their highest potential be it with you or at another type of position or another type of company.

As a manager you are in a position to make peoples’ lives better. You can give them more interesting work, better coaching, more flexibility, as well as other things that you have always wanted in a job, and you should do that.

But, don’t go overboard. The company comes first. And your job is to be the best for your company. Which is everyone’s job. You get an opportunity to manage people because you are going to make things better for the company. The company wants happy workers, but not at the expense of effective workers.

So here’s another piece of advice for new managers: Success is about balance. A good manager balances the needs of his/her company and the needs of his/her employees, and after that, a good manager uses his/her power over peoples’ lives to make the world a better place.

The cynics of the world will say, “That’s not realistic. I never got that.” But don’t ask yourself if you ever got that. Ask yourself if you ever gave it. It is possible to go through your life doing good deeds and just trusting that they’ll come back to you, in some way. Management is the power to make a difference. Do that, without wondering what you’ll get in return.

What does poor communication cost businesses?

Between reduced productivity, lost talent and other direct and indirect losses, a recent Unify survey indicates lackluster communication can cost businesses up to $5,000 per employee each year. Communication isn’t rocket science, but it does require thought and care.

A cornerstone of business communication is the feedback system, whether formal – by way of performance reviews, or informal – addressing an employee’s performance (good or bad) and outlining potential course corrections.

Feedback, especially among a leadership team, is critical to a business leader’s growth and decision-making. Frequently, however, the idea of feedback – what it really means – gets misconstrued. Sometimes those in leadership positions think they are providing proper feedback when they simply reprimand an employee as a result of a mistake or error.  And while it is important to address mistakes and errors, as C-Level leaders, feedback is often inefficient because there’s no plan in place for these types of communications. “Gotcha” leadership is no leadership at all.

Some of the common feedback mistakes include examples like an executive giving his/her opinion instead of stating facts, another making sarcastic and/or disparaging remarks about an employee’s error, and still another would be to berate an employee in such a way that it changes the very subject of the conversation – the employee’s performance, and shifted it to “what the heck did I do to deserve this?” then subsequently having a discussion that yields no positive outcome regarding individual growth.

In order to correct (or sustain) performance, we need to engage employees and improve the business enterprise, proper feedback needs to be helpful (first and foremost), as well as relevant and timely.

To be clear: feedback is information provided to another person to help him or her grow and improve. If a leader isn’t trying to help someone grow/improve, he or she isn’t providing feedback. Criticism, more than likely, but not feedback. A true leader finds ways to sincerely help subordinates, not use veiled criticism or overt tongue-lashings. Face it; it doesn’t take much skill to be a jerk.

In addition to being helpful to an individual employee, feedback in business should be helpful to the enterprise as a whole. Leaders must think beyond performance reviews and reactive feedback necessitated by a mistake or problem. Take a proactive approach to feedback by identifying and focusing on the desirable behaviors and making corrections as needed, but in a thoughtful manner. Feedback is most effective when leaders take the time and attention to outline a proactive communication plan, instead of relying on performance reviews during which the manager will feel obligated to restate old one-liners and stock company blurbs. Or worse, a software solution that fills in the wording automatically.

If feedback isn’t relevant and engaging, leaders are wasting their time. Non-specific feedback, at best, leaves the employee wondering how he or she can improve or avoid making the same error(s) in the future; at worst, non-specific feedback leaves the employee totally confused and unmotivated to improve performance. Vague communication at performance reviews leads to misunderstanding and often future meetings to better clarify the feedback given.

Relevant, engaging feedback is personal and tailored to ensure the employee can actually comprehend the message. Before a leader begins the dialog, he or she needs to begin with the end in mind. Determine if the goal is to simply win an argument, or if the goal is to act as a change agent for an employee (trying to change behavior). Hopefully, the desired outcome is to improve the employee’s performance, and the leader can dedicate a little time and heartfelt effort to preparing for the communication, to decrease the likelihood that the topic of the feedback will be subject matter next time around.

Leaders should also give feedback in a way and at a time that can be best received by the employee. Let’s say a marketing executive makes a boneheaded snafu in a press release by mistakenly using 2013 sales data instead of intended data from 2014 – the latter of which provides a year-to-year profit bump of 20 percent. If the CEO would rather string the EVP of Marketing up outside the window than speak in a helpful and relevant manner, then perhaps the CEO should wait a bit before talking with the marketing chief. That’s not to say that a reprimand be avoided, but only that feedback should be practical to the event, behavior or action that necessitated the discussion and provided at a time when its relevance can be best understood.

Certainly, threat of a severe reprimand may help prevent such an error from occurring in the future, but does it improve the EVP of Marketing? Does it benefit the whole enterprise, or merely lend credence to the longstanding belief that the head honcho tolerates no mistakes and, thus, can be impossible to work for? Timely, responsive feedback fosters awareness and understanding, creating an environment focused on personal and professional growth; growth that positively impacts the entire enterprise. The sooner employees recognize that and truly believe that is the environment in which they work, the better the organization will be.

Leadership success is established and developed through helpful, relevant and timely feedback. Feedback fosters trust, and trust is the currency of leadership. The more employees believe in their leaders, the more comfortable they will be providing feedback and helpful insight to their managers. Proper feedback – provided, accepted and acted upon – creates a system of learning after every mistake, making them, therefore, easier to swallow. Employees crave feedback that improves them professionally, and perhaps personally as well. Without it, leaders may only get what they pay for and not an ounce of effort more.  And perhaps as damaging – the organization may have a very difficult time retaining talent.

As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

And in this case, an ounce of prevention may be worth $5,000 per employee per year.

Coaching for Personality Preferance

Not everyone is motivated by the same thing or in the same way. Personality preferences influence both the coach and the person being coached. For the coach, certain approaches and methods will come more naturally, depending on their personality. For example, if the coach is generally outgoing, he or she may be likely to expect the person being coached to be able to talk things through in the moment. Enough time may not be allotted for some who is introspective and needs to think about things. Conversely, if the coach has a preference for introversion, he or she may expect the person being coached to find great value in thinking through things ahead of time, rather than talking things out.

You can’t necessarily fulfill everyone’s wishes, but it’s crucial to understand what makes them tick.

I’m not saying either approach is wrong. It’s just a simple example of a complex topic.  A coach needs to be able to recognize his or her own personality preference as just that – a preference. And, the coach needs to approach each coaching situation with curiosity– to discover the style preferences of the person being coached – before determining the coaching methodology.  It means, do unto others as they would have you do unto them. It recognizes that you have to take yourself out of the situation and look at it as if you’re viewing other people playing your role. You have to be able to walk in someone else’s shoes and really empathize with them. But it’s also just as important to see yourself as others see you. If you can do that, it gives you a 360-degree view, and then you have more understanding. It doesn’t make a hard job easier, but it gives you a framework.

Trust Gap

Despite the fact that employees who trust the decisions of their boss are more loyal and engaged, leaders often fail to cultivate employee trust. A recent survey found we have a deep trust gap: while 90 percent of leaders and employees say that it’s important for employees to trust their leaders, 65 percent of employees rate their level of trust in their leaders as moderate; 37 percent of employees say that they trust leaders less today; and 47 percent of leaders say that their employees trust them less. Only 8 percent of employees say they trust their leaders to a great extent.

Leaders should place a premium on trust since we see a strong correlation between trust in leaders and employee engagement. Employees with a low-level of trust are not nearly as engaged as those with high trust in their leaders.

What erodes trust? Bosses not owning up to their mistakes is a huge factor: 89 percent of leaders say that they either always or often apologize for their mistakes, but only 19 percent of employees agree.

43 percent of employees surveyed say that their leaders rarely or never apologize for their errors. The main reason that bosses don’t apologize is that they’re afraid of looking weak and incompetent, but fear of tarnishing their image sacrifices employee trust and loyalty. Employees also named other boss behaviors that erode trust, including:

• lying,
• taking credit for others’ ideas,
• blaming employees unfairly,
• gossiping, lack of clarity,
• poor communication.

 Trust is bolstered (and the trust gap narrowed) when leaders take these four steps:

1. listening to employees and understanding their concerns;
2. walking the talk—leaders doing as they say;
3. following through on commitments;
4. encouraging employees to offers ideas and suggestions and then LISTENING and TAKING ACTION!

Often leaders ask for ideas, suggestions and feedback, but then don’t take any action or even acknowledge the information.  This is worse than not asking at all.  So if you ask, listen and acknowledge, even if the suggestion is not one you can use, take the time to explain why.

Four Steps of Coaching

When employees slowdown in their work, your business operations will also slow down. We can blame that to a lot of factors, like slow sales cycles or non-delivery of important equipment, but one of the most commonly overlooked (as well as the most damaging) could be as simple as a change in marketing strategies or processes.

As a business owner or senior manager, we all want to employ the latest tools or innovations in the sales process in order to make a profit. But with our desire to change quickly, we often forget to prepare our own people for it. For this reason they end up in the dark and have a hard time meeting your demands through your new parameters.

You should have coached them in the first place. But since you have most likely implemented the change already, you might as well prepare your marketing team throughout the process. And that means coaching them at times when their performance goes down.

To do that, you need to remember the four steps of effective coaching:

1. Explanation – when implementing a change in your marketing process, you need to first      explain why you are doing it in the first place. You need to give meaning to what you are doing. You need to share with them your strategies, your plans in reaching your goals, the contribution of each member, as well as the rewards for a successful completion of the task.
2. Clarification – after the explanations, you need to ask your employees if they got what you are saying. Never move to the next step unless you and your team are clear already on what you want to achieve in your marketing campaign. In case of problems with performance, it is best that you choose the right time for a quick discussion, like employee breaks or something similar. Do      not judge them until they have explained their reason for weak performance.
3. Participation – for performance issues, get the on board in problem-solving and strategies. Tell them clearly what you need done and help them come up with solutions that they can work on. Try to figure out the root cause of the problem (is it the new business process you implemented, personal issues, employee interactions, etc.). Usually, they can provide you details that can help you nail down the cause and resolve it to the satisfaction of both sides.
4. Appreciation – as a manager, you should be able to recognize success in whatever endeavor that your prospects can do. Monitor their performance. If you see anything that is worth your praise, then do so. Show them your appreciation, considering their actions based on who they are, not just on what they are doing.

As a business owner or senior manager, you should know how to guide or coach your employees well. With the way business and marketing evolves rapidly, you should also be up to the task of preparing them for the changes. This is for the sake of your continued success in business.

Are Meetings Always Needed?

I just returned from a good meeting. Everyone was engaged, no one dominated (unless it made sense because of specific expertise), and everyone who spoke did something to check for understanding. It was more like a comfortable discussion around a warm fireplace in winter than a stereotypical business meeting.  So it made me think about the planning that went into it and how it was led.

A couple of months ago I read a blog that generated some thought about people who impede meetings and how to overcome them.  Here are 5 of the traps.  See if any sound familiar to you:

1)    People think they are experts.
2)    People think they are inspiring.
3)    People think others agree with them.
4)    People think others are clairvoyant.
5)    People think meetings are necessary.

Number 3 is my personal favorite, but number 5 is the one I run into most.

Five Hidden Traps in Meetings – If you have sat through a few bad meetings, you must have experienced the following traps.

People think they are experts. Many people tell me that they know how to hold a meeting. Actually, all they do is host a party. They invite guests, provide treats, and preside over a conversation. People talk. People eat. And nothing happens. Or, if they somehow manage to reach an agreement, no one implements it.

What to do: Learn how to lead a real meeting. Schedule a workshop or buy a book.  Death by Meeting: by Patrick Lencioni comes to mind.  When results really matter, hire a facilitator. Recognize that there are modern tools that help people make methodical progress toward results.

People think they are inspiring. Many people believe that long-winded announcements impress others. Actually, it’s the opposite. A long lecture quickly becomes a boring (and sometimes offensive) tirade. Why? Most employees want an active role in contributing to the business, and thus listening to a speech feels like a waste of time.

What to do: Design meetings that give the attendees opportunities to contribute. Plan questions that direct thinking toward the results that you want. Use activities that help people make decisions. Distribute announcements in letters, memos, or E-mails. Or, if you must use a meeting, keep announcements brief (less than a few minutes).

People think others agree with them. Many people rely on nods, smiles, and eye contact to measure acceptance. Actually, most employees will do anything to appease a boss. And if the boss seems to be upset, the employees will become even more agreeable. Then, once the meeting ends, the employees will do one of three things: forget the lecture, ignore the message, or sabotage the idea.

What to do: Conduct meetings by a process that everyone considers to be fair. Use consensus to reach agreements and make decisions. People will accept decisions that they helped make.

People think others are clairvoyant. Many people call meetings without an agenda expecting that everyone will arrive sharing their vision for what needs to be done. Actually, everyone brings their private hopes, fears, and vision to the meeting. Without a clear agenda, the result is something between chitchat and chaos, depending upon the complexity of the issue.  Note: A vague agenda, such as a list of topics, is almost as useless as no agenda.

What to do: Write out your goal for the meeting. Then prepare an agenda that is so complete someone else could use it to run the meeting without you. Specify each step and provide a time limit. Send the agenda at least a day before the meeting so that the attendees can use it to prepare. Call key participants before the meeting to check if they have questions or want to talk about the agenda.

People think meetings are necessary. Many people respond to every emergency, surprise, or twitch by calling a meeting.  Actually, a meeting is a special (and expensive) process. It should be used only to obtain results that require the efforts of a group of people working as a team. A meeting is NOT a universal cure for everything. Meetings held for the wrong reasons, waste everyone’s time.

What to do: Challenge every meeting for its ability to earn a profit for your business.  That is, make sure the value of the results is greater than the cost of holding a meeting. If any other activity can accomplish the same result, use that other activity.