Conveying important messages

A personable CEO of a fast-growing company asked me for help recently.

I had a hard time thinking this guy needed help. His company had experienced strong growth even in the dull economy. His employees were very motivated and engaged in their work. His leadership team had recently realigned to best use their particular strengths and talents in their roles. The company had successfully rolled out new products and services that clients liked.

The problem, it turned out, was related to the rapid success of the company. As the company grew and added products and services, the sales team was sensing that the strong story they had always provided to prospects was becoming diluted.

This wasn’t a problem of being unclear about the value the company provided. Rather, it emerged as a difficulty in the communication of that value. In other words, the sales team was asking for a new direction on how to present the firm’s value in a way that would get a strong response from prospects.

I drew an analogy for the CEO. When a person is a professional writer, their job is to get their expression out on the page. They need to be clear. They need to be descriptive. They need to be engaging.

However, the role of the editor is to make sure that the intended reader will understand the writer’s expression. I might write a fantastic column, but if my editor becomes confused when I submit it, we know the reader will be too. It is the editor’s job to be sure the message is clear and to help to present the writing in a manner that the intended reader will understand.

Often in business and organizational settings, you need to be your own editor – this is true whether you are writing a mission statement, delivering a sales pitch, crafting a public presentation or meeting with your senior leadership team.
You need to answer these four questions anytime you have an important message to convey:

1.  Who is my intended audience and how do they best receive communications?

It’s not about how you like to present information that counts, it is all about how your intended audience likes to receive the information. Don’t email someone whom you know prefers telephone calls; don’t hand out a 20-page report when your prospect responds better to a 10-minute presentation; don’t write long paragraphs when your blog readers prefer short statements.

2. How will I connect with my audience?

Whether giving a speech, meeting a team member or writing a sales letter, if you don’t find a way to connect with your audience, your communication will likely fall flat.

Look people in the eye when you speak to them – even on stage; tell a story they can relate to; ask questions that engage your audience either in a new concept or their own experience.

3. Do I get to the point fast enough?

This question will help you immeasurably. Few professionals get to the point right away – they make a long introduction, send a long email and put hard-to-read statistics into their presentation to prove a point. Put the main point of your communication upfront – then provide the backup if you need to afterwards.

4. Do I ask if I am being clear in a way that solicits feedback?

If you don’t find a way to help your audiences tell you they don’t understand, you will think they do – and that’s a problem. Check in with your audience during your presentation; submit your sales letter to folks who can review it before it is sent; and go see the team member in person when the email trail becomes confusing.

So, what about the CEO and his company? He decided to go take his ten best clients to lunch and ask them how they see the value of his company, and to agree to review his new presentation, too – before he and his sales team take it on the road. I’m thinking if he wants more clients like his best clients, he’s on the right track.

 

Social support at the top

From my column this week in the Metrowest Daily News:

I hear one comment from organizational leaders on an all-to-frequent basis: “I wish I had somebody to talk to or work with.”

There is a good reason why the adage “it’s lonely at the top” has withstood the tests of time. Western business culture encourages leaders to develop their own self-confidence, their self-efficacy, their self-knowledge and their self-direction.

What has become abundantly clear in this new age of “social” everything, is that going it alone is tremendously difficult – but it is only recently that we as a culture have begun to understand why.

A dedicated effort to study social interaction in work groups and creative development has begun to show that the self-oriented model of success has some significant drawbacks. Leadership research is beginning to explore what that means for models of successful leadership.

One recent study reported in the journal “Science” that work-group success is less correlated with member’s levels of individual intelligence than with member’s social sensitivity to other members.

Another study this year in “Management Science” reported that inventors working alone are more likely to produce poor outcomes, while inventors working collaboratively are more likely to produce exceptional outcomes.

OK, maybe you see where I am going with this. Research is showing that collaborative work is more effective than going it alone, and in addition, when working collaboratively social intelligence is just as important as intellectual intelligence. So where does this leave our popular model of the smart, driven, individual leader?

The truth may be that this model of leadership is more myth and exception than reality. Certainly there are exceptions to any predominant trend, and true individual, stand-out leaders tend to be noticed because they seem so original.

The truth is that most leaders have some sort of collaboration in their work – whether that be with a chief of staff, a senior adviser or officer, or a spouse or partner.

Given this, it doesn’t surprise me too much when I speak to an organizational leader who is feeling lonely at the top. I find it isn’t just loneliness they feel, but a sense that they know they can do a better job in their work, they just aren’t sure how.

These leaders have been brought up in business under the self-directed model of success – only to find when they rise to the top that something significant is missing.

What is the solution here? Does every organization need to institute co-presidents? Should organizations be lead by some sort of leadership committee? I don’t think so. From a practical standpoint leaders can look at three important things they can do today to get out of the silo of leadership and leverage the power of social collaboration.

Find your working partner. Most leaders today don’t operate without support and meaningful interactions. The task here is to identify the one or two people you can use to talk through and consider leadership questions. More frequently these days, one of these folks is an independent third party such as a professional coach, who is aligned with your own professional development and success.

It is also important, however, that leaders engage working partners who have contextual knowledge of the specific organization.

Find other leaders to interact with. Having a group of peers to interact and learn from is key to professional development and support for leaders at the top. Your peer group may not be specifically tasked with supporting each other directly, and in most situations this isn’t the case.

Leaders often find and create leadership peer support through serving on boards of directors or trustees, participating in industry conferences or nonprofit work. Establishing the relationships with other leaders lends an invaluable resource to those who do it well.

Value social intelligence in your organization. Leaders who understand and support the social and collaborative fabric of their organization build a strong culture and maintain motivation well. Employee engagement is now known to be a key driver of organizational success; the biggest factor in employee engagement is social connectedness. Create, develop, and support collaborative teamwork at all levels of the organization.

Strong leaders certainly have a high degree of self-confidence, self-efficacy and self-direction. When they use those skills to develop social confidence, social efficacy and social direction, they boost the chances for personal and organizational success.

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