According
to research by the Carnegie Institute, 85% of our success in life depends on
our ability to Lead, Communicate and Negotiate. Accordingly, in his
great book Building the Bridge As You Walk On It, Robert Quinn shares that
as leaders we are “constantly communicating about ourselves. Everything we say,
everything we do, everything we wear, etc.is communicating something about us.”
Now that is enough to give anyone pause (not to mention a thought that can keep
me up at night!) and has me thinking out loud about the impacts of communication
in our leadership and personal lives.
Gallup
also addresses this in that when describing how communication impacts building customer
intimacy or brand affinity. With EVERY
interaction with a team member or client, we either INCREASE or DECREASE our
level of engagement with them . . . such interactions are NEVER NEUTRAL! This
means that with EVERY communication including phone calls, in-person meetings,
texts, emails, social media, invoices, etc. our “influence stock” is either going
up or going down! Stated another way by my great mentor Rick Miller, everything
we do as leaders and organizations either underlines or erases everything we
say or consider important. The point is this, we ARE constantly communicating
about ourselves as leaders thus; are either highlighting or diminishing our personal/organization
brand and its promises with EVERY interaction big or small.
So, if
we just think about this for a moment, our communications, verbal or otherwise,
takes on greater importance due to its huge implications in our ability to lead
others, conduct business, and influence. With that in mind, John Maxwell in his
outstanding work, Everyone Communicates – Few Connect, proposes three critically
important communication COMMITMENTS we should make to leverage our
communication and interactions to their upmost value.
Commit to Know Yourself – First,
this involves being constantly and consciously aware of HOW and WHAT we are
communicating to others. We need to be authentic and sincere as to what we
truly believe and consider important. We must make sure our words and behaviors
match. Trust me, we aren’t fooling anybody when the opposite is true!
Commit to Know Your Audience – I have
often shared that leaders are AMPLIFIED PEOPLE in that our words take on
greater meaning and impact due to the fact that others are listening to us. It
is important to communicate to the needs and preferences of your audience and
not the other way around! Communicate what you want them to KNOW and what you
are asking them to DO in language they can understand and appreciate.
Commit to Know Your Stuff! – It
is important that as leaders, we know what we are talking about using the best
information available to us. Nothing will lower our stock with a follower or
customer more than just “winging it.” Honesty and accuracy will trump sounding authoritative every time. If
something arises you are not sure about, then just admit it but then commit to
finding the answers and loop back. I promise your credibility will not suffer
but in fact, will increase!
The point is this, we ARE constantly communicating about ourselves as leaders thus; are either highlighting or diminishing our personal and organization brand and its promises with EVERY interaction big or small.
As always if I can help you and the
people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would
invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the
training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! In fact, I am
launching a new SPEAKING FOR IMPACT training
program that will help both novice and experienced leaders increase their
speaking and communication skills! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud
Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will
send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your
organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!
Yours in Leadership (and
still walking both roads!),
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant –
Out Loud Strategies
Independent Coach,
Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email = bill@outloudinc.com
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