What are the best ways to talk to your organization's leaders?

Communicating effectively with leaders is a important. Preparation is key: I learn what matters to them so I can align my message. Picking the right moment is crucial, too. After a successful project or meeting usually works best. During the conversation, I’m respectful but straight to the point. Time is money, especially for busy leaders. Listening is another big piece of the puzzle. When they speak, I actively listen and respond, showing that I value their input. Lastly, I never forget to follow up. If we’ve talked about next steps or action items, I make sure to follow through. This shows I'm reliable and committed, strengthening the trust between us.

Leaders often favor clarity over comprehensive details. Presenting clear, data-backed snapshots rather than lengthy reports makes discussions more productive. Remember, adapting isn’t about echoing; it’s a demonstration of understanding and valuing their time.

From my past experience working with leaders one need to brief and precise. Keen to detail and undersatnding the mood for each and every reponse. You can easiy tell you point is accepted or will face rejection.

There is plenty of sources to get a view on communication preferences and style of a leader if you study their background and environment and link it to your intended message or result you want to land. Often, colleagues will have examples and anecdotes to share on "what worked well or less so" and perhaps their profile on LinkedIN and related postings may offer some cues on their style as well.

First & foremost, it should be in plain & common everyday language. If you are meeting an executive leader for the first time, then it'll help to know about their areas of interest. As much as knowing them is important, more important is to be yourself when you are in front of them. Think of them as your seniors and well-wishers. Do not panic or get nervous. Smile - it's the best reliever of all time. Be warm (they usually are). Make them comfortable as they too would have their apprehensions of being acceptable & approachable, like yourself. Be assured that you are in your best form when you are yourself. And they love when people are themselves - warm, confident, respectful and insightful.

From my time working with various leaders, I’ve found that keeping it brief and to the point works best. Start with a clear summary of your message. When discussing a challenge, highlight the steps you’ve already taken and pinpoint where you need their guidance. This approach not only shows your proactive efforts but also makes it easier for leaders to provide targeted advice.

In my experience, framing comments in a tone that is confident, solution-oriented, and has the feeling of momentum in it tends to go well with senior leaders. One way to do this, building on what has already been said here, is to bottom-line the issue, convey how far your own thinking has gotten you, then communicate the open question or sticking place clearly. This makes it obvious that you are capable and also allows you the opportunity to give your leadership some visibility into how you have approached the problem so far, how much thought/effort you have already put into it, and how strategic you are. It also gives them a clear idea of where you need help, which sets them up to help you!

Preparation of your message is the key for any type of communication. The message should be loud and clear not having any space for ambiguity. With that it should be punched with relevant facts and data as per required in that particular situation. Basically, all evidence should be showcasing the need of the message that you’re trying to convey. After that you just have to structure by intro-body-conclusion method and you are good to go (read as send).

In preparing the conversation, remember that you are talking with a group of people with little time and a lot of things in their mind. Therefore, instead of starting with context and details, start with your conclusion/ main point and allow them to ask relevant questions about it so that you can share the details they are most interested in. This simple tweak is the key to effectively pitch ideas to your leaders in a concise and compelling way.

Message has to be simple, relatable & clean. It should be free-flowing. It should benefit the end-customer in some way. It usually gets maximum traction. Other part is benefit to the internal teams. Remember that they look at broader picture - at enterprise level and competitive landscape. Not into the nitty-gritties of minute nuances. Avoid such topics at all costs.

Selecting the right moment and method is important for mutual understanding. It’s all about understanding a leader’s rhythm. Through experience, I’ve realized that pinpointing their most receptive times—perhaps a mid-morning chat or a post-meeting recap—can significantly enhance communication efficacy.

Leaders are humans too. As soon as you need a separate manual on interacting with leaders, you might also see some red flags waving in the distance. Assume that most leaders are interested in your work and would love to learn more. They might want to know only some details, so consider a relatively high-level approach that leaves room for questions. Though, in general, they are just another colleague, and for them, you are just another meeting. Be prepared. Make sure you have your story straight and know what you want to get out of it. You should do that for every meeting and interaction with colleagues, not just for leaders.

Its a choice - you want your leader's maximum attention & interest or no? If you want, then it is imperative that you find the leader in that frame of mind when they are most receptive. Networking plays a major role here. You should connect with their Executive Assistants (EA). If they start helping you, you would hit a gold mine. If you are not able to connect with them, then following your leader's digital footprint to understand their schedule, movements, tours, etc. would help you decide. When the time is right, everything just falls in place. Sometimes, just going ahead & request a connection or meeting could work out just fine.

The do's and don'ts listed are worthwhile. My experience is that if you approach a leader with a clear issue that is relevant and aligned with that person's interests (reducing costs, improving operations, eliminating friction, increasing retention, and so on), it is easier to strike up a conversation and share your observation, suggestion, and/or request. Pro tip: don't make it about you; instead, make it about a shared interest in a significant issue.

Since you aren't sitting in their position, there are chances that you wouldn't be able to comprehend some of their inputs or perspectives. It is better to err on our judgement side than show our erroneous judgement and appear petty. It has to be a constructive tone and not complaining. In fact, complaining about anything is a strong NO NO, especially about people - peers, juniors or leaders. But finding shortcomings in processes and providing solutions to it that can eventually benefit end-customer or teams within could be appreciated.

Speak to them from your heart and connect with them. Demonstrate to them your desire to be a partner in the work and seek collaborative solutions. A leader should also make sure their message includes more “we”‘terms so that the team feels included.

An under appreciated benefit of asking an interesting and relevant question of a senior manager is that you've engaged their thinking. Do ask questions that rely on analysis, deconstructing, strategy, or evaluation. Don't ask factual questions that you can look up on your own or simple yes/no questions. When someone asks a question that they already know the answer to, that's called a leading question and many senior managers feel manipulated. Never ask for a go ahead or even support on an initiative that your manager should be asking. That's shows poor judgement. Avoid asking a company leader when sharing an elevator, for example: - Do you think Fred will get the promotion? - How many new people has our company added this year?

One of the most important parts of engaging with senior leadership is to get them to express their thoughts on a particular topic. What do they want to see? How are they thinking about the topic? What do they know that you don′t? What can they see that′s invisible from your perspective? If you can come to them and clearly communicate an idea that they can react to, build upon, and support, then you will be successful in initiating a valuable conversation & creating a reputation as a person with whom they want to engage.

Listening is considering to be more important than speaking, especially when it is an opportunity to learn from experienced or accomplished individuals like the executive leaders. The longer we listen, the more we learn. While listening, they also need to get some feedback of your listening. So, grab opportunities to add single acknowledgement words; if it is inperson or video call, nodding your head at appropriate junctions would give signal them of your engagement.

Following up and following through with your conversations with leaders creates trust, and further promotes and encourages the topics that were discussed. After meetings or brilliant conversations, we are at our peak of creativity and motivation. It is important to follow up to keep the motivation going and creativity flowing. ??

When conversing with organisational leaders, keep in mind the importance of message clarity, relevance, and alignment with company goals. Be concise, prepare data to bolster your points, and demonstrate how your ideas benefit the organisation. Select an appropriate timing, employ respectful language, and actively listen to their feedback. Establishing rapport and showcasing your grasp of the broader picture will also enhance effective communication.

A Couple a Weeks ago, I talked with the leaders of my organization, as said all the previous tips of this article, the best is prepare the speech considering the audience an additional thing is consider will be a lot of questions about the different story area they are leading, so prepare a FAQ in order of cover the main questions, other important thing is to recognize the work of each leader even is small this will encourage their work and set a precedent for future meetings.