The #1 Skill Executives Must Master

In my previous article titled Why You Aren't Getting Promoted to Executive Roles , we discussed how “what got you here won’t get you there” If you are leaning into your current skills and abilities and hoping for a promotion to a higher level, you are dressing for the wrong part. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.

We discussed how there are basically three levels in every organization: implementers (the doers), middle management (the managers, program/project managers, directors, etc.), and finally the executive level. I want to focus on the executive level in this article, because that’s where I think I can be of most value to my readers: understanding what it takes to become an effective executive.

I believe the most important trait that any executive can have is the ability to communicate effectively to almost everyone in almost every environment. There are three traits to effective executive communication that are far more critical to your growth into the executive ranks than any certification you could pay for. Learn to communicate with these traits and you'll move faster than ever through your career progression.

Here are some tips on how to communicate like an executive.

“Communication is what the listener does”

-??????Mark Horstman, Manager Tools

How Executives Communicate

The first and foremost aspect of communication is making sure that your audience clearly understands what you are trying to say. We’ve all been in meetings or conversations where the speaker has made assumptions about what you understand or what you already know, but you have no earthly clue what they’re talking about. A good communicator would not put you in this situation; they will give you context to help shape what they say next.

Likewise, we've also all been in meetings that seem to meander and wander with the sole goal of filling up the entire hour slot for which the conference room and WebEx bridge was reserved. The leader/facilitator of these meetings are not acting as an executive would - they are acting as...well, I'm not sure what they're doing except wasting time and annoying colleagues. Just because it's on the calendar as a standing meeting doesn't mean it should exist every week for exactly 60 minutes.

Being able to articulate a vision, a technology, a problem/solution, a business model - basically anything - in a way that others can understand is the calling card of an effective leader. People cannot follow you if they don’t understand where you are going.

Executives who actually move the needle in their organizations know that they have to communicate the complete picture in a way their entire audience will understand.

I currently work with an SVP/General Manager who is one of the best I’ve ever seen at this. He can communicate complicated business situations to a room of 150 people – many of whom are non-native English speakers with little business experience – and almost everyone understands what he’s telling them. You'd be amazed at how powerful clear communication can be at aligning everyone towards a common goal. The entire audience doesn't all have to agree with the goal, but at least they are very clear on what is expected by the whole team.

Building Consensus One Stakeholder at a Time

Executives also have to communicate their vision, strategy, and ultimately their implementation plan to their leadership, to investors, and to peers in their organization. At this level, meetings with PowerPoint are not how these concepts are best conveyed, yet we spend a lot of energy on them anyway.

Real understanding, collaboration, and cohesion happens through 1:1 conversations, small meetings, etc. where the concepts are explained and the listeners repeat back what they heard to make sure everyone agrees on what is being communicated.

Effective executives have learned the power of building momentum towards a goal by personally influencing each stakeholder individually in a more intimate way. This is because the highest, best form of communication is through one-to-one, high-touch conversations. If you convey an idea in a room of people for the first time, you will almost certainly get some pushback. Some may see the idea as not aligned with their wants/needs. Some may not understand your idea. And some will feel as if you left them out of the ideation process.

Building rapport, and then consensus around ideas individually almost always works better than throwing ideas out in a meeting for the first time. The best executives I know do this extremely well, and it's been a skill I've worked on for 10+ years since I caught on to how powerful it is in building consensus.

Three Traits of Effective Communication

Finally, this is probably the most important thing you can take away from this article. Communication at the executive level must be done with three traits in order to be effective.

1.????Communicate with Authenticity

Being honest, transparent, open, and collaborative are pillars to being an authentic leader. Authentic leaders are easier to follow because we understand what makes them tick - we know what their goals are and what their morals/ethics are. You know where you stand with an authentic person, and that puts teams at ease.

Communicating with authenticity is easy. Just be honest. If you don't know something, say you don't know something. If you are making a hard call, say so. If you are making a decision that they can't understand, it undermines their trust in you and reduces the efficiency and creativity of teams.

When your team asks you hard questions, be willing to answer those hard questions honestly. The ones who believe in your shared vision will lean in and help you solve problems together, building a core of a team that will persevere through good and bad times.

I personally will not work with an executive – or anyone for that matter – that I feel is being dishonest and inauthentic. I have had too many bad experiences in my career to tolerate liars. If you can’t be your authentic self, you have some self-work to do. I think you will find this to be true of most people who are authentically invested in your team or organization. Inauthentic people get found out - and pushed out - eventually.

2.????Communicate with Vulnerability

There is this notion – especially in American and Asian cultures – that leaders must be stoics that never flinch, never waiver, and never share their internal thinking. And while stoicism isn't necessarily a bad thing, it reduces the human connection that is needed between the leader and her team that leads to growth, creativity, and trust.

Vulnerability is important for your team to see you as a real human. It’s okay to make mistakes. We all do. Your team doesn’t expect you to be perfect. They expect you to be willing to learn from experiences. Teams will lean into their leader if they know their leader will grow and change course when it’s necessary.

Outwardly, stoic executives project strength, confidence, intelligence, and are seen as autocratic strongmen. Unfortunately, this individualistic leader ideal is terrible and has led to some absolutely massive craters where great organizations used to be. One person is almost never smarter than a team of people invested in an idea. Be willing to let others have some ownership in your ideas and processes so they too can feel invested in what they are helping you build.

3.????Communicate with Confidence

Finally, it’s important that you are truly self-confident when you communicate. This doesn’t mean that you are completely confident in what will happen next, or what the best plan is, or even that you completely understand everything about a situation. Instead, communicating with confidence is about communicating in a way that makes it clear that you believe in yourself, your team, and your ability to set and achieve a clear vision for the group.

I find that most mid-managers, program managers, and directors get hung up on this attribute. Self-confidence is something that is difficult to find, but once you find it, your entire energy, demeanor, and tone change. How a self-confident person portrays themselves is very different than someone who doesn’t quite believe in themselves.

Self-confidence is a balancing act though. There is a huge difference between self-confidence and overconfidence. Being overconfident - where you ignore advice or warning signs, believe only in yourself and nobody else, etc. - is in some ways worse than having no confidence in yourself. Not being confident enough in yourself makes the team you are leading feel skittish, unsure, and confused. Both are bad, and make for executives that are hard to follow. I will write a lot about self confidence, and why it's one of the hardest attributes of executive leaders to grow.

Summary

The most effective executives can communicate their vision and ideas clearly and succinctly to every level of an organization. They have learned the art of building consensus one person or group at a time. They communicate with authenticity, vulnerability, and with confidence. This communication skill is the one that holds back most mid-managers from becoming executives, and it took me several years to figure this part of executive leadership out. But it's a skill that you can learn and practice at every level of your organization no matter what your current role is. These are the broad brush strokes, and there's a lot of nuance and detail to effective communication, so it's one of those "day to learn, lifetime to master" traits.

Which is why I’m beginning to work with aspiring leaders who seek to become highly effective executives. If these articles are useful to you, I would invite you to join us in the Leadership & Executive Career Development Group and share your thoughts, goals, experiences, and questions with like-minded aspiring leaders and executives.