Gaining and Communicating Understanding Beyond Your Expertise
Nancy Parenteau, Ph.D.
Easing Challenges in Today's C-Suites | Executive Coach | Leadership Advisor | Strategic Partner to CEOs and C-Suite Teams | Writes about Trailblazing Leadership | Honored Biotech Pioneer and Innovator | Founder
In complex industry environments, we won’t be experts in everything and thus shouldn’t act like we are, even as CEOs. Yet it will be particularly important to understand everything enough to be wise rather than simply dangerous. This level of understanding is pivotal within upper management since your decisions are likely to impact the entire company now and in the future, and you want those decisions to be thoughtful and knowledgeable.
Mutual understanding creates a healthy C-Suite dynamic where people are:
1?? More aware of and thus more understanding of your positions or concerns
2?? More in tune with the needs of other areas of the company
3?? More apt to compromise
4?? More apt to offer and take constructive advice
This understanding is also important for just about anyone in your organization so fostering a culture with understanding as an expectation pays dividends:
? Your team understands you better supporting acceptance and loyalty
? Your team understands teams outside of their area preventing silos
? Your team understands team members and is more tolerant and cooperative
Getting to that desirable state of mutual respect and understanding is rooted in how we communicate and listen. Communicating what you do in a way that fosters understanding in others shows you respect them and are willing to listen to them in return; when we listen and ask questions to understand another’s challenges, they tend to do the same.
How knowledgeable are your colleagues in charge of other facets of the company about what you are up against? If they aren’t how will you teach them?
If you are the CFO trying like the dickens to find ways to extend the company’s financial runway and become frustrated that the budget R&D is proposing is inflated, ask yourself why. A likely complaint will be “I don’t understand why…” Conversely, you may be the CSO trying like the dickens to balance R&D expectations and delivery of tangible progress; frustrated that there is unreasonable pressure to do more with less and concerned that it is setting you and the company up for failure.
We all know that ultimately both want the same thing: the company to meet its strategic objectives and that the burn rate and tangible output are linked. If you can’t show progress, you’ll diminish your options for raising money and vice versa. Both parties need to find the most enabling, albeit delicate, balance. That takes understanding and mutual trust. If both parties spend their precious energy on getting the CEO and Board to understand their position in hopes of getting their way, you all lose. Who they should be talking to first is each other. That way, they can help the CEO make the wisest decision possible without anyone “losing.”
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When we embrace a habit and culture of educating each other, all of this is easier and will happen naturally. If you are the CEO in this scenario, it starts with you setting the expectation and leading by example. Even a simple, “Have you talked to so and so about it?” and sending them off to do that, or telling them that you’ll meet with them together will send a message to talk to one another first. When it comes time to share the results of their discussions with other members of upper management or the board, they’ll present something the others can not only learn from but trust and respect.
Once you are in the C-suite it is no longer just about what you do well, it becomes more and more about how you act and interact.
Realize that you are the teacher of your area of primary responsibility so take every opportunity to explain things. We’ve all been at meetings where the person rattles off numbers, graphs and the like with no effort to explain it to others not already in the know. Their audience is their staff and the CEO, leaving everyone else struggling to keep up.
Gone are the days when showcasing expertise for its own sake should be necessary. If you still feel you must, ask yourself why.
The art of communicating with understanding in mind
The audience that you want to win over is everyone in the room. Educational communication can be an art that may need practice, but being aware that you should be doing it is an important first step. It does not mean compromising the depth of your reporting, but rather that you take time to respectfully explain in a way that provides insight and perspective.
??If you show a complicated spreadsheet or graph, think about adding a summary graphic that more will understand or calling out salient points in the data and briefly explaining them. If there is something particularly positive, point it out and explain why! Everyone likes to hear the good news, help them appreciate it!
??Even if your peers are resistant and seem uninterested, there are ways to instill some understanding slowly but surely. For instance, report your findings, data, projections, timeline, budget, etc. taking the opportunity to teach, accompanying it with, “This is why…” or “This is what it means for us…” or “This is why I am concerned…”
??Think about how you could introduce your topic of discussion in a way that sets a proper context for understanding. For instance, instead of immediately reporting the clinical trial enrollment numbers and timeline, preface it with your insight into what they will hear and why. If enrollment is slow due to competing clinical trials, set up the opportunity for your colleagues to have a better perspective on what they are about to hear. If things are going well, set that up too so that your colleagues learn about positive as well as negative factors impacting your responsibilities. They’ll be more likely to become a valuable support structure for you and may offer some great ideas that help. They’ll feel more involved, and you’ll be helping them anticipate issues that may impact their area of responsibility.
I could go on with many more examples. However, I hope I’ve offered enough for now to get the idea and stimulate your thinking about how to bolster your communication and understanding amongst your colleagues.
Since there is so much more we can talk about, we’ll be delving into this and other C-Suite challenges in my LinkedIn Live Audio Event on September 11th. I hope you can join us! It should be fun and yes, educational!