“Mass layoffs? Why did it feel so bad? Why Human connection is the missing link and key to being a modern and successful leader.”

Effective communication is an essential component of successful leadership. It is the key to building trust, fostering collaboration, and inspiring others to take action. Without the ability to communicate effectively, leaders will struggle to achieve their goals and objectives.

Over the last few months we have become used to seeing mass layoffs as an almost weekly occurrence, dominating headlines in the tech news. For those affected this is a really sad and highly disruptive time (And for anyone reading who has been affected, please do reach out to let me know if I can help connect you with anyone in my network to help you find your next role) but what I have found interesting is how the leaders in these businesses have chosen to communicate the “mass changes”.

How these messages have been delivered to employees has a huge effect on not only the staff experience and wellbeing of the individuals, but also the market response to the news that’s shared.

The role of human communication in leadership is to convey information, ideas, and messages that inspire and motivate others to take action. This includes not only verbal communication but also nonverbal communication, such as body language and facial expressions. Effective leaders must be able to communicate in a way that is clear, concise, and persuasive. They must also be able to listen actively and respond in a way that shows they value and respect the opinions of others.

Human centric communication is important for building trust and fostering collaboration. Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship, and leaders must be able to earn the trust of their employees, colleagues, and stakeholders. This requires being honest, transparent, and reliable in all interactions. Leaders who can build trust will find it easier to inspire and motivate others to take action.

As leaders we must be able to communicate in a way that is compelling, inspiring, and motivating. We must be able to paint a picture of a better future and show others how they can play a role in making that future a reality – in the modern remote working environment this is becoming increasingly difficult for leaders to achieve.

So how could the large tech players have changed the way they communicated the mass redundancies to those staff affected, but also importantly, those staff that remain – to ensure they remain motivated and aligned to the organization?

Since very early in the pandemic we all experienced the change in how and where we work and in turn how we communicate, but the role that human connection, emotions and communication styles have is still an area that is often undervalued or not considered when communicating and building/growing effective global teams – a faceless email is not the same as a human message delivered with empathy, care and consideration.

For those staff that remain, fostering collaboration is another important aspect of effective communication. Leaders must be able to bring people together to work toward a common goal. This requires the ability to communicate in a way that encourages participation, fosters creativity, and promotes teamwork. Leaders who can foster collaboration will be able to achieve more than they could on their own.

Overall, human communication plays a crucial role in the success of leadership. Effective leaders must be able to communicate in a way that is clear, concise, and persuasive but most importantly human centric and genuine to ensure whatever message they have to communicate is received in the best and most positive way possible. They must also be able to listen actively and respond in a way that shows they value and respect the opinions of others. By building trust, fostering collaboration, and inspiring others to take action, leaders will be able to achieve their goals and objectives.

As we live in a technology revolution, it is key that we now look to our technology platforms tools and strategies to align our communication styles to our modern way of working and we embrace the opportunity that technology brings ?to do better, to maximise the human connection – ?while this may not have changed the outcome of the message being delivered (the layoffs would still need to happen) it will have changed how the staff past and present feel about this message being delivered and those organisations they work/worked for.

In conclusion, effective communication in our hybrid and disrupted working world is vital for the future success of your leadership. It is the key to building trust, fostering collaboration, and inspiring others to take action. Leaders who can communicate effectively will be able to achieve their goals and objectives, and inspire others to do the same. It is important for leaders to continuously work on improving their communication skills in order to be effective.

Are you using the best tools and strategies to help you do this? If not come and talk to us at Jugo to discover how you can bring human communication to life and transform the experience of your staff in this new hybrid working environment.

See you soon in Jugo!