Obstacles in Leadership Communications and My Tools to Overcome

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

George Bernard Shaw

At the beginning, I was a failure in the aspects of communication in my career. Law school had prepared within me an adversarial attitude in engaging others. My lack of well thought out articulation quickly put my leadership at a severe disadvantage. After several miscues in the beginning of my career, I was promptly made aware that my development in this area was imperative.

A great number of organizations have experienced hardships and even failed from the lack of diligent communication from leadership. Inadequate communications can be an albatross of many necks . It is nearly impossible to be a successful leader without developing extraordinary communication skills. Thankfully, with deliberate practice, communicating is something upon which we can all positively improve.

By teaching only, experts cannot magically transform a person to become a leader in messaging. The important skill of excellent communications cannot be transferred through osmosis in a classroom/lecture/video series. It is earned through intentional daily interactions. Communication development can be elusive if not consciously worked on. Every communication encounter opens a window of opportunity to grow. The intent of this article is to share a few of the daily tools that I exercise to practice and achieve better communication results as a leader.

Listen

Listening was the first thing I noticed that I was doing inadequately. Most of the time, I was moving ahead of the speaker in my mind by preparing my response; all the while, the speaker had not yet finished communicating the message to me. My lack of explicitly listening truncated the conveyance, and thereby I cheated the speaker and myself of the fully intended message. At times, I allowed pride to set in and felt that what I had to say was vastly more important. Ego caused me to lose out of a lot of wonderful ideas and quick resolutions to conflicts. Learning to actively listen strengthened my team’s output and creativity.

An active, attentive practice of listening can ultimately define a great leader. The world’s greatest communicators make the deliberate choice to listen to others. Leaders who do not listen will find themselves with a group who has learned that attempts to be good communicators with the leader is useless, thereby becoming unmotivated followers. The finest leaders are great listeners and perceptive in their observations. Every person has the desire to be heard and understood. Effective leaders know understanding others is knowledge gained not only from delivering good messages but also by listening to the messages of others.

Leadership should listen with more than just ears. Outstanding communicators get to know their audience in advance of sending their message, whether orally or written. They develop skills to assess the person or group’s interests and will include sensing moods, subtleties, attitudes, and apprehensions. Pure dissemination of a message without being attentive to the comprehension of the audience will likely create a deliverance upon deaf ears. Exceptional leaders will even be keen to listen to their audience by observing their audience’s facial expressions and body language while they are speaking. 

It is a great practice for leaders to listen twice as much as they speak. A mechanism to aid with this is to not mentally formulate a reply while listening, rather, give the speaker your undivided focus. The listener may not reply as quickly but the reply will be a completely informed one that the speaker will appreciate. Influencers are present and engaging when others are talking and will do the same for administration. Leadership should always seek to be engaged and present when receiving communications because the message is going to be a matter of importance to the presenter, no matter if it is perceived trivialness by the leadership. An organization will never know what the individuals have to offer if they do not first listen, and individuals will not continue to communicate if they are not received with the respect of being heard.

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

Ernest Hemingway

Declare Intent

In law school, I was taught to never show the cards and never to let the other side know what I was thinking. This school of thought bodes well when dealing with adversaries but definitely should not apply to leading your own team. From the onset of my career, I dutifully held to the law school teachings and globally adhered to this mind set in all settings. As an example, in meetings when I did not appear open and disclose my purpose from the beginning, I observed people reflected a leeriness and were more focused on the motive of what I was saying than hearing the message itself. When I learned to project openness and start with the announcement of my objectives, I found that everyone felt more relaxed and on the same page with me, resulting in an engagement that went smoothly and understood.

A declaration of intent allows the leader to communicate with clarity and potency. If leadership makes the intentions known from the beginning, the mood will be reflected by the audience, and it will clear a path for a more direct line of communication. The receiver will not be guessing the motives instead of listening. This statement of intentions will help streamline meetings and move the organization to the intended goal much more quickly. 

Whether oral or written, the message must always properly convey the intended purpose for the organization. Sharing of intentions from the onset is critical. Providing clear expectations promotes transparency and bolsters the quality exchange of information. Leaders must learn to confidently and clearly communicate the desired pace and direction of the expected outcomes.

“Our intention creates our reality.”

Wayne Dyer

Commitment in Communication

In the beginning, I thought it would be easy to rectify my lack of communication skills. However, I discovered it involved more disciplines than I initially thought. I thought I could simply and instantaneously be a great listener by implementing being a methodical conversationalist. It turned out that was something that I had to develop daily. I could not let a day go by without making a conscious choice to advance my growing skills and use the multiple tools I discovered.

Leadership must commit that every encounter will be a practice in active participation in good communication. The commitment to the organization must include to openly, consistently, and clearly transmit information in a dedicated duty to improve daily on communications. There must be a conscious decision to take an active role in developing these skills. Leadership should motivate others by words and actions. Influencers should take a daily honest assessment of the encounters and adjust to accommodate improvements. While building a better environment of communications for all, an organization should commit to upgrading the aspect of communication and building upon each priority.

Communication is life-blood of any organization and excellence in this area must be promoted by leadership. Consistently making communication a top priority is a must. The lack of this concern for good communications in an organization can be one of the biggest frustrations among team members and can drastically effect productivity. Influencers must pledge to being the exemplar for the improvements necessary in the organization and must build and execute a structure for accountability to the advanced progress in communication. Leadership must shine as the example of a great communicator internally and externally as well as orally and written and including verbally as well as non-verbally.

“Communication works for those who work at it.”

John Powell

Communicating with Understanding

Formerly, my meetings and emails would be carried out with a message of unplanned audience structure. Tone and mood were not a part of my communication plan either. I was more concerned about the message than how I conveyed the message. This lack of forethought was costly. Miscommunications resulted and team members didn’t hear what I was actually trying to say because of my lack of expression and soft approach.

Exceptional leaders talk about their own designs and concepts, but they do so in a way that appeals to the individual team members’ feelings and ambitions. Managers triumph in ensuring that their message takes root with personal understanding of the audience, because it if does not, it will likely be discarded and not followed. The method by which leaders communicate – unpretentiously, passionately, positively – has more power than the actual message.

The tool of conveying messages with a personal feeling is one that is invaluable. Leaders should use familiar discussion instead of stuffy instructional monologues. Being more personable and engaging the audience in a familiar way is vastly more effective than being distant and foreign. It is said that, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Leaders that develop meaningful relationships with the people they communicate with will boost the likelihood that the intended message will be received. If leadership comes across aloof and unapproachable, then understanding it will be replaced with apathetic responses, and set goals will not likely be carried out in a purposeful and timely manner.  Leadership that reveals a more personable appeal usually has much more positive result. Leaders must use to the tool of pleasant tone of voice, positive facial expressions, and open body language. 

“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.”

John C. Maxwell

Trust and Be Trusted

I found it extremely difficult to trust others until they had “proven” themselves “worthy.” I was guarded against others. The team was aware of my apprehension and reflected the insecurity I did not intend to communicate, and that I definitely did not intend to receive back from my team. My lack of trust was hurting the results I desired to achieve. Now, I set insecurities aside and let trust guide my communications. It has been critical in getting the positive results I desire. This decision has improved the communication flow in both directions in my organizations.

Continuing to develop a favorable trust relationship will have a positive impact on being a great communicator. In messaging, it is most helpful for the leader to trust the audience. A leader should trust that the receiver is listening and wants to be of benefit to the organization. Leadership is meant to be followed and people tend to not follow people that they cannot trust. Being the first to hold out a hand of trust will encourage team members to trust taking that hand and reciprocate. A high level of trust will result in communications becoming much more comfortable, enjoyable, and immensely effective.

Consistency in replying in a timely manner to incoming communications will strengthen the trust relationship. When team members see leaders do what they say they are going to do also enhances the trust relationship greatly. Leaders that neglect duty and obligations will rapidly deteriorate the relationship. It takes only one neglectful act on the part of a leader to deteriorate the trust that was built with a thousand trustful acts, so being diligent in maintaining trust is of the utmost importance.

Leaders must be authentic in transferring of information. Receivers of information must be able to trust leadership and their genuineness. All people will more receptive to the message if they are approached with loyalty and credibility. If leadership fails in this regard, the success will be weakened if not eliminated and people in the organization may soon drift to the sidelines. It can not be stressed enough that when leaders are communicating, it is immensely important to appreciate how much it matter on how the messaged is conveyed. The reliability that is used in messaging will leave a lasting impact on the organization. It is key to generate a positive trust relationship.

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

Ernest Hemingway

Hopefully, leadership can improve their communications with others by using my experiences and some of the tools I’ve learned to use to improve. If leadership can apply these points in daily communication encounters, the foundational platform as a leadership will vastly improve. If influencers practice using these tools, the team will start noticing, and the development will open limitless doors of opportunity to benefit the team, the leader, and ultimately the entire organization.