PEr Chronicles: The language of leadership: communication

6 hours 58 minutes. That’s a person’s average screen time per day according to the latest 2023 data. Daily screen time has increased 50 minutes per day since 2013. Gen Z averages around 9 hours of time spent glued to their devices.?From phones to tablets and smartwatches to TVs, screens are everywhere.

So, how much screen time is too much? That’s the wrong question, experts say. Watching a documentary on your phone, for instance, doesn’t have the same impact as mindlessly scrolling Instagram.

A new Japanese research from Osaka University has found that increased screen time at two years of age results in poorer communication.

Communication is the thread that holds us all together in life and at work.

According to surveys of hiring managers, writing and communication are the most sought-after skills across nearly every industry and even technical fields. Communication skills – both written and verbal – topped the list of eleven skills that employers desire most. Teamwork and leadership skills came in second and third. The shift to remote work as a result of the pandemic and the wave of employees quitting their jobs has only elevated the importance of communication skills. A McKinsey survey of 18,000 people in 15 countries identified the skills required to “future-proof” your career. Most of the top skills required fall under communication in all its forms: storytelling, public speaking, synthesizing and clarifying messages, crafting an inspiring vision, developing relationships and inspiring trust.

Over the years, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and have allowed my ego to creep in when it should have been left at the door. If you drop your ego and pay attention to small signs of communication, you’ll see the tracks:

Zealous. Intense. Dramatic. Creative. I’ve heard these terms thrown around when people describe me. I even wear them as a badge of pride. I have always had a strong desire to influence and persuade people. My desire to be persuasive hasn’t always played out well, though. I’ve also seen people feel intimidated and draw back, because they are surprised by the level of passion I bring to the table.

I now realise that being right in my content but wrong in my delivery is still being wrong. I constantly evaluate if I really want to “win” by backing the other person down, or can I find a different way to inspire them?

Slowly but surely, I changed the words I used. After all, what is leadership but language?

I replaced a reactive language of convince, coerce and comply with a proactive language of intent and commitment to action. I replaced a language of “prove and perform” with a language of “improve and learn.” I was still speaking English, of course, but in many ways, it really felt as though I had learned a new language entirely. The way I said things made all the difference.

As I changed the way I communicated with the team, it affected the way they communicated with me and with each other. Changing the way we communicated changed the culture. Changing the culture transformed our results. Changing our words, changed our world.

Amazon has “Always Day 1” as a metaphor for creating and sustaining a mindset and culture of innovation no matter how large a company becomes. Always learning. Always improving.

The moment you think you know it all is the moment you stop growing. You can make dramatic changes, too, but only if you see yourself as a learn-it-all and not a know-it-all.