Weekly Round-Up: Communication Skills & Techniques for Teams & Leaders, Why Asking for Input Helps You Lead Better, 10 Crisis Comms Steps

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best recent leadership and communication blog posts I've seen over the past week. Given the current state of business today and how much has changed because of COVID-19 and calls for racial justice, I'm continuing to use the Weekly Round-Up as a place to share some of the best resources I'm seeing to help leaders and communicators navigate these challenges with their teams. 

This Week's Round-Up of Leadership and Communication Blogs:

• Four Skills That Revolutionize Team Communication by Randy Conley (@RandyConley via @leadchangegroup), Lead Change. Teams that can master the "sweet spot" of conversation are more productive and innovative. Find out what that is and how to get there.

“Conversational capacity is the ability to have open, balanced, non-defensive dialogue about tough subjects and in challenging circumstances. Teams that have a high conversational capacity know how to stay in the “sweet spot.” The sweet spot is where candor and curiosity are in balance. Dialogue flows freely, people share their input willingly and listen to the feedback of others without judgment. Good work happens in the sweet spot...” Read more >>

• A Crisis Within a Crisis: When Employee Engagement is Too Little Too Late by Laura L. Lemon, Ph.D. (@LaLouLem via @InstituteForPR). This article goes into how the unanticipated pandemic has pulled back the curtains on organizations that were not investing in their employees and advocating for employee engagement practices, and the possible consequences of those choices.

“Some organizations were somewhat prepared by having a strong engagement culture prior to the crisis. For example, Salesforce, the company that has been recognized a dozen times by Fortune as one of the best companies to work for, put employees first by giving daily updates, conducting mental health check-ins, and providing whatever resources were needed to ensure employees felt supported and confident in their jobs...” Read more >>

• Communication Techniques for Challenging Times: A Frontline Festival via Karin Hurt and David Dye (@LetsGrowLeaders and @davidmdye), Let's Grow Leaders. 19 thought leaders from around the world to share their favorite communication techniques for leading well, particularly during times of uncertainty and change.

“Communication is tricky, even during 'normal' circumstances, but it’s even more important now. You know we’re huge believers in 5×5 communication. Communicating anything that’s important five times, five different ways and are always on the lookout for great communication techniques to make that happen...” Read more >>

• Asking for Input by Ken Blanchard (@kenblanchard), How We Lead. There are multiple reasons a leader should regularly ask direct reports for their input. Ken Blanchard talks about three of the big ones.

“In this post I’ll focus on Asking for Input—a supportive behavior that not only develops mutual trust and respect between leaders and direct reports, but also benefits the organization...” Read more >> 

• 10 Crisis Communication Steps When You Don’t Have a Plan by Mindy Hamlin (@mindyhamlinpr via @RaganComms), Ragan Communications. A 10-step process to help you meet any crisis head on when caught off guard.

“Sure, some organizations have crisis communication plans or PR agencies they can turn to when the unexpected happens. But what can your organization do if it doesn’t have a plan?…” Read more >>

What were some of the best resources you’ve read this week?

—David Grossman

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This article originally appeared on the leadercommunicator blog.