You have One Job - Communicate Effectively

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette, one of history's worst communicators with disastrous results.

Since August, when the political campaign season was at its peak circus level, we have seen time and time again that being smart, good at your job and hard-working is never enough if you want to be an effective leader.? The people who succeed are, by necessity, excellent communicators, yet most companies don’t teach their leaders this skill.? ?It assumed that executives are simply born with Churchillian oratory skills and saint like levels of empathy and understanding.? Leadership coaching (guidance, support and feedback to develop leadership skills and become more effective leaders) is exceptionally important but it does not necessarily build great communicators on its own.? Becoming a skilled communicator takes real work that is often intimidating and scary. It is a high stakes game and mistakes are easy to make.? It can also be incredibly rewarding and help turn a job into a career that matters to you and others.? I see the effort reap great rewards every day in the coaching work that I am currently doing with senior executives.?

Tina Brown wrote recently in her Substack newsletter “Fresh Hell”, “I have become increasingly baffled by people with zero communications skills – like Mayor Bass -who keep stubbornly running for office, and even more baffled when they win…your main job is to be able to improvise under pressure in front of a camera.”? Perhaps it is not the Mayor’s main job, but the point is the right one.? You can be doing all the right things to stop a horrific fire but if you can’t reach people’s hearts and minds with your messages about the work then you have failed.?

Pundits have written thousands of words about what the Biden administration accomplished in four years while wringing their hands trying to understand why the American people didn’t “get it.”? It was not their job to “get it”, it was the President’s job to tell the story in a compelling way.? The President was the weakest communicator we have seen inhabit the oval office in decades.? The results of that lack of influence becomes clearer every day.?

So, where do you even begin?? Here are four starting thoughts for you to consider:

1.???? Know thyself – the first step to becoming a great communicator is a therapist….or meditation, yoga, books…whatever works!? If you don’t understand who you really are and how you got there you will never be an effective communicator.? In my communications coaching sessions with executives, people are always surprised when I say that how they were raised and how their family communicated is one of the most important factors in how they developed their own habits.? Culture, nationality and socioeconomic experiences can also be major ingredients.? We don’t work through these elements in that session (I am not a therapist) but the awareness alone opens up a lot of questions and perhaps some difficult ideas for them to process.

2.???? Be who you are…but better -? I know that sounds like a cloying add for makeup, but it’s true.? People always start their own communications transformation journey by saying they want to be themselves and don’t want to hide who they are to succeed.? Great!? I agree.? First – see number 1.? Second, authenticity is absolutely key to becoming a great communicator.? For example, if you are an introvert, be open about it and develop tools to make sure your message is still getting heard in the most effective manner.? If you are someone who smiles a lot, keep smiling but learn to read the room and detect when a smile is detracting from the point you are trying to make or your authority in the meeting room.? There is always an answer.

3.???? Preparation is EVERYTHING. It matters more than… (perfect teeth, fashion, height, background…) anything!? Always prepare for key moments in your day as if you are about to go on CNBC.? Staff meetings, client meetings, reviews, town halls, etc. all require specific planning.? What are your top three messages?? What do you want people to take away from the interaction?? Outline and prepare for every potential question you might get - good, bad and ugly – and answer openly and directly.?

4.???? Get help – When I worked at GE, I did not give aviation engineers advice on how to construct the best engines (luckily for the flying public).? Seek out the communications experts inside and outside your organization to help you up your game.? Have the humility to understand that is it totally acceptable to need help to grow your skills.? We are out there – every company has experts you can tap into.? There is great talent in this field.

This s a skill we can all learn. Let’s start today.? ?I would love to hear your thoughts.?

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