At a recent Leadership workshop I facilitated, we opened the session sharing our ‘lessons learned’. Three had to do with listening and 12 had to do with effective communication. Among the responses were “check for understanding”, “avoid being judgmental”, “quick and constructive feedback, “daily communication” and “management by walking around”.
What does this mean? Effective communication is at the root of leadership … both good and bad leadership. Communication must be two way, and consistent. By consistent I don’t mean consistently occasionally … consistently frequently. [Yes I know 'occasionally' and 'frequently' are equally ambiguous].
Ask questions of your staff questions like “How’s the project coming?” “Were you able to reach so-and-so?” and “Anything cropping up we didn’t count on?”. You can follow these questions up with probing questions to elicit more information, especially if you think there is something else they want to discuss.
Feedback would include thing such as “Good job on the report …. it had all the information I needed”, “Thanks for the timely email update” and “Your expertise is exactly what we need for this project”.
As a leader, being accessible and open to discussion, will garner you loyalty and a smoother, more efficient team.
Remember, it isn’t what you said, it’s what they think they heard.
