Be Accessible

As a senior leader, you need to be accessible and visible to your employees. When there is a problem, don’t wait until all the details of the solution have been fleshed out before informing your workers. Instead, inform them of your progress along the way as the decisions are being made. In uncertain times, it is more important than ever to be accessible. You’re not just there to share information with the workforce, but to build trust with them along the way, and dispel rumors as they spring up.

Don’t Hide From Bad News

You have nothing to gain by withholding bad news from your employees — they know times are tough and that your business will have to adapt in order to survive. If you try to pretend that everything is perfect, your employees will lose their trust in you, and communication will become harder. Letting your employees know when changes need to be made is the best thing you can do to stop rumors. When employees trust you to tell them the bad news, they will stop believing office gossip and wait to hear the truth from you.

Personal Communication

All too often, leaders communicate bad news via e-mails and memos. All leaders are busy, but your first priority must be the productivity of your workforce. Research has shown that face-to-face or voice-to-voice conversations build up trust in a relationship and also improve the clarity of your message. You may find yourself stumped by a question that you didn’t expect, but don’t worry. Your people don’t expect you to be perfect, but they will appreciate the time you took to talk to them.

Listen

Face-to-face communication is two-way, which is a massive advantage. You will often find that your employees have great ideas that can help you, but listening doesn’t have to be about finding answers. Your employees will be motivated by the knowledge that their ideas and feelings are valued, and it can help them engage with the business and with you.

Acknowledge the Unknowns

Talk as honestly as you can about what you do know and what you don’t. Your employees will recognize that you can’t know everything, and it will help to build trust and clarity if you explain why some details are still uncertain. Don’t make promises you can’t keep — if you are unsure, talk about probabilities and possibilities instead.

Communication is the bedrock of good management practice, and the only way to get the best out of your workforce. Make sure you communicate openly, honestly, and readily.

• Working for You Isn’t Working for Me, The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster
• Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant by Lynn Taylor

Read about both books and get some quick tips from Wallace Immen’s career column in TheGlobeandMail.com. 

Two oldies but goodies on the topic are the Managing Conflict with Your Boss from the Center for Creative Leadership and my all-time favorite, Dealing with People You Can’t Stand by Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner.

You might also want to check out my February post on Dealing with Big Egos in the Office.

Given this focus on savings are you wondering about your yearly management team offsite?  Should you hold it or skip it?

For help weighing the pros and cons, check out this HBR blog post from CEO coach, Melissa Raffoni:

This Year’s Management Off Site: Necessary or Negligent?

In addition to the posting, I recommend that you skim the reader comments.  Main themes seem to be that the management team needs to be more aligned that ever and that offsites can help to accomplish that.  At the same time, executives should remember to take the time to communicate why they are having the offsite and what the results/outcomes are. 

I believe that employees are craving more direction from their senior leaders.  They want to know where your company is headed, what the plans are for getting there, and how they can help.  Before you can communicate these answers to your frontline, you’ll need shared understanding, purpose, and alignment across your management team. 

If you decide to move forward with your offsite, you’ll also want to read this June 2006 HBR article from  Bob Frisch and Logan Chandler:

Off-Sites That Work

Best wishes for a productive offsite!  Remember to communicate with your entire organization afterwards.

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
– John Locke

The timing could not have been more perfect.

This week I am teaching a dialogue skills class and working on the course has given me a chance to think about the conversations we dread and the conversations we simply don’t have. One theme that keeps coming to mind is the importance of the stories we tell ourselves.

So often we avoid difficult conversations because we tell ourselves a “story” that gets in our own way.  If I tell myself that another person is being impossible, that he or she won’t listen, that there is no possible resolution, or that bringing up an issue will forever destroy our relationship – those thoughts dictate my actions.  I avoid the person.  I stay silent.  I stew and simmer.  When anyone tries to convince me to talk with the person, I count of the score of reasons why nothing will help.

Before I can change my actions, I need to change my story. 

In the workshop I am teaching, I asked participants to work with a partner to describe a sticky situation that have been avoiding addressing.  First they described the situation and then their partners probed into their story.  Next, the partners were asked to help put a new spin on the story – to bring up a different perspective or possibility. 

We did many different exercises and activities throughout the day so I was surprised when, during the wrap up of the class, person after person said that the story activity was the most important takeaway for them.  Many people reported that just changing their story gave them hope, confidence, and even excitement about having a conversation they’d been dreading. 

What stories are getting in your way?

PeopleMetrics, Inc. recently released it’s 2009 Most Engaged Customer Report.  According to their study, the companies that have the most engaged customers include: 

Ritz-Carlton
Google 
The Four Seasons
Netflix.com
Cartier
Armani
Newegg.com
Wegman’s Food Market
Coach
Costco

Not suprisingly, a number of the companies that made the top of engaged customer list are also companies that are famous for their focus on employees, including Wegman’s, Ritz-Carlton, and Costco. 

Want to read more about engaging customers and employees? The Executive Summary is available online for free.

#1: Empathize with the emotions people are feeling

#2: Inspire by appealing to a sense of purpose

#3: Provide information on the details

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I came across an article by leadership expert John Baldoni describing how President Obama is using a similar approach.  Baldoni writes:

I think Obama is an excellent example of the three phases I discussed.  In his campaign he addressed the emotions people were feeling and then moved on to inspiring with his “yes, we can” message.  Now that he is in office and faced with implementation and execution, his communication is focused on helping people understand both the plan and their part in it.

For more, check out Baldoni’s article Great Communicators Are Great Explainers.

After the 30 or so of us signed in with the Court Clerk, we were shown a video.  I admit to bracing myself for something preachy and boring. However, 30 seconds into watching “The Colorado Juror” I was digging in my bag for a pen and paper to capture notes on how good the video was!  I thought it was an effective example of the order in which to cover points when dealing with a resistant, skeptical, or hesitant audience.

#1: Start with empathy for the emotions people are feeling.

The video started with clips of four past jurors talking about how anxious and annoyed they were when they received their summons.  As people chuckled and nodded along, the tension in the room started to dissapate.

#2:  Appeal to a sense of purpose

Following the four clips, the narrator said, “I’ll bet you are thinking that someone else with less important things to do should be here instead of you.”  This got a good laugh as we all realized that we all thought our agendas were more important than everyone else’s. After empathizing, the narrator then came on to say, “We know you might not be thrilled to be here, but you are playing an import part in the process that makes our country great.”  The video went on to talk about the role that juries play in giving people a fair trial and how important each juror is to the process.

#3: Provide details of the plan.

Only after relating to what people were feeling, and appealing to a higher purpose, did the video go inot the nuts and bolts of how the process would work.  This stage a) gave the jurors information about the types of juries, the selection process, etc. and b) helped us know what to expect for the rest of the morning.

What struck me most was the fact that if the information in this video had been covered in a different order it would not have been nearly as effective.  Whoever wrote the script realized that starting with emotion, then moving to purpose, and finally getting into details/plans/information would fit the psychological state we jurors were in. If the video had started with information – I have no doubt that we would have rolled our eyes and felt unappreciated. 

All in all, a great example of how a well crafted message can turn resisters into supporters.