3 Keys to Effective Communication in Today’s Reality

 
The ROI of Effective Communication In a Time of Disruption.png

Disruption can bring chaos and confusion, translating into a lack of productivity and profit. For the last several months, as leaders, we’ve had double-duty, dealing with significant personal changes while simultaneously keeping our businesses alive. 

Consider your biggest communication pain point right now: 

  • Are you struggling to identify and share a coherent message with your stakeholders (internal and external) about the future? 

  • Have your communications processes for managers across your organization caught up with your distributed workforce?

  • Has the loss of the hundreds of in-person micro-conversations you took for granted inhibited your organic workflow and productivity?

To address these challenges and succeed in our new reality requires a communication strategy that focuses on clarity, consistency and vulnerability. 

At sr4 Partners, our work over the last several months has included supporting organizations of all sizes as they redefine their communication to address the chaos and uncertainty we are facing. Below are some key takeaways from our May 14th forum with over 75 leaders from across North America (or watch the full video here). 

Clarity

Research shows how organizations that are highly effective at communication are nearly twice as likely to financially outperform their competitors. Clarity is at the heart of all effective communication, and we recommend utilizing Patrick Lencioni’s six questions outlined in The Advantage.  

  1. Why do we exist?

  2. What do we do? 

  3. How will we succeed?

  4. What’s most important, now?

  5. How will we behave?

  6. Who must do what?

Have your responses to these questions changed in the last few months, given our disrupted world? Identifying which responses have changed and which remain the same can go a long way to providing clarity. In doing this, you build the trust and psychological safety needed for your organization and employees to move forward. 

Some tips as you go through this exercise:

  • Answer the questions as a leadership team

  • Answer all the questions

  • Consider enlisting the help of a facilitator

  • Teach the answers to your people leaders

  • Integrate the answers into your communication strategy

Consistency

Times of disruption make it difficult to communicate with consistency, creating even more chaos and anxiety. One of the most effective approaches to consistent communication that we’ve found is outlined by Punit Renjen of the Deloitte Insights Team in this article on resilient leadership:

  • Design from the heart and the head

  • Puts your company’s mission first

  • Aims for speed and over elegance 

  • Owns the narrative

  • Embraces the long view

This isn’t a one and done checklist item for leaders. Frequency is key. And remember, this is a learning journey - we are all shaping the next normal.

Vulnerability

According to author and expert Dr. Brene Brown, “Vulnerability is how we respond when greeted with uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. It’s sharing your feelings and experiences with people who have earned the right to hear them.” In times of disruption, vulnerability is key to authentic and effective communication. 

Here are a few ways to put vulnerability into practice: 

  • Appropriately disclose challenges and emotions you are experiencing

  • Recognize the “trickle-down effect” (you set the example for other leaders)

  • Acknowledge you have no control over the pandemic except your own response

  • Display realistic optimism

To apply the ideas we’ve outlined above, here are some questions to help lead you to some next steps.

  • What’s one best practice you will adopt for communicating during long term uncertainty?

  • How might you provide more clarity in the process when the outcome isn’t clear?

  • What’s an old communication practice that you could let go of?

sr4 Partners is an organizational health consultancy focused on helping you lead. We understand the importance of high performing leaders and teams - especially in today’s challenging business environment. For over a decade, our work has helped organizations cultivate healthy leaders, cohesive teams, thriving cultures, and inclusive change. We do this through our consulting services and our Ignite Leadership Community.

 
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