Leadership Communication

Jumping off a high dive. Getting behind the wheel for the first time. Giving your first speech in front of a large crowd. 

When you look back at some of the scariest things you’ve done in life, chances are a big reason you achieved them was trust. Maybe a parent was standing by your side to assure you a plunge from that sky-high diving board would actually be good for you, that you’d be ok, and that you had their support. In other cases, it may have been a friend, a spouse or a colleague guiding you and encouraging you. The trust you had in that person gave you the courage needed to take a leap, or simply follow their lead.

It’s hard to believe the time that’s passed since I started the leadercommunicator blog back in 2010. I didn’t start the blog for me – I started it for you – to help you elevate how you lead and communicate. All of us have this superpower inside of us, and my wish and hope is to invite you to reach beyond what you know. And I think we all did that, in so many ways in 2020, stretching new muscles at home and in the workplace. We witnessed leaders step up to the plate and be present with their teams like never before (and often virtually), we saw resilience in our teams to flex their style and adapt to new ways of working. And communicators helped leaders realize the power of simple, authentic, honest and frequent communication. Let’s keep the momentum going.

As we continue to adjust and reinvent how we lead and communicate as we kick off 2021, we want to continue to take a look at what content has resonated most among our readers. In case you missed any posts, here’s the top content others found most helpful in Q4.

10 Most-Read Blogs in Q4 2020

At The Grossman Group, we started the year gearing up to celebrate a big milestone: our 20th Anniversary. And come March, things changed.

We quickly shifted our plans, and our focus, like the rest of the world. In our case, we began providing our clients support for the pandemic, for social unrest, for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, and more. We did this to help organizations connect with their people in new and meaningful ways, and to facilitate the tough conversations on difficult, yet critically important topics people were, and are, grappling with in their personal and work lives.

As the calendar year starts to wind down, and some of the uncertainty settles into place, I’ve found myself pausing to think about all the great work communicators have done this year, despite being up against the most unprecedented personal and professional challenges of our lifetime. I think what’s served communicators and the leaders they support so well during the past months, is they relied on tried and true effective communications strategies to keep employees informed, engaged and focused, listened to, and set up for success.

In February 2020, I accepted an assignment as the Interim CEO of a leading scientific professional society. The Board President and President-elect were looking to me to keep the 130-member staff engaged and calm until the new CEO came on board, ensuring that valued society programs continued to operate effectively.

I knew there would be some challenges in leading the team. Transitions are always unsettling. This one had a number of elements that were raising stress levels – an effective and popular CEO was retiring, and the team was worried about changes I might make as well as changes the new CEO might institute. In addition, the Board was ready to adopt a visionary strategic plan, and employees wondered what their role would be in the society’s future.

Something I often hear from leaders is, “I don’t have time to communicate.” It seems this statement comes from a perception that either there isn’t enough time to draft a plan or that more could be done in the time saved from drafting or sharing a plan. As a communicator, you likely hear this too.

If your leader believes that there’s no time to communicate, you may hear him or her say things like:

Sharing feedback with colleagues is a critical part of working together successfully. Yet many people I talk with feel they could do a better job giving feedback, whether by being more prompt or direct, or simply by ensuring a conversation happens. Giving feedback can feel uncomfortable, maybe even more so when it has to be delivered virtually.

Personal discomfort aside, the truth is that most of us could be significantly more effective at work with regular input on what we’re doing well and what could be better. Timely, frequent and specific feedback helps everyone improve. We can better recognize blind spots, know what to keep doing and when to change course, and benefit from building relationships with those who give us the gift of their advice.

So how can we give feedback that gets results?

Leadership is personal, and in focusing on business goals, leaders can detach themselves from the human element in the workplace. Yet building trust and making a personal connection are key to motivating and engaging employees, which in turn are essential to delivering business results.

A recent study published in Harvard Business Review found three elements necessary for leaders to build trust among employees: positive relationships, good judgment/expertise, and consistency. Positive relationships ranked most important.

The answer here might surprise you.

Both can be effective communicators, if they understand the implications of their preference, and flex their style. The variables to consider are about the quality and quantity of communications.

How to Be a More Effective Introvert