communication posts

Twitter does wonders for business

October 27th, 2009

If you are:

• a CEO wanting to increase buy-in and commitment to the strategic objectives and the success of your company,
• a COO who wants to create momentum within teams to get better results,
• a VP of human resources wanting to increase employee engagement.

Twitter could be your solution.

Twitter offers every company the opportunity to open up its public self, increase external perception of your brand, announce successes and expand customer reach. It can also be used to create internal buy-in,  build team momentum and increase employee engagement.

(If you don’t see a video below, view it here.)

(Learn more about the Johari feedback matrix.)

Like ourselves, businesses have personalities. The Feedback Self Disclosure Matrix explores the four selves.

1. The Public Self: What you and others know about your company, e.g. your brand,
2. The Private Self: What you know about your company but others don’t, e.g. your financials,
3. The Blind Self: What you are not aware of but others see clearly, e.g. a leadership team may not realize in an effort to get results they are actually developing a burn-out culture,
4. The Unknown Self: The hidden potential of every company. For example, during a strategic planning meeting, a team considers a disruptive innovation. Another example: Identifying a new area for the business where the team is willing to take a risk on something new, e.g. using the power of Twitter!

Twitter gives you an opportunity to start to consider strategically how you might open the public self of your organization. Download the Johari Feedback-Self Disclosure Matrix (PDF)

As a Start:
Have a conversation with your employees about what they might tweet – good news about the company, interesting facts about what’s going on, what goals they are reaching, what successes they are having. Include a conversation about company privacy — the Private Self — e.g. no need to tweet the financial status of the company.

Embrace the idea that Twitter can get the message out there to a larger audience as well as increasing internal buy-in to strategic objectives, creating momentum, and improving employee engagement.

What strategies do you have around Twitter?

Shake up your communication beliefs, shock yourself into reality!

October 22nd, 2009

When team accountability declines, I question if the leader or manager is trapped in a communication myth – a widely held but false belief or idea.

As a leader/manager, it’s critical to be aware of your communication style and its effectiveness. It could be as simple as asking yourself, “Do I believe in these myths and if so, what can I do differently?”

“While you may ignore the truth because it is uncomfortable to face, other times you accept myths over truth because you don’t know the difference” – Joshua Uebergang

Myths of Communication

1. If I tell somebody to do something. they are actually going to do it.
To raise the bar of accountability, leaders and managers need to take the time to check-in with the individual to make sure they agree with the need, and are willing to set a target date for the completion of the task.

2. If I tell somebody to do something, they have heard it, and they understand what they need to get done.
Reflective/active listening is critical to effective communication creating improved results. First ask the individual to repeat back what they heard you say. If they didn’t hear it correctly, re-word it and ask them to repeat it again. This can take a moment but it is worth it! Attaining clarity with reflective listening decreases errors and misinterpretations.

3. If I say it once, once is enough.
Retention 24 hours after a presentation ranges between 8 – 12% (check out my post about “the forgetting curve“). That means if you stick to this myth you will receive 8-12% of the results you are looking for! To improve this, check in regularly with the individual.

If you are leading a team, watch that you don’t get trapped in these myths.  Instead, shake it up!

CEO leaves executive team adrift

October 06th, 2009

I’d like to share a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s a story about what happens when a high-functioning executive team with well-defined roles, strengths, and dynamics suddenly loses a member and fails to adjust. If you’re a CEO or senior executive, don’t let this happen in your organization.

I recently worked with a company that had offices across Canada and an executive management team that had been together for over 10 years. They communicated well, were willing to give direct and corrective feedback, shared an understanding of the strategic and tactical goals of the company, and reviewed their metrics with regular monthly strategic meetings.

The company was lead by a female CEO, whose father had passed the company to her 10 years prior. She had stepped into the role with no previous experience and decided to bring in outside resources to establish norms of effective teaming, help the team articulate the strategic plan and understand how to review it on a regular basis. (This is where I came in – facilitating the annual strategic planning process and monthly management meetings.)

She had a consensus building leadership style; she put issues on the table for discussion with her trusted team and then, if necessary made the final decision after weighing all of the viewpoints. A key role at the table and, definitely her primary strength.

As profits soared and the executive management team dynamic flowed effortlessly, she decided to have her first child. I was excited to see how this team would now step up and take on strategic and tactical decisions in her absence. What a possibility for the team to grow to new heights, to function with a deeper level of commitment. It’s interesting how her decision to have a child, could also birth the next level of possibility within her executive team.

Before she left, this CEO needed to pass her authority to another member of the team, but, unfortunately, she didn’t let go of her role. She chose not to do so. Instead she simply left to have her child. She assumed the team would continue to function in her absence.

Instead the team floundered because a  primary leadership strength – building consensus and making the final decision was no longer at the table. Not one of the executives had the ability to make final decisions when needed. Their once dynamic meetings became meetings of discussion after discussion without decision making and actions of how to move forward.

I sometimes wonder whether this CEO recognized her primary strength and role on this team. Why didn’t she assign responsibility for decision making while she was gone? Was she paralyzed with fear that the executive team would function in a different way in her absence. making it difficult for her to find her place on the team when she returned? Watching the team flounder was extremely difficult – I was saddened by the lost opportunity for the CEO to birth both a child and a more highly functioning team.

Don’t Throw Your Junk on My Desk

September 29th, 2009

“If I send you an email, do not acknowledge its receipt with a ‘thank-you’, ‘got it’ or ‘done’ response – don’t bother” said my new client,  in our first face to face meeting. At first, her words seemed brash, but later made complete sense.

She, a VP at a global organization, continued “Recognize, I interact with a large volume of email each day. I will not respond to your emails unless, I don’t agree with the contents”

Not only had she clearly articulated her expectations and norms of working together, but she had taught me to not throw junk on her desk.

Email management has become a source of frustration and angst that contributes to team dysfunction and decreased results.

As business leaders, we can greatly improve team productivity by changing our consumption and production of action, information and junk related emails…and teaching our teams to do the same.

Here’s how:
Consider all emails that flowed into your inbox within the last 24 hours.

1. What percentage required your action?
2. What percentage required that you stay informed? (eg. actions which you support)
3. What percentage was junk? (not junk mail that would get stuck in the junk filter but junk-mail created by your colleagues)

Now consider all the emails you sent yesterday.

1. What percentage requested action?
2. What percentage outlined required supportive, informed, knowledge and/or resource based actions?
3. What percentage of your sent emails were junk? (e.g. didn’t fall in #1 or #2. Be honest!).

Just as my new client broached the topic with me. I encourage you to do the same with your teams, and practice hitting the ‘delete’ key before throwing junk on other people’s desks. I can personally attest to this strategy – it works!

Own your side of the dialogue!

September 01st, 2009

There are incredible benefits to leveraging diversity in organizations. Broad expertise, knowledge and judgment can create major communication challenges or outstanding opportunities!. To benefit from diversity, we need to work together and be effective in navigating our differences.  We can do this by taking more ownership of our side of the communication, our side of the two-way dialogue.

I recently worked with an extremely talented CEO who was visually impaired.  To improve communication and team effectiveness within his organization, I facilitated a number of teaming experiences in which his associates were blind-folded. Once they experienced what “visually impaired” truly meant, they started to utilize different ways of communicating to complete the task at hand. They also started to recognize how their CEO had to work differently to get things done.  They had more empathy for him. End result, they became more aware of how they could increase their communication with him by being more responsible to their side of the dialogue.

I’m now working on a team with a deaf woman, and it has been a most incredible learning experience for me. I’ve learned to adjust my own communication style, to apply different techniques in an effort to respect the wonderful diversity she brings to the group.

• I have realized our ‘communication loop’ reflective listening competence; in which the receiver of the communication re-phases what they heard from the sender, is as effective when she re-types as when we re-phase,
• I have learned how ‘instant chat’ can trump email for effective communication,
• I have learned to write more in my blog posts as opposed to simply uploading a video,

The most important thing I’ve learned is that I have to be responsible for my part of the communication, for my part in this relationship.  So I’ve started to learn expressions in sign language. Even though I am not great, not perfect, she can still understand when I say, “Good morning, how are you?” She can understand when I say, “Can you repeat, I don’t understand.” She starts to be able to communicate with me because I am working to improve my side of the dialogue.  As a manager, leader and co-worker I have to draw people out and help them understand the message I’m delivering.

For me, diversity just means we are different. We’re different because we have limitations. We’re different because we have strengths. We’re different because we come from different places and we have been brought up with different norms.

It takes self-awareness and initiative to recognize these kinds of communication challenges and courage to make them opportunities. When you consider the diversity in your teams, can you see opportunities to improve the way you communicate? Can you take more ownership of your side of the dialogue and become more effective in the process?

How to Manage Interruptions By Being Clear on Priorities

August 25th, 2009

Managing interruptions and staying on top of daily multi-tasking each day is critical to being effective in business today. When business leaders discipline themselves to set clear priorities and communicate “norms for engagement” with co-workers productivity and results soar while overwhelm begins to decrease.

I recently had to find a new doctor. After I filled in the initial visit paper work,  the receptionist handed me a document titled “Doctor’s Rules and Regulations” (norms for engagement).  It clearly outlined the Dr. had only 10 minutes for each appointment.  It directed me to bring one issue to the table at each doctor’s appointment. If I had two issues, I needed to make sure that I presented both within the 10 minute parameter.

The document then illustrated a time calculation: if each patient was one minute late multiplied by 45 patients per day equals the last patient waits an additional 45 minutes. He had clearly identified his priorities and this was his effort to communicate them to me.

Although my experience with the doctor was a little harsh, I recognized that he was clearly outlining his norms of engagement in my best interest. Think about it — one day I might be that last patient myself.

If you want to be more effective and manage your interruptions with increased ease, it is really important to sit down at the beginning of the day to consider your priorities. Whether it takes 5 minutes or 20 minutes – it is probably the most important time in your day

• to get clear on what you need to do,
• to be responsible for performance and results, and
• to clearly articulate your own norms of engagement to the people with whom you work.

That’s exactly what the doctor had done. He had clearly outlined his expectations of how I would prepare for the meeting, his expectations of how I would bring issues to the table. With this he clearly articulated our ‘norms of engagement’.

Take some time to identify what your priorities are for the day and to communicate them.  Articulate your priorities clearly to others to establish “norms for engagement”.

Emotional Intelligence and Our “Private Self”

August 14th, 2009

This weekend I went to see Julie & Julia. Loved it! It got me thinking about “The Feedback Self Disclosure Matrix,” a tool that can help all of us – particularly CEOs and senior managers – create deeper connections and better results in our businesses and with our teams.

This matrix is based on the foundations of the Johari Window model that was developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in the 1950s. The Matrix is comprised of four quadrants.

Each quadrant represents a part of our self, representing particular behaviours, feelings, motivations that are known by (self) and about the person (other).

At the bottom of the illustration you see how the four different quadrants of the ‘self’ can be altered in size reflecting the relevant proportions of each type of ‘knowledge’ of/about a particular person.

The four quadrants of our “Self” are Private, Public, Blind and Unknown.

The horizontal axis shows how much a person asks for & receives feedback.

The vertical axis measure the amount the person self-discloses & gives feedback.

This dynamic feedback model illustrates:

• People with high emotional intelligence (large ‘public self’ – orange box) ask for feedback, give feedback and self disclose often.  They have well-developed public personas.
• Those who are protected (large ‘private self’ – green box) keep ‘what they know about themselves’ private. These individuals rarely choose to self-disclose.  Their Private Selves are large, making it difficult for colleagues to comfortably collaborate and communicate with them. These individuals often control the flow of conversation by asking many questions. They rarely share their own experience. So, they don’t get much feedback so their Emotional Intelligence is suspect.
• Aggressive (large ‘blind self’ – yellow box) give plenty of feedback but don’t ask for it a lot – their Blind Selves dominate.  They aren’t as aware of themselves or environment. This hampers their ability to work collaboratively or take in feedback from others. They have a low level of Emotional Intelligence.
• The Well of Potential (large ‘unknown self’ – brown box) these folks neither ask for feedback, nor give much feedback – if they started to open up, they would experience a great deal of professional and personal growth because they would be developing their Emotional Intelligence.

After seeing Julie & Julia, my girlfriend left the theater inspired to do more cooking – I left with the realization that this blog is a perfect vehicle for me to self-disclose. I can decrease my ‘private self’ while increasing my ‘public self’. As I write this I realize that will take additional courage on my part – yikes. I’ll get feedback!

I’m rarely at a loss for words. I think nothing of standing in front of 500 people to lead a professional development seminar. But spilling my guts in front of a video camera to post a new blog is scary. I get the shakes even writing this!

Back to the movie …

Julie trembled in her boots as she blogged about her frustrations, joys and commitment to learn how to cook the Julia Child way. She opened her Private Self to make her experience more public. I connected with her more deeply because of it.

Executives with high emotional intelligence are better able to lead and motivate their people.

Sharing their Private Selves is an important behavior.  I realized that just standing up in front of a room and blogging are public activities, but it doesn’t automatically mean I’m revealing or connecting.

There is learning here for me, as there is for the CEO’s, sr. managers and executives that I work with.

Lets drop the hesitation. Pick-up a bit of courage. Boost our Emotional Intelligence. So, we’ll no longer miss an opportunity to gain more feedback and build deeper connections.

I’m committed to doing so – thanx Julie!

With time, courage, and your feedback, I’ll explore my Unknown Self, become more comfortable with my new Public Self, and get better results through improved Emotional Intelligence.

Are you comfortable sharing your Private Self in your business life? Think it might be important to develop your Emotional Intelligence? What do you think?
Download Feedback-Self Disclosure Matrix

Emotional Intelligence Series #7: Leadership Assertiveness and the Importance of the Vision!

June 28th, 2009

Sorry about the volume of this video – some of it was shot in studio and some outside; audio levels vary.

In April, I participated in Habitat for Humanity’s Toronto Women’s Build. I was in a group of 60 business leaders gathering to give back, to have a fun day and to somehow swing a hammer to build one of sixteen new homes for families in need.

As eager business women with type A personalities, we were all juiced and ready to jump in!

Habitat for Humanity gave us the overall vision of the day. Our project manager then started us with some tactical direction – it excited all of us for a short period of time.  Then we all became very ineffective.  Our participation slowed and motivation waned.

A fellow entrepreneur, Joan, saved the day with her high level of Emotional Intelligence:

1. Self Awareness in her ineffectiveness,
2. Self Management in her ability to manage her frustration and,
3. Her courage to act with Leadership Assertiveness; simply requesting that the project manager share the tasks vision.

Watch this video – a great case study for team effectiveness. Consider the following:

1. Describe the project/task vision. All of us need to understand where we are going so that we can get there.
2. Provide direction then support. Provide detailed direction to the newbies on your team (like us — highly motivated but lacking in task specific competence in how to build a house). Provide support when you recognize effectiveness is declining.
3. Encourage your team members to uplead. Joan exercised her leadership assertiveness in asking our project manager to explain the vision of the task – this is ‘upleading’,
4. As a leader, respond to the upleading immediately. If a member of your team behaves with a positive uplead – grab it and act immediately. Our project manager did just that! She led us to the sample home and showed us the needed end result.

Emotional Intelligence – What the heck is it??

April 21st, 2009

Emotional Intelligence is smart!
It is key to the success of highly developed and functioning teams. When individuals are aware of the five elements of emotional intelligence they have a deeper ability to navigate individual and team effectiveness.

There has been lots of buzz about Emotional Intelligence for years, as well as lots of confusion about what it is.

In this video, I discuss the five core elements of Emotional Intelligence that we use when working with teams:

1. Self awareness: the ability to connect with my emotions and articulate the source,
2. Self management: the ability to manage what I do in the midst of that awareness,
3. Empathy: once I experience self awareness I can increase my empathy for others,
4. Social skills: I can navigate my relationships using my self awareness, management and empathy,
5. Leadership assertiveness: not to be confused with ‘leadership aggressiveness’. With assertiveness I can competently come forward with my viewpoint and opinion to influence others and to promote effective decision making.

Consider the impact that elevated emotional intelligence may have within your core team. Willing to share a comment?

How to Develop Your Team’s Emotional Intelligence

April 20th, 2009

Why is emotional intelligence such an important subject today?  Because emotional intelligence today wins the race.  When teams can communicate together on a very interpersonal level, results can absolutely soar.

There are five components to address:

1. Self awareness
2. Self management
3. Social skills
4. Empathy
5. Leadership assertiveness

What I’d like to encourage you to do is to think about the emotional intelligence in your teams.  In this video, I’ll share a few quick tips to get you started.