People Hear Words...

…but Think in Pictures.

When we talk about successful leadership, we have to include the leader’s ability to effectively communicate with the stakeholders of the business.  Clients, employees, suppliers and investors are all examples of stakeholders who have an impact on the success of the business regardless of industry, size or tax status.  The question is, when they hear the leader’s words, is the mental picture one the leader wants them to have?

We define Effective communications as the speaker and listener understanding the message in the same context.  This means all parties understand the message based on what was overtly stated as well as what was implied.  This is especially true for messages communicated to a large stakeholder audience or when the message itself relates to a complex topic and subject.

The challenge is evident in so many cases where I meet with leaders struggling with effectively communicating.  Their first instinct is to ask, “Why don’t they get it?” or “ Why aren’t they listening?”  In fact, the responsibility for this breakdown lies more with the speaker than the listeners.  As Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel Corp. once said, “How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things but by how well we are understood.”

So how does a leader communicate effectively and paint the right mental picture in the minds of the listeners?  In my experience, the answer is in how well they address both Content and Context.

•  Content is the Information leaders share and must be Simple, Relevant and Organized.

• Simple - words convey ideas with minimal jargon and multi-syllabic buzzwords.
• Relevant - words focus on a central theme or point.
• Organized - words move the listener from known facts to unknown ideas and from simple concepts to new, more complex ideas.

•  Context is where Information becomes Knowledge and is built on Purpose, Action and Feedback.

• Purpose - content relates to a greater Ideal or Vision helping the listener answer, “This is important because…”
• Action - content invokes a Call to Action by the listener within the framework of the Purpose.
• Feedback - content is fed back to the speaker to validate Purpose alignment and Action appropriateness.

The purpose of all communications is to elicit some sort of behavioral response.  The behavioral response is driven by the mental picture and attitude of the listener.

As you speak your words, what pictures are your listeners creating in their minds?

Lead, and Communicate, Well!