The component of communication that is most important to a high-performing team is two-way communication. While this plays out differently for an executive onboarding into a new role, someone leading a team, and a team member, all need to deploy two-way communication to understand those they are communicating with and to learn how best to help those people understand and believe what they are communicating to them.
Communication is one of the building blocks of Tactical Capacity that together accelerate executive onboarding and the development of high-performing teams. Each building block has a key component. It’s important to put all the building blocks in place and even more important to focus on the key components:
Everything communicates – everything you say and do and don’t say and don’t do. We all know this. And we all take it for granted and either don’t remember it or don’t pay enough attention sometimes. Instead, pay attention and follow this basic three-step framework:
- Begin with your objectives – the impact you want to make on those with whom you are communicating directly and indirectly in terms of moving them from their current state to the desired state on the unaware – aware – understanding – believing – acting continuum (the destination X.) And, consider how you want them to feel about you and about themselves (the hidden X.)
- Think through your approach, message and communication points. Choose what to communicate to bridge the gap between the current reality and the destination X. Think through what people need to be aware of, understand (rationally,) believe, and feel (emotionally) to bridge that gap. This spawns your approach (strategy,) message (headline words,) and three communication points.
- Deliver. Implement with the best vehicles in the optimum combination with the best timing – in-person or virtual, synchronous or asynchronous in everything you do or say and don’t do and don’t say.
For an executive onboarding into a new role
Executives onboarding into new roles should start with a hypothetical message to position themselves in others’ minds instead of letting others position them. At the same time, if they aren’t always absorbing information to ratchet up their current best thinking, they can’t possibly build a high-performing team with all enrolled in what it takes to win.
New leaders should seek first to understand. But everything communicates – including the questions they ask. So, they should have a message in mind that encapsulates what matters most to them and the team.
That message likely spawns three communication points, best communicated with questions early on. For example, the new head of a zoo might have a message of “Bringing joy to all animals (including humans.”.) Their three message points/questions might be:
- Tell me what you and your team do to bring joy to the animals in the zoo and their human visitors.
- What’s in the way of you doing that even better?
- How can I help?
For team leader
Team leadership is almost always about situational leadership. These leaders’ communication might involve:
Telling – when they need people to act quickly
Selling – when they need to persuade
Testing – when there are multiple options
Consulting – when they are open to having their current best thinking ratcheted up
Co-creating – when they are open to completely new ideas
For team members
Just as situational leadership is important, so is situational followship. When the leader
Tells – team members should have a bias to comply.
Sells – team members should be open to being persuaded, but feel free to ask questions to understand better.
Tests – team members should feel free to express their point of view.
Consults – team members should help ratchet up the current best thinking
Co-creates – team members should fully commit, listening and contributing as full partners in the endeavor.
Groups of individuals often talk at each other, engaging in one-way communication that may or may not land. Members of high-performing teams have a series of two-way conversations, learning from each other, ratcheting up each other’s current best thinking, and helping each other learn and grow as individuals, teammates, and a team.
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