Effective communication by leaders with their organisation's employees helps to create engagement, motivation and a shared direction. What can sometimes happen though is that corporate communications fail to create a clear picture of the organisation's strategic direction, tending to focus more on day-to-day operational matters, exhortations to better performance and trying to beat the rumour-mill to the punch.
In 2007 HBR research found that a clear minority of employees reported that their managers communicated a clear strategic direction to them. Interestingly, in connected research this year, senior managers when asked believed a minority of their employees had a good grasp of big-picture strategy. So, if managers believe employees don't have the strategic picture and employees believe their managers don't inform and engage them, just what is going on and who is responsible for communicating or connecting with the big -picture?
In our experience, the most effective leaders tend to paint the 'big picture' readily and ably in their communications. Similarly, we've found that engaged employees connect themselves to the big picture messages and make connections between their roles and the strategic direction.
HBR went on to suggest that to raise the level of strategic understanding "leaders must learn to be intentional about the way that they communicate with employees. In other words, they must work to align what they say — and how they talk — with a clear pattern of strategic intent." HBR called this "organisational conversation."
In traditional leadership models the leaders treat employee communication as a distinct entity from the organisation's strategy. HBR suggested that leaders who engage intentionally place a premium on integrating the strategic direction into their regular messaging.
They go on to offer four ideas to help us become more intentional leaders:
"1. Think ahead. Before they can cultivate a strategic conversation within their company, leaders need to develop a conversational strategy.
2. Paint a picture. Smart leaders get creative about how they communicate this kind of information. They tell a story.
3. Ask for help. One way to ensure that people have a clear view of their company's strategic priorities is to give them a role in setting those priorities.
4. Watch what you say. In talking with employees, effective leaders use consistent, well-thought-out language — language that aims to keep everyone's "eyes on the prize"
The full article with more about the 4 ideas can be found here:
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