Leadership communication and the turtle
Lately I have been doing research on leadership communication.
The turle represents the fact that so many good ideas about leadership have been around for a long time, but are slow to be widely adopted.
Following are some things that caught my eye -- some surprisingly -- about leadership, communication, relationships and empathy.
Communication skills essential for leaders, says Harvard Business School
Nothing new here, but I liked this quote from a 2001 article: "Communication is the real work of leadership,” according to Nitin Nohria, Dean, Harvard Business School. He said a key skill is being able to talk in a way to make complex ideas accessible to others who may not share the same knowledge or background. Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., Professor of Business Ethics at the school agreed. "You need a talent for simplicity — for saying things in a few words.”
Another essential skill is effective listening. Badaracco said in the article that he believes part of knowing your audience is the ability to listen. "With the fluidity of information in business today, leaders need to be masterful listeners; they need to be able to receive as well as send." Read more at “What Makes a Good Leader.”
Relationships are important to effective leadership
I discovered a recent study that makes a fascinating point about how and why so many savvy leaders act in ways that diminish their effectiveness. Discoveries in neuroscience are producing some surprising observations about leaders and empathy. One discovery points out that other people need to feel that the leader “cares” about them.
Here was the key idea for me. When talking with others, leaders must show they care by forgetting about their own issues, in order to understand the other person’s issues, thoughts and feelings. In neurological terms, thinking about their own issues limits the ability of leaders to focus on the other people. Their own problems get in the way. This defensive mode of thought tends to close a leader off from others. And others “get it” that you are not focused on them. Here's the article
Lack of effective communication is a workplace issue
Both managers and employees agree on this, according to a recent hiring trends survey conducted by Express Employment. The survey showed that effective communication is the most lacked trait among their leadership team and the most important quality a good leader can possess.
A good way to improve leadership and help to grow your business is by becoming a better communicator. Look for leadership communication tips here - and sign up to get these blog posts delivered to your inbox as soon as they appear by clicking here:
Here's an article about the study.
Today’s college grads face communication challenges
Substantiation comes in a study conducted in September 2011 by Harris Interactive for American Express. Half of hiring managers say that recent grads use of social media has improved their ability to think out of the box, but has deteriorated their writing skills, ability to focus on a task, and verbal communication skills. Communication skills and a good attitude are the most desired qualities they look for when interviewing, say 62% of hiring pros, followed by:
- Qualifications/skill set (36%)
- Intelligence/knowledge (23%)
- Work history (11%)
- Educational background (10%)
Read more about the Millennial Career Study
Something old about brainstorming that was news to me
The “rules of brainstorming” include not discussing ideas while creating a written list of them. The idea has been to defer judgment while going for quantity. It turns out this is not the best way to get the best ideas.
The first empirical test of brainstorming technique was performed at Yale University in 1958. Students working alone came up with about twice as many solutions as brainstorming groups. And the solutions were judged more “feasible” and “effective.” Numerous follow-up studies have come to the same conclusion. Keith Sawyer, a psychologist at Washington University, has summarized: “Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.” Here's more info about it.
Something else I learned this week
I cut my finger in the kitchen two weeks ago and discovered something fascinating following treatment. Doctors are sewing up cuts using a technique new to me. Looking at the incision I discovered there is no scar. The doc ran the needle under the incision to the other side, then back under the incision to the beginning and tied off each stitch. It made a ridge of skin where the incision was. Ten days later there was no cut showing at all – and no scar! Amazing. I got the stitches out yesterday. My finger looks great and the ridge of skin has flattened.