Is communicating effectively a critical leadership competency?
At first glance, one may assume that by the time one reaches a leadership position, one has mastered the art and science of communication. But that is not always true.
The complexity
Communicating effectively has become a rather complex skill for at least three reason:
The attention span of stakeholders is extremely low, especially at senior levels – so your window to deliver your message is very short
People are becoming increasingly “touchy” – so we need to use semantics that are very responsible
Leaders are expected to influence and obtain support for their ideas and proposals without relying on the hierarchy, so communication is business critical
The confusion
Adding to the complexity is the confusion of what effective commutation is. Everyone throws loose terms and forwards pet theories on what is effectiveness, leaving leaders quite confused.
If you are factual, you are accused of not being able to tell a story. If you tell a story, you are accused of obfuscation, if you jump into the specifics, you are accused of not being inspiring. If you are understated, you are accused of not having executive presence and if you have presence, you are accused of being too full of yourself. So, what should I do, people often wonder.
The hard truth is that communication is not about knowledge, it is not so much about spoken English, it is not about you. It is about the goal, the context and the other people.
What is coachable
Having said all this, there are three things that coaches can do to help someone enhance their communication effectiveness:
Conceptual dexterity
Help the leaders become aware of their conceptual preferences and pay attention to the less preferred but much needed dimensions. (analysis vs synthesis, birds eye vs worms eye, definite vs ambiguous)
Emotional Intelligence
Help the leaders become aware of those dimensions of their emotional intelligence that are strong, less developed, overused and under used. (Self regard, Emotional self awareness, Emotional expression, Assertiveness, Interpersonal relationships, Empathy, Impulse control, Flexibility Stress tolerance)
Personal Truths
Help leaders become aware of those things that they believe to be absolutely and irrevocable true and how these rigidities are causing them difficulties in their communication.
While training can address the external behaviors and skills, coaching can help address underlying dimensions of one’s preferences, emotions and beliefs and through that enhance communication effectiveness.
