Ah yes, communication does go hand in hand with leadership. The way you communicate defines you and your leadership style.
I sat in a meeting a few months ago and I watched as the Manager was speaking to his colleague. The conversation got heated and I could see frustration building on both sides. But I had to giggle to myself because, he wanted to know the WHAT and she was giving the WHY. After the meeting I shared with her why she never seemed to get it right to give the right answer whenever asked by the Manager – she felt intimidated everytime. When I explained what I had seen she had to laugh. “I never thought of that” she said.
And when I talk of leadership, I am not just talking to the big boss, or supervisor, or manager or anyone in the senior positions – I am talking about you. Yes, you.
We are all leaders in our own right and how we communicate to others and with others could set us apart.
I don’t care who you are, what your designation is whether you are at the top of the chain, or at the bottom – I communicate to you in a way that you want to be communicated to, not my way. And the reason I do so is because I want to ensure that there is no misunderstanding or misinterpretation on either of our sides.
I want to make sure you understand my message and I want you to feel comfortable enough to ask me to clarify, if need be and not feel intimidated or out of place doing so.
I am fully aware that we all, filter information differently. And I respect that.
Yes, there are some people who don’t care how they communicate. And when a message is not interpreted correctly or understood correctly, the messenger will get frustrated and impatient because they did not take the time to figure out how to communicate to that individual to ensure understanding and clarification.
And that can all be avoided by just learning or finding out, how best to communicate to any particular person whether it be in the workplace or among friends. That way, we get less frustrated, less judgemental, less confrontational and start to appreciate people around us with their differences. Afterall if we were all the same, how boring would this world be?
I have come across good and bad communicators, good and bad leaders and all I can do is smile because I know or I can see even hear where the miss in communication is happening, if only they took the time to find out the best way to do so – tut tut.
Does your communication reflect your leadership style?
#leadership #communication #people #leaders #respect