Live blog: You can't NOT communicate
Image by Angela Connor (via BlackBerry)
David Grossman (@ThoughtPartner on Twitter) is on stage. He is setting the stage for what he will discuss, much of which is detailed in his book: "You Can't Not Communicate." Follow this blog post for updates.
12:24: You have to work at communication. There's no magic pill. People are not born natural communicators. It is a learned skill. People often tell him that what he shares is common sense. He says maybe it is common sense, but it is not common practice.
12:30: Moving into what he calls "game changers." You can't lead without communicating. Differentiate yourself. Engagement is a way you can do that. The new norm: The notion of the leader of supervisor is more critical than ever before. The leaders make the weather.
12:36: Engagement and communication is the new currency. Grossman calls these intangibles very important. Employees want flexibility, recognition. Who delivers this? The leader. How do you know if you are meeting these intangible needs? He says the honeymoon period at new jobs is getting shorter and shorter.
12:39: Questions employees have: What's my job? How am I doing? Does anyone care about me? These are "me" focused. Then come the "we" questions. What's our business strategy? How are we doing? What's our vision and values? How can I help?
12:42: What happens when change occurs in our organization? The supervisor must convey this change. Keep people engaged. Question from the audience: Don't we need to do research to determine what's on employees' minds? Grossman: Yes. we're good at doing surveys but not so good at doing something with the data.
12:48: Question from the audience about research indicating any differences in the intangible needs of millenials. Grossman says no. What's different is how you motivate them. Now talking about how face-to-face communication is disappearing in some organizations. says he's an advocate for social media (I'm happy to hear that!) but is not sure about its place "inside" the organization. He says we are not doing enough face-to-face communication. Employees respect that kind of communication even if they don't like the message.
12:55: Consistent, constant communication is needed in today's fast-paced business environment. Now moving to what he calls the great 8 basics. He has asked the audience to refrain from saying "I knew that" when we see this list. Here they are:
- Understanding your audience
- Making your messages clear and relevant, especially in times of change
- Planning your communication (How many actually do this?)
- Set context and make information relevant
- Listen and check for understanding
- Select the right vehicle
- Communicate with truth and integrity (He doesn't like the concept of spin. Advocates for truth because that's what employees want)
- Match words and actions.
1:01: Question from the audience on advising clients to avoid spin and tell the truth. This person says she tells clients that employees will know they are lying. She has a hard time getting buy-in with that. Grossman says the higher you go up in an organization the more you need truth-tellers around you.\
1:03: Leaders often want to wait to communicate until they have all of the information. But when you're waiting others are telling the story. to get leaders to realize they know more than they think and that is valuable to communicate to employees, Grossman makes a chart identifying what we know, what we don't know, what we're working on and the myths surrounding the information.
1:06: Myths: I don't have time to communicate. This is the notion that a leader has other things to do that are more important than communicating. People won't interpret. And the last myth is: Talking is communication. Asking the audiences for differences in talking and communicating. Says the quality of information communicated by extroverts is low quality. Introverts have higher quality communications. (Me: Really!?
1:13: Extroverts think they are communicating more than they are. Now we move to the common traps:
- Communicating with emotions
- "Check off the box"
- "I don't have the information I need"
- Trying to have all the answers
1:14: Now on to questions and a giveaway. Grossman asks: What is our expectation of employees when it comes to communication? Answers from the audience: Ask questions. Seek out information. Sit back and take it. (Geez!) Grossman says employees have a responsibility to ask.
1:17 Another question: In some cases doesn't a leader want to communicate with emotion? Grossman: Yes. there is a difference between being passionate and being emotional. larger conversation ensues around this distinction. He says when leaders get emotional it gets in the way of their communication.
(Author's note: This is wrapping up. This was my first experience with David Grossman. I'd encourage you to follow him on Twitter. I like his style.) -Angela Connor (@communitygirl)
Comments
He's doing a great job, very engaging speaker. Glad you're capturing everything here, some great takeaways, well done Angela.
Thanks for the kind words, Arik. I really enjoyed the session. I can see how he thrives at his work.
Hi, best wishes to you and your very nice blog,
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