Communication is key to a leader’s success. In a recent post, I reviewed some of the reasons it is extremely difficult to communicate well. My list of contributing factors included: scope, time pressures, bias and complexity. Regardless of the difficulties, leaders must learn to communicate.
Tag: Communication
The longer I lead the more I’m convinced, communication is perhaps the most difficult aspect of leadership. I know this may seem strange. Even as I write this, I am asking myself, “Can this be right?” It seems like vision, strategy, competition, even people, would all top the list of what makes leadership challenging.
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Talk is Cheap… Change is Hard
Leaders are paid to create change. Our vision calls for change, the journey is about change, people ultimately have to change – new priorities require new behaviors, the culture often has to change, the success metrics usually have to change, and the leader always has to change, too. Can you orchestrate changes like these?
Have you ever noticed how often the counter-intuitive strategy, or the contrarian view yields the best return? If you’ve not thought about this, maybe today’s post will help. One example is our attempt to grow a small company. Clearly, most leaders are trying to grow a large company – the bigger the better. But what would happen if you could grow a small one?
One of the never-ending responsibilities of a leader is to remind people what we’re trying to accomplish and why it matters. This is the essence of vision casting. Unfortunately, most leaders under communicate their preferred picture of the future.
Last week, I started a post on the critical importance of infrastructure for organizations that want to grow. To pick up where we left off, I define infrastructure as…
The critical, behind the scenes elements and activities required for the sustained growth and vitality of the organization.
Last week I shared the story of my plate spinning illustration to drive home a point of increasing complexity. Today, I want to talk about some less elaborate examples and share a few tips for making props work for your next presentation.
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Today's Challenge: Advice
Each week, I respond to a question from a reader. In doing so, by default, I’m giving advice. I understand the risk inherent in this –I don’t know your situation. So, rather than offer direct advice, I’ve often deferred to sharing my personal experience or best practices I’ve learned from others. Today is different. The question I’ve been asked to answer is this: What advice do you have for me as a younger leader?
This year at the Chick-fil-A LeaderCast, Coach Krzyzewski from Duke University made a presentation about his approach to leading some of the world’s best athletes – the US Olympic Team. If you don’t know about Coach “K,” he has more wins than any coach in Division 1 college basketball history.
If the research is correct, we learn as much as 70% of what we know from what we see. That’s why one of the most powerful skills a leader can develop is the ability to make your ideas visible. Countless times, it’s been a picture, not the words I spoke that enabled me to effectively communicate an idea or concept.