PLEASE DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
Some say it is all in the delivery. Be gentle if it is warranted and stern when you must.
Have you ever started a meeting or announcement with the phrase."Now please don't shoot the messenger?" If you have found yourself in this situation please read on. If you are a broker owner I am sure you have found yourself in this situation.
The message may not be welcome but the way the messenger delivers it makes all the difference in the world. I should add that you need to have empathy. I recently met with the leaders of one of my Westchester County New York organizations to present results of an employee survey. The employees felt that there were had been many changes and they didn’t understand why. Productivity almost always suffers in times of great change because employee stress dramatically increases due to the universal fear of the unknown. Often senior executives genuinely believe they are communicating with employees when it comes to matters that affect them. Unfortunately, they often underestimate the number of matters that includes.
Can you say with certainty that you know what is important to your team or your employees and what to tell them? The only way to know is to put yourself in their shoes and see things from their position and mindset. Think to yourself, “If I were hearing this information what would I be worried about right now in the current situation?” If you were that employee what would be important for you to know? What is the worst thing that could happen, and would you want to know about it in advance? How would you want to be told?
How would you be answering these questions? You can’t answer the questions without the input from your team—the people affected by the changes. Depending on how much you can discuss, or how much is already known, you might ask a few individuals what the grapevine is saying, and what people are worrying and wondering about.
Now, armed with this information, draft the answers to the questions. Of course they must be truthful answers, for insincerity is easily recognized and will deal a deathblow to your communication efforts. Then they must be couched in terms that are clear and uncompromising, but also considerate and compassionate. It's worth spending some time on this part. Lack of commitment to your message is also easily read and will automatically raise the cynicism level among employees.
You should carefully consider the media used to communicate your message. The way a person receives news can dramatically affect how he or she feels about it, so you need to choose the medium very carefully. E-mail can be perceived as cold and unfeeling in many cases, although it is useful for routine updates that don't have emotional overtones. Some messages are better spoken, either by managers to their groups or by the CEO to the whole organization.
If the messengers don't have highly developed communication skills, it's worth engaging services of people can coach them in the tools of two way communication. The message must remain honest, clear, and compassionate.
And above all, follow through on your commitments and promises. Nothing turns employees off more than empty words. Sincere, caring, ongoing communication can form the basis for building employee engagement when the present time of turmoil ends. For a similar post on our web site read DOES YOUR MESSAGE INFORM ON CONFUSE?
How are you communicating? Could you use help in doing it better?
or call 914-953-4458.
Business Coach - Strategic Plans - Sales and Marketing Coach
Grant Schneider - Leadership and Business Coach Creating Successful Business Outcomes
President Performance Development Strategies
- Business Performance and Strategic Business Plans
- Organizational Effectiveness
- Time Effectiveness and Organization
914-953-4458, Armonk NY 10504 grant@pdstrategies.com
Visit my website www.pdstrategies.com for information on how you can obtain quantum leaps in your business performance.
Helping businesses go from "good to great"
Comments (5)Subscribe to CommentsComment