Leadership and Communication - Part 2
The next issue is interest. We can’t really listen to people and communicate with our team until we are interested in them. A common pitfall is trying to make the team an interesting one or get people to be interested in what we do as we. It may work for a time. Little wonder why people in the team we supposed should be interested in and still look outside? Something is getting their interest, and that is a distraction to them and the team. A team can travel as fast as it slowest member can; and all these, everything falls and rise on leadership.
Don’t pretend to be interested, be genuinely interested. People can tell when you are genuinely interested in them and when you are trying to be. It is not just what we say. People read us beyond that. The human message is a complex mix of our oral and body language, with our actions and dealings with them and others both present and past. They also draw on our verbally shared experience with them, and we are not always in control of all these. Sometimes these plights can be unknown to the leader.
Many a good leader has thrown matters like this to the trash can for the excuse that they are sincere with their followers. Leadership suffers not because a leader is not sincere. A leader can be sincere, transparent, has integrity and yet not be interested in the personality of his team members but the progress of the work, and people can tell when you really are not though they may not say it to you when such platform for communication has not been established. Being interested in people is beyond the superficial “how are you?” greetings we throw here and there. We must get to know our followers and their personal struggles. This is the herculean task of leadership. Some leaders only remember their followers exist when they show up. Some don’t have the personal phone contact of their followers until it is time to delegate duties. They don’t know their followers beyond their names and this they soon forget as the person exit the group. When a leader delegates duty to a follower through another team member it shows the level of interest in that individual. It is crucial to relate to each member of your team directly and not through others.
In summary, communication is key to effective leadership; an act one can never outgrow.
Don’t pretend to be interested, be genuinely interested. People can tell when you are genuinely interested in them and when you are trying to be. It is not just what we say. People read us beyond that. The human message is a complex mix of our oral and body language, with our actions and dealings with them and others both present and past. They also draw on our verbally shared experience with them, and we are not always in control of all these. Sometimes these plights can be unknown to the leader.
Many a good leader has thrown matters like this to the trash can for the excuse that they are sincere with their followers. Leadership suffers not because a leader is not sincere. A leader can be sincere, transparent, has integrity and yet not be interested in the personality of his team members but the progress of the work, and people can tell when you really are not though they may not say it to you when such platform for communication has not been established. Being interested in people is beyond the superficial “how are you?” greetings we throw here and there. We must get to know our followers and their personal struggles. This is the herculean task of leadership. Some leaders only remember their followers exist when they show up. Some don’t have the personal phone contact of their followers until it is time to delegate duties. They don’t know their followers beyond their names and this they soon forget as the person exit the group. When a leader delegates duty to a follower through another team member it shows the level of interest in that individual. It is crucial to relate to each member of your team directly and not through others.
In summary, communication is key to effective leadership; an act one can never outgrow.
Comments