Beyond the Memo | Transform Communication for Leaders

22/10/2023

Building Genuine Connections Through Communication

Having worked as a Head of Communications in a previous career, I know as well as anyone that communication can feel like a thankless task. No matter how well-crafted your message is or which platform you use, it can often feel like it hasn’t quite hit the mark. There’s always someone with a different view on how it could have been done better.

As leaders, we spend a significant amount of time planning and delivering communication. It’s an essential part of our job. Yet, we often hear from clients that “our communication is like wading through treacle,” “things just don’t seem to land,” or “despite communicating things what feels like a hundred times, people just don’t seem to have got the memo (or even be interested in the memo).”

Sound familiar?

The Communication Illusion

It brings to mind that brilliant quote from George Bernard Shaw: “The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it’s been achieved.” How often do we, as leaders, find false comfort in believing that our communication did its job, only to realize weeks later that it didn’t even reach our audience?

When we take communication back to the drawing board, what are we really trying to achieve? Are we trying to educate, inspire, change behavior, challenge current thinking? Or are we trying to build trust, reputation, credibility, or excitement around something? It can be any of these, but whatever your objective, it all starts with one thing.

The Art of Connection

We’ve all seen the results from regular employee surveys where people ask for more, better, different communication from the company and its leaders. We’ve also witnessed the effort to address this with more email updates, another bi-weekly newsletter, and perhaps even opportunities for the holy grail of ‘two-way’ communication. Sadly, the next survey results often show that people still want more, better, different communication. So what is going wrong?

99.9% of the time, when people ask for more communication, what they’re really asking for is more connection. Not more emails, not more briefings, not more broadcasts. Instead, they want more meaningful interactions and conversations that create understanding and emotional connection. As leaders, if we can reframe the way we look at communication and focus on the art of true connection rather than the transaction of communication, this is where the magic starts to happen.

From Treacle to Transcendence – My Eight Top Tips

1) Find the Way to Connect

Instead of focusing on “how are we going to communicate this to people?”, ask “how are we going to connect with people around this?” This simple mindset shift transforms your thought process. Consider questions such as: What is this audience interested in? What do they care about? What will motivate them? What concerns will they have? Who will they trust and respect to hear about this? How can we create space for them to process and discuss this?

As human beings, we are wired for connection. As leaders, we need to find ways to relate to our people to achieve true connection.

2) Be a Communication Chameleon

You’re different from me, and all the people you work alongside. We are all unique with various preferred working, learning, and communication styles. Kinetic learners absorb information by participating, visual learners learn by sight, and auditory learners prefer information by sound. This means, as a leader, you need to be a communication chameleon, bringing different approaches, platforms, and styles to create connection with different groups, generate excitement, and show your unique leadership personality.

3) Right Communication, Right Way

Often, we revert to type and choose the fastest, easiest way to communicate, usually email. However, this is where communication fails. The pandemic and hybrid working have exacerbated this. For senior leaders who need to communicate with their people, try replacing long emails with short videos or audio messages. Reflect on your usual communication approach, try something new, and you’ll connect with people in completely new ways.

4) Encore Une Fois

Humans often need to hear the same message multiple times to help it sink in and sustain the behavior it promotes. A frequent mistake leaders make is assuming everyone has received and absorbed the message. Instead, repeat it and check in to make sure it’s been heard. Create conversations around your communication to help people connect to it individually.

5) Conversation Without Agenda

Conversations are crucial to building connection and promoting understanding. Honest and open conversations avoid wasted time, misunderstandings, and boost collaboration. Create opportunities for conversation without agenda. Call three people each week for no reason other than to chat and see how they are. Launch a company coffee roulette where everyone has a virtual coffee with someone new each fortnight.

6) Say Goodbye to Jargon

Jargon, buzzwords, and corporate-speak litter emails and company communications, making people switch off. Words create worlds. Carefully selecting your words is crucial. Always use plain language and as few words as possible. Replace boring words with exciting ones. If a six-year-old could understand your communication, you’re winning.

7) Ask Great Questions

Questions unlock valuable information. Humans like to be asked questions and are happy to answer in detail. Extracting people’s thoughts, opinions, and insight through great questions is an essential leadership skill. It builds connection and trust because we’re listening. Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend the first 55 minutes thinking of the best question to ask.”

8) People Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel

Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Brilliant leadership is a feeling we leave with people. When clients tell me about the best leader they’ve had, they share stories of feeling listened to, valued, trusted, and respected.

Leave the Communication Treacle Behind

No matter how fast-paced and innovative technology gets, humans will still have the same needs: to feel safe, like we belong, to feel connected, and valued. How we communicate as leaders is central to this. Our brains evolve slowly compared to technological progress, leading to less human and more transactional interactions.

At Jester, we help leaders and companies elevate their communication and create cultures based on connection. Get in touch to explore how we can help transcend your communication treacle: team.jester@leadhappy.co.uk