John Hewson writing an opinion piece on the integrity of public leaders stated that leadership is “about action, and not just position.” He provides a greate definition that can provide leaders with a compass about how to communicate:

“its very essence is the capacity to formulate, articulate and market a vision, develop a strategy to achieve it, and turn that into reality…” [emphasis mine].

Communication is a central requirement of good leadership.

There were a number of communication events and conferences in Sydney this week. The Fin ran an article on employee communications across a number of large organisations including IBM, St George, and IAG. Common to all cases is the need for an authentic voice in order for the message – and the leader – to be trusted and valued.

As a communication advisor, there have been times when the role has been to make my words invisible and enable the client to find their own voice. This gets results. To see the moment of connection between a leader and their team that is the result of genuine human communication is exciting. Once people connect in a real way, it is much harder for misinformation or misunderstanding to hold on.
The reverse is also true; once people have engaged, there is a greater burden on the leader to maintain this level of open communication. There is a price. The leader also has a greater responsibility to follow through with consistent action or lose the trust they have built.

On 31 May 2006, Meaning Business will formally commence operations.

From that time the main website will have a number of resources including case studies, tools and articles to help make your communication great.

Who is Meaning Business for?

1. Businesses who want to make their communication great.
2. Communication professionals wanting to share ideas.

If you have a suggestion for an article, please post it via the comments section below.

Cheers
Jonathan

Following on from the previous post, here are some “Not Happy” forms of communication that should be avoided.

Happy sheets
The derogatory name for on-the-spot evaluation of training, events or presentations. So named because the sheets typically capture the emotion of the event rather than measuring whether the communication was applicable and effective longer term.

Happy talk
The inability to be frank and honest about a situation, instead relying on superficial niceness, or ‘glass-half-full’ perspectives. The risk of happy talk with employees is that trust is eroded (or destroyed) when the reality of a situation is not acknowledged.
Say no to spin, kids.

“Let them eat cake”
I’m not advocating revolution, but the comment incorrectly attributed to Marie Antionette does form the philosophical platform for one style of public relations practice: keep people ‘happy’ with material things and shiny objects with one hand while ploughing on with change. In employee communication, this can surface as an over-reliance on merchandise such as mouse mats and stress balls as a key part of a communication plan in place of face to face communication.

The SMH today had two reports on happiness and satisfaction following the Australian Bureau of Statistics releasing a report on progress.

The first article, Feeling fed up? reported that there is a dip in happiness in people in their forties, but that the sense of wellbeing returns in later years.

The second, Recipe for happiness…, by Christopher Scanlon is a thoughtful opinion piece noting that the proliferation of happiness literature and ‘solutions’. In particular, he challenges the move to public policy attempting to address ‘happiness’ as it is such a subjective state.

For communication, the implications of satisfaction and happiness are a deep pool. Rather than dive in, I will only dip my toe today:

Communication needs to be careful when trying to generate satisfaction or happiness. Businesses (and leaders) who are trying to ‘make their employees happy’ are running a risk of trying to overstep their brief. Communication intended to ‘keep them happy’ is doomed to a short and ineffective life.

What business can do is create environments in which people can achieve satisfaction:

• recognise that people are individuals
• be clear about expectations: yours AND those of employees
• be upfront and open
• be prepared to answer the question “Why?”