Anyone else suffering from cognitive overload?

I’ve been experiencing cognitive overload recently.

In simple terms, it happens when the brain is overwhelmed with information and in the context of learning, I’ve found myself on the receiving end of it during this past month. To deliver some work for a client, I have been asked to learn, understand, synthesise, and then translate content which I have not created, but need to deliver.

Oh my.

As I reviewed the material, I experienced all sorts of anxiety. There was way too much information, so my attention started to wander. There were far too many concepts, so it was hard to distinguish the threads of connection and purpose of understanding it all. There were way too many builds, so I quickly realised that each slide was going to be a long slog. There were too many bullets, which meant that the density of each point weighed heavily on my mind and finally, there was just far too much complexity.

So what?

Yet again I’m drawn to how this experience relates to the way in which we need to influence, persuade, and engage others in our professional lives. For the audience, it needs to feel relevant, straightforward, clear, ‘risk free’, light on the head, the heart, and the hands.

Our challenge with communication as leaders is to come out of the density, provide the clarity and know when to stop.

That’s my cue.

Until next time….

Simplicity Doesn't Mean Stupidity In The World Of Communication

As leaders we continually strive to take complexity out of our businesses, out of our processes, out of our decision making… and we do so to drive agility. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

However… I’m continually struck by how we don’t take the same approach when it comes to our communication.

My conversations with clients this month have focused on pitches that are too long, presentation slide decks that are too dense (and which no-one understands), answers that are too detailed, and opinions that are too unstructured… the list is endless.

So, what’s going on here? I cannot decide if it’s driven by a lack of confidence, a need to demonstrate the ‘right’ to be in the room, a power play, a misunderstanding about what influence really means, a belief that our value is in our technical expertise so we need to talk about it extensively in our messaging, a desire to avoid being perceived as stupid or incompetent or something else entirely.

Whatever the rationale, let’s be clear – simplicity of message doesn’t mean stupidity… it means clarity.  It also means agility. We can only be agile if we remove complexity from our communication.

So, if you want to influence others, get support for your ideas, drive momentum to get things done, achieve your objectives, get more time back on your calendar, increase your satisfaction and improve your relationships with colleagues and customers alike, then focus on simplifying your message.

Simplicity doesn’t mean stupidity; it means clarity.

Until next time….

Concise, Compelling Communication Isn’t Easy

The new year has begun with international travel to work with clients in the world of law, life sciences, energy, finance and professional services; and even though January still isn’t over, I’m reminded of a stark reality for professionals everywhere.  It is simply this: concise, compelling communication isn’t easy. Unless we really hone the essential skills which underpin an influential message; it’s a common error to fall into the trap of ‘blah, blah, blah’. What do I mean by that? I mean too much has been said, or the focus isn’t right or the level of detail doesn’t suit the requirements of the audience.

Concise, compelling communication means:

• Rigour on the objective for the message. What do you want achieve specifically by the end of it?
  
  
• Structure is paramount. A 3-part narrative stops the waffle. If we’re not clear on the sections of our message, it’s impossible to organise and convey our message effectively.
  
  
• Grab the audience’s attention at the beginning. The goal is that they ‘lean in and listen’, rather than ‘lean back and check out’.
  
  
• STAR moments. Every engaging message needs these. What are they? Something They’ll Always Remember.
  
  
• Context – why should they care about what you’re saying? Be clear on this early on.
  
  
• Ask – if you’re influencing you’re asking for something. What is it exactly?

Until next time...

Think You’re a Good Coach? Think Again…

My conversations this month have focused on coaching as part of developing a bespoke coaching programme for senior leaders, and the challenge of highly experienced sales leaders coaching their sales teams. I am reminded again of what the data tells us and has been telling us for years and it’s stark: you’re not as good a coach as you think.

Research going back more than 20 years has reinforced engagement surveys of several global brands with whom I have partnered for more than a decade. All of them - yes all of them - reinforce what Daniel Goleman talked about when he asked executives to self-assess their coaching capability and compare it to the perception of their skills from the people whom they coached. There was a mismatch - a significant one - and this difference I have come across repeatedly.

So, irrespective how long we’ve coached, how do leaders everywhere really need to sharpen their coaching skills?

Here are my top tips:

• Get your ‘why coach’ story clear to improve buy-in, because otherwise your team don’t get it, won’t see the value of it and it won’t work.
• Don’t save coaching for 1:1s. Brilliant coaches effortlessly coach within everyday conversations. Coaching isn’t a ‘special event’ where you ‘do some coaching’.
• Having said that, make sure you understand what 1:1s really are. They are very different types of conversations from all the other discussions and so the chance to have a rich, expansive, extensive coaching discussion during 1:1s.
• Each person in your team should have a development plan (irrespective of whether or not they want climb the career ladder in the future). Why? Because we all get tired and stale in our role if we don’t – and worse – we don’t even realise it.
• Understand the difference between coaching, mentoring, advising, directing, empowering, motivating, enthusing, influencing and how it can transform the engagement and performance of your people no matter how long they’ve been in post, how skilled they are, how engaged they are.
• Stop passing the buck. If your team aren’t continually improving their capabilities …then that’s on you. It’s the job of a leader to improve the capabilities of their team and keep them engaged.
• You’ve always got time for it. If you talk to your teams every day, then you’ve got time to coach…because that’s where you can coach brilliantly.
• Prepare better for the discussion with far better questions.
• Stop telling all the time. Coaching helps people think, act, and own their own success.
• Show up fully and stay present… your emails, pings, messages etc. can all wait. If they can’t, you’re not delegating sufficiently and developing your team to be able to step away from madness and have quality time with your team.
• No-one is perfect. No matter how superb your team are, everyone can hone their skills. Always. Ask any high performance athlete. Who do they credit when they conquer the world in their chosen sport? Their coach.

3 Of The Biggest Mistakes Hybrid Leaders Everywhere Need To Avoid

So, how’s it going so far, being back in the office? Is it all sparkles and sunshine? Or is it a bit of a grind and with rumbling dissatisfaction amongst some quarters? My conversations with clients across a number of industries and geographic regions this month have focused almost exclusively of the value of bringing people together in the office, and the challenge which hybrid leaders everywhere face when it comes to getting it right. Here are 3 of the biggest mistakes (let’s call them regrets or learnings shall we, to be a bit more positive), that the experiences so far have revealed:

1. A ‘Tell Rather Than Involve’ Mentality
   The default human reaction to change is consistent; we worry as human beings about what we might lose. So, as our teams consider doing battle with the commute, and let me be clear, some of our employees can’t wait to get back to the office, the mistake to avoid is issuing edicts. ‘You must’/ ‘You are required’/ ‘You have to be’ etc. Why do I say that? Because whilst I fully appreciate that organisations have large, expensive buildings which have sat largely empty for several years, and the commercial need to bring people together for lots of good reason is utterly valid, the opportunity here is to involve our people in working out how to make coming into the office really work for them. That way, our people will want to come in often and are invested in getting the maximum benefit from it. Stephen Covey is often quoted as saying: “no involvement means no commitment”. Asking our teams to contribute ideas and suggestions to the new operational rhythms and routines which will make working from home and working from the office actually – well, work – means trusting and empowering them to work out what the frequency and format should be.
2. A Lack Of Rigour Around Technology Used In Hybrid Meetings
   Who can even remember how to turn on the conference room technology in the office, let alone use it? Given the extensive enhancements in enterprise-wide conferencing platform technology - the need to upgrade our kit at the office is essential. The most common mistakes include inadequate audio capability, so the remote audience can’t hear those who are gathered together. Remote teams are pretty well sorted with microphones/headsets at home, but the office hasn’t caught up sufficiently quickly. If we can’t be heard, then who cares? The remote audience will just get going with some emails. Camera angles and being visible when sat in a meeting room is also really important – especially if we want – and we should do – to see our colleagues who are dialling in online.
3. A Failure To Realise That Better – And Different - Communication Skills Are Needed
   We meet to have high quality conversations, make decisions, seek commitments and agree actions. We don’t meet to confuse others with lengthy complicated slides which no-one understands, do emails and ignore each other for hours at a time. There’s too much of the latter, and not enough of the former going on in business today. A hybrid meeting (where people are present in person as well as dialling in online), requires a fundamental shift in our communication skills. There is far more complexity to navigate, two different audiences to manage, plus the glorious unpredictability of technology and so our chairperson skills and technology management skills increase to meet these challenges. Brilliant, hybrid communication skills drive equitable, high value, timely and relevant conversations in the hybrid environment, and enable real-time tools such as chat, polling, annotation etc. to work for us, not against us.

Back To School… And Back To The Office?

As September comes around, the sense of ‘back to school’ and ‘back to the routine’ looms large and as a new school year begins, I’ve been thinking about how clients might mark their own homework in relation to hybrid working and hybrid leadership in their business. What ‘grade’ would we give ourselves?

Okay, enough of the academic references. My conversations this month have prompted me to think about these questions and as a result, what are 3 things all great hybrid leaders need to focus on now? Here’s my view:

• Involvement: Involve your teams to be part of the solution, rather than set them as being on the other side of the ‘problem’. Leaders want their teams back in the office to some extent. Great! So, what makes it appealing and enjoyable for teams to navigate the commute and be there? Other than being on Teams and Zoom all day? Leadership is an inspiration business… now is the chance to inspire others to want to come back, rather than simply dictate that they are. The latter requires little communication skill; the former requires a lot more. No involvement means no commitment, as the very famous saying goes…
• Development: Turbocharge professional growth… in a post-Covid world with an ‘intensity bias’ in every business I’ve come across in the past 3 years, each team member needs a relevant, engaging development plan. Engaging your people means helping them be even better in their role so that they can enjoy more success, satisfaction, balance, joy, ease… whatever they want from their role… and this is especially key for your top performers.
• Connection: Strengthen it. As human beings, we crave it and feel the loss of it at a level which is increasingly profound in a post-Covid world. We want to belong to something that matters to us more than ever, something for which we are deeply appreciated, and we want to be part of something in which we flourish doing things that bring us meaning and purpose.

Easy to write; much harder to do… and without exquisite communication skills, we won’t. So, not only is it back to school for our kids… but also for us. What do we need to dial up today?

What Makes A Great Hybrid Leader?

Many conversations with my clients this month have focused on this question as leaders around the world build teams and businesses within an evolving, hybrid working environment. There is no blueprint; a tight labour market; balance sheets overburdened with debt due to the pandemic, a sense of urgency everywhere, and a workforce which is extremely reticent (role allowing), to return to the office full time.

So, no pressure then…

You’d expect me to say that at the heart of any great hybrid leader has to be exquisite communication skills…..but it’s true. Leadership is a relationship business, which means it is a communications business. The challenge is, in a hybrid working world… what is it that we need to strengthen our communication skills to be able to do? Well, here’s 5 of my favourites…

1. Build Trust: Any healthy relationship is based on trust; otherwise, it’s not a healthy relationship. If we’re going to meaningfully move the needle on trust, then it starts with giving others our full attention. So, put down the device, turn on the camera, move your phone to one side and start giving others your full and undivided attention… for more than just a few seconds or minutes. This muscle group is unbelievably out of shape, and it will take some meaningful work to start to strengthen. Always remember, if we appear distracted, what we’re really saying to others is clear and simple: “you and this conversation are not worth my full attention”. Listen deeply, without agenda, with fascination and curiosity. Again, easy to write; most people don’t do this. Ego, pride, shame get in the way and we just can’t help ourselves; we stop listening, start talking… and keep going.
2. Play An Actively Involved Part In Developing Your Teams’ Skills: Irrespective of seniority, we all need to continually learn, practice, play and evolve new strengths. We shouldn’t abdicate our responsibility in the form of simply booking them on a training programme and passing the ball to the learning and development department. If each member of your team (and theirs) does not have a personal development plan, then they need one… and fast!
3. Empower Others To Own And Be Accountable For More: That doesn’t mean ‘dump more on your team’… it means, that if you’ve built trust and coached your team regularly to develop their skills, then they will be ready for more and be more effective to deliver more. I see too many virtual catch ups to check in on progress against task… staying connected makes sense of course, but overburdening calendars with calls which effectively say ‘I don’t trust’ you are not useful at all.
4. Agree And Iterate The Ground Rules: How often do we want to be in the office? To do what? How do we co-ordinate our calendars and activities so that being together is enjoyable, useful, creative, fun, social? What are the ground rules for virtual communication so that we avoid the black screen of boxes where lots of people are on calls not listening to or engaging with one person who is talking to themselves?
5. Continually Talk About Communication: It is the source of so much conflict. It’s not the case to talk about it once, or at the start of a project. We need to talk about it often, canvassing opinions widely and be willing to be open, flexible, responsive to feedback and meaningfully appreciative of the contributions of all.

Are there more than 5 aspects to consider? Yes. But this is a great place to dial up our skills meaningfully, deeply and effectively.