Communication. How to make a lasting impact with our…
By: Alexia Georghiou
Tags: Culture, Communication, Agile Methodology, Scrum, Leadership

Leadership Skills Part 3

Servant Leadership with meaningful conversations!

Our world is in need of effective leaders who know how to communicate hope and a sense of safety to us. We are changing the way we do things as a society worldwide. We are talking about strategy for effective change management on a global scale! It begins with communication. From Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King, and Winston Churchill; these leaders were great orators! What does communication entail?

F. Schulz von Thun identified a Four Sides Model of communication (1981):

Fact: What I inform about Self-revealing: What I reveal about myself Relationship: How my message resonates with you fostering connection on an emotional level Appeal: What I want to inspire you to do

This makes sense, as when we have something to say, our goal needs to be to connect to our audience with our message & move others to respond accordingly. When we do not have an intent of a call to action, it’s best to listen & observe. We need to be heard, with empathy. Empathy is the natural capacity to share and understand others’ feelings and thoughts & is a fundamental component of emotional experience and plays a vital role in social interaction (Decety & Jackson, 2004).

According to nursing scholar Theresa Wiseman, there are four attributes of empathy:

1.) To be able to see the world as others see it — this requires putting our stuff aside to see the situation through the eyes of a loved one

2.) To be nonjudgmental — judgement of another person’s situation discounts the experience and is an attempt to protect ourselves from the pain of the situation

3.) To understand another person’s feelings — we need to be in touch with our personal feelings in order to understand someone else’s. This also requires putting aside “us” to focus on our loved one

4.) To communicate our understanding of that person’s feelings — rather than saying, “At least…” or “It could be worse…” try, “I’ve been there, and that really hurts,” or (to quote an example from Brown) “It sounds like you are in a hard place now. Tell me more about it.”

Empathy mapping is becoming as necessary in a work culture, as employee journey mapping. Organizations are made of people, and for leaders to be effective, a key communication to practice is listening empathetically. I have been studying agile methodologies with the SCRUM framework. A concept being tied to agile is empathy. Historically, SCRUM Masters have worked with teams in the technical industry. Due to the efficient nature of the model, agile methodologies are increasingly being utilized across various industries. Many SCRUM Masters are not prepared to coach with empathy. It is interested to see the acknowledgement that empathy is key to a healthy functioning team involving stakeholders, the product owner and development team.

Whether we are coaching, or leading an organization in a traditional sense, it is important to re-conceptualize our communication. Leadership involves team work. We communicate for ‘them,’ the team, not for us.

How to develop effective communication at work as a leader:

· Build credibility with trustworthiness- people listen to who they trust.

· Personal & engaging conversations with meaning, having a dialogue not monologue.

· Be simple & concise

· Have a servant’s heart focusing on what you can leave behind, not takeaway.

· Listen more than you speak

· Be authentic & transparent

· Observantly listen to what is said, and not said, reading between the lines

· Know your topic ensuring it is true & correct, well-reasoned, and substantiated by solid business logic that is specific, consistent, clear and accurate.

Let’s consider Emotional Intelligence concepts, including situational & self- awareness (our previous leadership skills in this series) when we summarize what great leaders possess contributing to their effectiveness as communicators:

· Heightened sense of situational and contextual awareness

· Skilled at reading a person/group by sensing the moods, dynamics, attitudes, values and concerns of those being communicated with.

· Read their environment well, listen, observe & adapt their messaging

We need skills development in our leaders with effective communication skills. To think we have arrived is opposed to humility, which is a key virtue to servant leadership. Our goal needs to shift, providing the team what they need to be successful. We are at work to create, innovate, and produce efficiently. Providing our team with what they need will motivate them to function cohesively absorbed in their work. With this approach, our organizations will profit in many ways including monetarily.

We provide training for coaches and leaders with agile methodologies, empathy, leadership skills, & strength-based team building. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation!