Leadership Lessons Blog

Leadership and Communication

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This weekend famed golfer, Tiger Woods was in a car accident outside of his home at 2:00 in the morning.  Thankfully, he wasn't hurt badly and is now ducking the media and the police for answers.  His lawyer probably told him how to draft a message on his website about the incident, which I'm sure was the "legal" way to handle the messaging.  Unfortunately, the choice of words did not satisfy the throngs of people and media moguls that want the "dirt!"  So how does this pertain to leadership and communication?  

Lack of communication and lack of a solid communication plan can lead to innuendo and gossip.  Employees sometimes thrive on gossip especially if companies don't focus an approriate amount of time on the planning of what is going to be communicated, how it is going to be communicated, by whom and for what audience.  Oftentimes, leadership teams have lived with a situation or change that needs to be communicated months before an "official" announcement.  As a result, they have gone through all of the trepidation and anxiety and phases of change and consequently underestimate how their teams might respond to the information. 

The lesson to be learned is that strong communication, regardless of how incidental or small the message is to employees still requires a great deal of rigor and a strong action plan.   If you want to avoid having people "assume" rather than know the facts, follow the following tips:

1. Ensure that you adapt your communication depending upon the audience that needs to hear the message.
2. Identify ways to make a good first impression because you are ahead of the rumor-mill and gossip.
3. Encourage others to provide suggestions to you for how best to communicate the message.  Don't assume that you know how employees are going to react.
4. Make your message memorable for the "r