Aug
5
Photo by b_d_solis
Conversation is an important part of effective leadership and change for the following reasons:
- Vision must be shared, before it can be lived… this requires conversation.
- Change is underpinned by conversation Organisations change, when people change…. and … people change one conversation at a time…..
- Employee engagement is driven by meaning and purpose… this requires conversation.
- Execution requires alignment of action…. this requires conversation.
Given the importance of conversations in the leadership practice, the following principles serve as useful guides to leaders wanting to shape conversation:
- Leaders are the custodians of an organisations conversation. Conversation happens on a daily basis in within teams and organisations and much of this conversation occurs by default. By this I mean that it’s aimless and unproductive. The quality of an organisation’s conversation is the leadership’s responsibility. To effectively navigate change leaders need to be proactively engaged in focusing, shaping and influencing an organisation’s conversation. The quality of the conversation can be directly correlated with the quality of the organisation’s leadership. Using conversation deliberately means that we need to think carefully about how we will craft conversation and how we can use it purposefully.Quality conversation leads to effective decision making, engaged employees, a compelling vision and aligned execution. This requires leaders have a clear point of view about, what the organisation needs to be talking about at this time. “A leader’s job is to engineer epiphanies one conversation at a time.” - Susan Scott
- Effective conversation is about meaningful inquiry. An effective conversation is always based on asking questions that matter. This means that leaders must to be open to multiple perspectives and view points. To explore all facets of an issue requires open questioning your primary tool. Asking not telling, using open ended questions then standing back to listen. This is the key skill of inquiry. What is the ratio between asking and telling in your daily conversations?
- Conversations shape the context in which people act. Effective leaders use conversation deliberately to shape the organisations direction. However, without a clear philosophy and vision, the shaping of the organisations conversation cannot happen. Leaders need to have a clear message that effectively sets the container in which conversations take place. A great container for conversation require leaders to be clear about the following issues:
- The organisations purpose - why it exists?
- The organisations key objectives – what it needs to achieve?
- The business model – how it makes money?
- The leadership philosophy - how people behave?
- Their goals, priorities and actions – what is most important, what should be do first?
“What gets talked about in a company and how it gets talked about determines what will happen. Or won’t happen. Conversations provide clarity or confusion. Invite cross-boundary collaboration and cooperation or add concertina wire to the walls between well-defended fiefdoms. Inspire us to tackle our toughest challenges or stop us dead in our tracks wondering why we bothered to get out of bed this morning.” - Susan Scott
- Language and words shape meaning. Effective leaders are very aware of the impact of their words. What a leaders does and what a leader says, are amplified and exaggerated by their constituents. Given this, if leaders don’t take charge of their words and carefully shape their messages, someone else will do it for them.
“…it’s through language that we create the world, because it is nothing until we describe it. And when we describe it, we create distinctions that govern our actions. To put it another way, we do not describe the world we see, but we see the world we describe.” - Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity: the Inner Path of Leadership
- Build bridges and not walls. Leaders are in the business of building bridged to the future, this require the breaking down of walls! Change will always require the destruction of walls and the building of bridges. One of the best ways to do this in conversation is to replace “Yes, but . . .” and instead say “Yes, and . . .” When someone says something you disagree with, don’t make them wrong with “Yes, but I don’t agree with you” Rather, help them understand that you you have a different point of view “Yes, and in my experience there is another way of understanding that situation.”
- Leaders selectively involve influential people in meaningful conversations. When seeking to bring about change, leaders involve influential people to help shape the message and allow them to take the necessary action to bring the message to life. This involves a very conscious choice of people, and of process that’s convened to manage the organisations the conversation. Conversation taps into our head and hearts, it taps our mind and our emotions. Inspire influential people and they will take your message to others, sparking further conversation…
- Keep the conversation focused on a few key themes. Focus the organisations attention on a few key themes, the essential drivers of performance and shapers of behaviour. Concentrate the key themes on what really matters. These themes must be simple enough to communicate effectively and be understood. They should be repeated over and over, be managed and measured so that they lead to action. Key themes need to be framed so that they capture the imagination and inspire further conversation.
Considering the above principles, how effectively are you leading your organisations conversation?
Technorati Tags: Conversation, Communication, Strategy, Planning, Objectives, Vision, Management, Business, Inquiry, Language, Collaboration
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6 Responses to “Shaping conversation as a leadership practice”
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Great post George. I agree with all your suggestions and especially agree with your advice to “be aware of the power of your words.” In addition to the coaching offered in your post, I would add to always watch what you say and to whom.
We all have bad days from time to time. However, never “vent down”. One negative comment or conversation off-message with a subordinate can spread like wildfire. Try to have one or two peers or mentors with some ground rules for venting and having difficult conversations.
A misplaced comment to the wrong person can do a lot to destroy a consistent message.
this is a wonderful piece. I love the concept that we need to converse or influence more as we try to send our message accross and we must do it right.
Very nice George. Thanks for this, especially the opening bit about leaders being custodians of the organizational conversation.
Hi George, I was pleased to find your website and overjoyed that you picked up on the issues of conversation and dialogue. This is critical for all of us in business and management and you’ve put together a great overview of the topic.
I appreciated the question on another post about debate, discussion and dialogue and the relationship between them. I don’t think the terms are synonymous. But they are subtly related.
For readers who want to take this a little further let me link to the opening chapter from Leadership Unplugged, which adds my spin on conversation and leadership.
The importance of leadership conversations
I look forward to more insights, George. Great blog.
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