Leading with Communication
Are you a servant leader? A servant leader serves their employees by listening to communicate effectively, trains future leaders, and put those who work with them above their perspective of what a boss should be. Servant leaders seek to promote and align an employee's sense of purpose with the company mission. Leaders are not just the boss but also someone who can be trusted to handle issues as if it were their problem. Managers should be unselfish and have a mindset of how problems can be solved quickly and effectively. (Tarallo, Mark)
There are ten fundamental characteristics of a servant leader:
- Listening.
- Empathy.
- Healing.
- Awareness.
- Persuasion.
- Conceptualization.
- Foresight.
- Stewardship.
- Commitment to the growth of people.
- Building community
Becoming an active listener allows your employees to trust that you understand their problems. Having empathy shows that you care; creating a space for healing is vital to the workplace. Everyone wants to work in a healthy environment. Are you aware of things that are happening, and do you care if your employees are happy? Leaders must be mindful of their flaws to lead correctly. If you are in a trusted position, you can show and persuade your employees of a brighter future in the company. Conceptualization is when you have a strategy to achieve goals for the company. You have made the company's mission transparent with short and long-term goals to achieve such. Foresight is when you can use previous experience to predict what is likely to happen in the future. Employees want to work with someone who can take responsibility for their actions and not play the blame game. Great leaders make great future leaders. Servant leaders are likely to have more engaged employees who consider themselves a community or family that works together to achieve their goals. (Spears, Larry C.)
Do you consider yourself a good listener? Well, the crazy thing is most people will answer yes. Research shows that most of us spend seven of every ten minutes awake using some form of communication. During those seven minutes, 45 percent of that time is spent listening. Do you listen to respond or listen to understand? Better listening skills help increase safety, higher productivity, faster learning, and better relationships. (Kline, Dr. John)
Have you ever played the telephone game? That's where one person starts by whispering one phrase into the next player's ear. The phrase can only be said once, so you must listen carefully. Usually, the phrase starts as something simple and ends up silly and unlikely to be true. We are so anxious to pass on the message that we don't always hear it correctly, but we have to pass a message on to the next person, so we go with what we thought we heard. The simple icebreaker game is an example of how we listen to respond and not to understand. It teaches us to be active listeners.
Once you understand how to be a servant leader and communicate effectively as a leader, we learn how to communicate in the workplace.
Internal communication takes place in the office. This communication helps set the tone for your employees. Usually, internal communication occurs via work email, telephone, staff meetings, or the workplace intranet. Internal communication is crucial to organizations because it is a way to share information, create relationships, and help individuals achieve goals. Leading in employee communication aids in employee job satisfaction and commitment, leading to better performance and increased productivity. You don't want gossip passed along like the telephone game in your business.
If you follow, you remember last week I talked about branding your business; think of internal communication as branding your business to your employees. What is your plan for creating the ideal workplace? Servant leaders have several methods to keep their business running effectively. (Johnson, W., and P. Frank. )
During the first week of my blog, I explained word of mouth and how it is beneficial to almost every business. People will always talk about your business; what they talk about is up to you. Control the narrative with external communication by creating contact with your audience, customers, or the organization's fans. This communication type occurs by telephone/text messages, social media platforms, websites, paid advertisements, or push emails/notifications. Well-crafted messages and images to the public give the company control of their appearance. Create scenarios of good and bad situations and determine how you should respond. Do you have a team that is dedicated to communicating with the external factors of the company? This team should know how to respond promptly and be consistent in their postings.
Your internal and external communication strategies must align with one another. Think of your employees as your first customers. Communication should start within; if there is a company crisis, employees should be the first to know. News about the business should not be hearsay, but fact. All forms of communication should be integrated and easily accessible by both inside and outside parties.
Not all companies have unified communication, and that causes employees not to trust their employers. Over the years, I have noticed a lot of retail companies going out of business. Some of them solidified trust in their employees by communicating what their future would look like. Some, not so much. Restaurants are known for lack of confidence and communication with their employees. A few years back, I remember a restaurant going out of business overnight. I interviewed a waitress and how she discovered the company had closed. She told me that she went to work on Thursday as usual; she felt that business was running as expected. No one in management said to her that she would not have a job the next day. On Friday, she got ready as usual and headed to work. When she arrived, she noticed a sign on the door and a truck backed to the back door. She attempted to make some phone calls but no answer. Imagine how she felt, not knowing how she would get paid or what she should do about a job. Later in the evening, the news told the public that the company owners decided to close business earlier in the week, but they did not inform anyone that worked with them. Not communicating with your employees does not allow your company to control the narrative of the public. They now think of you as terrible business owners, and if you decide to open another business or even work with another company, you will not be trusted. This company lacked internal and external communications and was not servant leaders in their industry.
Works Cited
Johnson, W., and P. Frank. “Section 4. Promoting Internal Communication.” Chapter 15. Becoming an Effective Manager | Section 4. Promoting Internal Communication | Main Section | Community Tool Box, University of Kansas, 1997, ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/effective-manager/internal-communication/main.
Kline, Dr. John, Listening Effectively. October 2012, Air University Press, n.d. http://self.gutenberg.org/eBooks/WPLBN0002169954-Listening-Effectively-by-Dr-John-Kline.aspx.
Spears, Larry C. “Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders.” The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, Vol. 1 Iss. 1, 2010, 25-30., 2010, www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jvl/vol1_iss1/Spears_Final.pdf.
Tarallo, Mark. The Art of Servant Leadership. 16 Aug. 2019, www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/the-art-of-servant-leadership.aspx.
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