Much has been written and said about the connection between
leadership and communication, but sadly this connection has
not always found its way into the practicalities of the
workplace.
Arguably, the primary purpose of the CEO is to set and
articulate the company's vision and mission. In
collaboration with his or her executive team, heady goals
and exciting plans often emerge at the start of each year:
new directions, new markets, innovative ways of doing
things or even new things to do. Quite often these ideas
are announced with great fanfare to the employees, and
sometimes to shareholders and customers. In the minds of
the executive, this constitutes communication.
Why, then, do so many of these great plans not come to
fruition?
One reason is that those who must implement the plans and
ideas—the front line employees and more junior levels
of management—never really buy into the excitement,
and that's because the visionaries at the top don't take
the time or make the effort to communicate them effectively.
If you are a CEO with a vision or a great plan, ask
yourself these questions:
* Do the employees share my vision?
* Do they even understand it?
* Have I provided a means for all employees to see where
they and their jobs fit into my grand vision?
* Have we, as an organization, made it easy or even
possible for those on the front lines of the company to
implement the company's strategy?
Answering the questions will be enlightening, but also
difficult unless you actually enter into a dialogue with
employees. But how do you do that? How can you have a truly
meaningful communication with employees at all levels about
these subjects?
One highly effective tool is the World Cafe. This is a
variation on the tried and true small group discussion
methodology, but conducted in an environment that's set up
to create the easygoing, comfortable atmosphere of a cafe.
Certain questions are posed to the entire group, and then
discussed at individual tables. They then move to another
table for another discussion.
Give each group a copy of your mission statement or
strategic plan summary, and then ask questions such as:
* What do I understand this to mean?
* How does my work affect the implementation of this plan?
* What can I, or my team, do on a practical level to
contribute to implementation?
Other questions along these lines can be added, depending
on what you want to discover.
The World Cafe process provides an opportunity, and creates
a need, for people to discuss topics they normally don't
even think about. What makes it so exciting is the
unexpected insights that come out of the discussions.
Senior executives who enter into such a dialogue with their
employees will come to understand the true connection
between leadership and communication, with results that can
have a direct, positive impact on the bottom line.
----------------------------------------------------
Helen Wilkie is a professional keynote speaker and workshop
leader specializing in workplace communication. If you'd
like to have her facilitate a World Cafe for your
organization, e-mail her at hwilkie@mhwcom.com For more
information on her services, or to subscribe to her free
e-zine, "Communi-kleys", visit http://www.mhwcom.com
