A set of four rules articulated by Abraham Lincoln in 1840 can help corporate communicator create richer, more interactive and more effective relationships with the people upon whom success depends.
(Note: a version of this was first published in Ragan Report, European Supplement, June 2003)
Discussing employee research methodologies with a prospective client at a prominent London financial institution, the client recounted an admonition from his recently departed CEO, when asked about the prospect of an online employee survey. “We will NOT run this company by referendum”, bellowed the Chief Executive.
What corporate communicators often don’t realize—is that in actuality, every company and marketplace is run by referendum. Every corporation is in some respect a democracy—even if it doesn’t feel like one.
What do you mean, a democracy? A major logical fallacy present in the way organizations communicate is one where the organization acts as if the targets of an official communication have no choice but to accept the message as the truth, at face value. But in reality, the target is completely free to accept or reject the message—and to ‘vote’ on its acceptability in any number of ways. Going to work and keeping your head down is only one way of ‘voting’. Inside companies, other ways of voting include:
• Choosing whether to show up, call in sick, or walk away from the job
• Choosing whether to attend to appointed tasks or to surf the internet
• Choosing to resist, support or obstruct change initiatives
• Choosing to express supportive or cynical views about co-workers, managers, or company policies to their colleagues.
In the external sphere, there are a wider variety of ‘voters’, whose support or opposition could have massive impact. Some are more obvious—the unsatisfied customers who can switch products or suppliers, the irate shareholders who could sell up—or turn the shareholder meeting into theatre of the absurd, or the disgruntled employees who can vent about their companies over drinks in airport bars, in the press or on the chat boards on the Internet. With public and employee cynicism toward corporations at or near an all time high, looking at companies as operational ‘democracies’ offers an opportunity to renew, rebuild, and re-energize a company’s key relationships.
The Lincoln Rules: Democracy’s Toolbox
If one wants to apply the notion of the company as a democracy in a practical way, a set of tools for making things happen in a democracy could prove useful to a corporate communicator. A set of four rules articulated by Abraham Lincoln in 1840 is one such toolkit—time-honored for its simplicity and effectiveness. The rules, first spelled out in a speech by the future President to the Illinois Legislature are:
• Make a perfect list of all voters
• Determine with certainty whom each voter will support
• For someone who is undecided, send someone in whom they trust to persuade them
• Turn out all the good Whigs on Election Day
These rules may seem basic, simple, and self-evidently applicable to the task of winning elections. But applied in a corporate context, each rule provides a framework for recognizing the freedom each voter has to make his or her own choices and share his or her opinions. In recognizing this freedom the corporate communicator can use the rules to create richer, more interactive and more effective relationships with the people upon whom success depends.
Make a perfect list of the voters
A perfect list does not necessarily mean the ‘list of all employees’. More frequently, it may mean a list of all individuals who can influence an outcome—or at least of those most likely to influence an outcome in a certain way. No list is ever perfect—but continually maintaining lists and looking for ‘who’s missing’ will keep it valid and relevant.
Determine with certainty whom they will support
Knowing with certainty whom is on your side not only provides you with a sense of your odds of success, it also forms the basis of building a support team to expand your coalition—by working with them to engage their peers, friends, and colleagues to seek their support for the current initiatives.
Send someone in whom they trust
In engaging people who are undecided, or are persuadable to a point of view, they need to be made see that backing that point of view is tangibly in their own self interest. Anodyne messages from the CEO—or worse, the disembodied ‘Voice of the Corporation’ is not going to cut it. Identifying credible individuals who agree with the corporation’s positions, support its desired outcomes, and are willing to act as advocates–is arguably the most important success factor in any change initiative that requires any degree of persuasion.
Turning out the Good Whigs
Unlike election campaigns which focus on a single day, corporate initiatives often require a continual series of ‘election days’ where people need to take action to deliver particular outcomes. Having a clear understanding of the key people who are on your side provides the ability to mobilize your supporters to act, consistently, effectively and responsibly. By using knowledge of how your support base is structured, it is possible to develop mobilization programs (either centrally or through a team of credible people throughout the organization) that encourage people to take the required actions and deliver the outcomes in question.
Why the Lincoln Rules are Really Different
Fully integrating the Lincoln Rules into corporate or organizational communication strategy may well require a paradigm shift for communicators and the organizations they work in. But there are some clear advantages to those who wish to take the leap:
1) The Lincoln Rules do not release anarchy—in fact, quite the opposite. By acknowledging the freedom people already have in making choices about participating in your corporate initiatives, they provide the ability to engage people in a way that authentically respects their freedom.
2) The Lincoln Rules challenge an organization to get a clear picture of where support or opposition to its desired outcomes can be found—thus building a foundation for a credible mobilization campaign—and highlighting the challenges in the way of success
3) By focusing on identifying, connecting and mobilizing those people who actually see their own self interest in the success of corporate priorities, it is possible to build on those connections and develop lasting lateral and direct communication networks to complement the organization’s formal channels. This approach also delivers outcomes based on the personal credibility of network members—as opposed to glossy design, clever wordsmithing, or expensive executive conferences.
4) Energy and passion are channeled by focusing on the people who care about and support initiatives—rather than dulled or destroyed by ill-tailored, one-size-fits-all communication approaches. In short—using the Lincoln Rules begins by appreciating the democratic nature of the social dynamics that exist in any organization. By then using political tools, the communicator can take the underlying reality of democracy in the organization to deliver specific results through targeted communication, and building on the help of credible leaders at all levels. At one level, it’s not much different from seeking ‘buy in’ or ‘stakeholder management’—but the fundamental difference is that these political tools reflect the ability of each individual to vote yes or no, and to ‘lobby’ their colleagues—and users take that freedom into account when tackling corporate communication challenges.
Now that “doing more with less” is the universal business mantra, managers are scrambling to develop the innovative capacity of their teams. If you are looking to increase your team’s creative output here’s a review of a classic technique and an introduction to some strategies you may not have tried before.
Linus Pauling once said: “If you want great ideas, you need to have lots of ideas.” Brainstorming is the most popular technique for producing lots of ideas. But, although it is widely practiced, it is seldom utilized to its full potential. If your group uses brainstorming, check to be sure these fundamentals are in place:
- Start with a warm-up exercise – especially if the group doesn’t brainstorm frequently or when the group seems distracted by outside issues. Use word games or puzzles or humor to set an atmosphere that is relaxed, fun and freewheeling.
- Encourage everyone to participate, either with original ideas or “piggybacking” (adding on to) other people’s input.
- Focus initially on quantity, not quality of ideas. Write all ideas on a white board or large sheets of paper and number them to help motivate participants and to jump back and forth between ideas without losing track of where you are.
- Urge participants to say anything that occurs to them, no matter how wild or “far out” those ideas may seem.
- Realize that brainstorming sessions tend to follow a series of steep energy curves. When the momentum starts to plateau, the facilitator needs to build on what’s been stated (“That’s a great idea; now what are some other ways to _____________?”) or to jump to another point (“Let’s switch gears and consider _____________.”)
Ideally, the brainstorming session should be broken into two parts: the first for idea generation and the second for evaluation. During the idea generation phase, no one should be allowed to judge, criticize, or squelch any of the ideas presented.
- Stay alert for nonproductive comments such as, “We tried that last year,” “I don’t think that will work,” etc.
- Counter premature judgment with, “This isn’t the time for evaluation yet.”
And, as effective as brainstorming can be, remember there are many other collaborative techniques that stimulate creativity. Here are just a few:
Metaphorical thinking is a great tool for breaking out of current patterns of perception. By comparing your situation to another more well-understood system or process you may spot similarities and come up with an unexpected idea. The exercise asks: What can I learn from this comparison?
A classic example of this technique from my book Creativity in Business is of a defense contractor that developed a missile that had to fit so closely within its silo it couldn’t be pushed in. Comparing the situation to a horse that refuses to be pushed into a stall, the solution was to lead the horse in. The solution for the defense company: pull the missile in with a cable.
Forced connections is a technique for finding commonalities between two or more seemingly unrelated concepts or items. One practical exercise is to examine an industry that is very different from yours and look for things you can successfully imitate. Another is to bring “show and tell” items that help you visualize the wide variety of options and materials that could be applied to the session’s topic.
Back to the future starts with an image of the completed goal. Team members compare their answers to a series of questions: What does the ideal end result look like? How is the ideal different from what we have now? What changes are necessary for us to achieve the ideal? How can we make those changes?
Get visual. The most productive creative-thinking sessions are extremely visual. They include mind mapping, sketching, diagrams, cartoons and stick figures. Images stimulate emotion. Emotion opens creative channels that pure logic can’t budge.
Get physical. Get up and move around. Have your team stand rather than sit when grouping around white boards or easels. Act out the problem you are working on. A popular technique used by design firms is “bodystorming” where people act out current behavior and usage patterns to see how they might be altered.
Get fired. My favorite way to end a creativity session is to ask participants to take the last few minutes and contribute ideas that would probably work, but are so outrageous they could get the group fired. (Obviously, the task then becomes to tone-down the potential solutions so that the problem can be solved without risking any jobs.)
And, of course, you want to make sure that you are trying to solve the right problem. The European operation of a business started losing money after many years of outstanding profitability. Worried, the management team initially discussed ways to reduce costs in Europe in order to improve profitability. When the cost-cutting did little to stop the downward slide, the team finally faced the real issue: the geographical distribution of customers had changed drastically. The problem was then redefined as “How do we serve our customers more profitably on a global basis?” Hundreds of ideas were generated around this challenge that resulted in a customer focused business restructuring that not only cut costs in Europe but also added resources in other parts of the world.
By Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. delivers keynote speeches and seminars on collaborative creativity to association, government, and business audiences around the world. For more information or to book Carol as a speaker at one of your events, please call: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or visit her website:http://www.CKG.com.
After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what’s required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:
Anticipate
Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company vulnerable to rivals who detect and act on ambiguous signals. To anticipate well, you must:
- Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry
- Search beyond the current boundaries of your business
- Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better
Think Critically
“Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. But if you swallow every management fad, herdlike belief, and safe opinion at face value, your company loses all competitive advantage. Critical thinkers question everything. To master this skill you must force yourself to:
- Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes
- Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including your own
- Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions
Interpret
Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, the temptation is to reach for a fast (and potentially wrongheaded) solution. A good strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint. To get good at this, you have to:
- Seek patterns in multiple sources of data
- Encourage others to do the same
- Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously
There are three important keys that all companies should strive for: energy, focus and accountability.
Energy. In a healthy company, everyone is engaged. Next time you’re in a meeting, pay attention to how people are interacting. Are they staring into space? Checking e-mail? Working on other things?
You could get mad at them, but the problem is probably your lack of energy as a leader.
If you’re engaged, if you lead and set the tone, others will follow. It’s the same in leading meetings as it is in leading a company. Set the pace and expect others to keep up.
Focus. Energy is important, but if it’s not channeled correctly, it can become destructive. How do you prepare your team for a meeting? Do you think through what you want to discuss? Do you prepare an agenda? Does everyone know why you’re calling them to a meeting and what you expect?
Learn a lesson from Steve Jobs. Focus. He took a multitude of ideas and focused his team on one great idea. Channel your team’s creative energy into one specific task and goal.
Accountability. You can have all the energy and focus in the world, but if your employees don’t know what they’re supposed to do, your team will either do redundant work or give up because they’re not sure of what you want.
In meetings, everyone should also know what you expect of them coming into and going out of a meeting. It’s not enough to talk and dream, you also have to do. Bring crystal clarity to your team and follow up.
Want to change your company culture? Start today by working on your meeting culture.
You alone can consciously take the personal leadership steps in strengthening and managing relationships, including those with a boss. The often used phrase for this is“managing upward.” While the phrase describes aspects of managing relationships with bosses, the dynamics are deeper.
From my personal experiences and observations, here are 16 ideas to consider in creating a stronger working relationship with your boss. (BTW, I alternated “he” and “she” as personal pronouns throughout the list.)
16 Ideas for Managing Upward
- Understand your boss as a teammate and a client because both roles are relevant.
- Ask and learn how your boss likes to communicate? Deliver communications that work for him, with the “right” amount & type of information.
- What are the strengths & weaknesses of your boss? Complement both of themin your working relationship.
- What’s her decision making style? Propose recommendations in ways that fit how she evaluates & decides on things.
- Hone your skills to anticipate what he needs and see things coming before they actually happen.
- Demonstrate complete trustworthiness. Display the highest integrity. Don’t break confidences; safeguard the “vault.”
- Be networked – know who knows things and be able to share relevant information your boss might not be privy to in her relationship circles.
- Have a great working relationship with your boss’ assistant and the other key people around him.
- Be a strong negotiator.
- Ask questions – help her think through issues and get to stronger points of view based on your contributions.
The challenge for business leaders, then, is making sure that all of their managers stay on track and on task. Here are 10 rules that can help.
1. If it’s not on the calendar, it won’t happen. Using a shared team calendar allows you to make deadlines clear, schedule in updates to monitor progress, and let your team know when you want to see them. Setting several dates in a row can help you to force the pace of progress.
2. Focus on the follow-through. Big programs are often broken into smaller, more manageable chunks, each run by separate team leaders. As the person with overall responsibility for delivery, it is essential to make sure that each of these project leaders is executing as required. Do not allow unresolved issues to drop, and to be prepared to offer feedback as necessary.
3. No project owner means no progress. A great idea is a fragile thing: even the best ideas die fast unless someone takes responsibility for putting them into action. This project owner should have the time, resources, autonomy and talent required to succeed.
4. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Few people enjoy the luxury of having all the time that they need to get things done; most of us spend our days constantly balancing priorities and choosing between options. The key to successful execution is choosing the important tasks – those which will have the biggest impact on whether or not you can achieve your objective – rather than the urgent tasks, which can often be left to wait. The other critical tool here is delegation: if you do not have to do a task personally, assign it to someone else.
5. Initiate: it gains time. Initiation means using your resources to get a project started, even if you do not have the time to get involved in it at that moment. This means that others in your team can get the ball rolling, for example by finding and analyzing relevant data, so that when you are free to get on board you do not need to waste time on any of this preliminary work.
Read all 10 at the Jakarta Post
Question #1 – What is the employees’ perspective?
Front-line employees deal regularly with customers and observe first-hand the issues, challenges, and successes of those they serve. The IT department sees advances in technology before the rest of the organization has adapted to the last update. Professionals throughout the company attend association meetings and have access to experts in their field. Your organization has hired the best and the brightest – and your task is to tap their expertise, points of view, and concerns. The first question to ask is: “What do employees think?”
Question #2 – Did you “set the stage” for change?
The best time to discuss the forces of change is well in advance of an organization’s response to them. Everyone in the organization needs a realistic appreciation of the precursors of change and transformation – the impact of globalization, market fluctuations, technological innovations, societal and demographic changes in the customer base, new products/services of competitors, new government and regulatory decisions. And here technology can be a great asset. Although it certainly shouldn’t be the only medium, the intranet can be a timely vehicle for competitive and industry information.
Question #3 – How will you track employee perceptions?
Employee interaction and feedback loops help communicators track the level of workforce comprehension. Whether you supply an email box or a phone number for individuals to ask questions about the change, use online surveys to query a sampling of the workforce, or create Communication Advisory Teams to represent their fellow workers, the greatest advantages come when organizational feedback is gathered immediately after the delivery of an important message.
Question #4 – Do you have honest answers to tough questions?
Not only can employees tolerate honest disclosure, they are increasingly demanding it. And when it comes to change, employees want straight answers to these tough questions:
* Will I keep my job?
* How will pay and benefits be affected?
* How will this affect my opportunities for advancement?
* Will I have a new boss?
* What new skills will I need?
* What will be expected of me?
* How will I be trained/supported for the new challenges?
* How will I be measured?
* What are the rewards or consequences?
Question #5 – Can you answer the most important question: What’s in it for them?
There are personal advantages to be found in almost every change, but people may need help discovering what the advantages are. Sometimes employees just need to be guided through a few questions: What are your career goals? What are the skills you would like to learn? What job-related experiences would you like have? In what ways might this change help you to fulfill some of your personal objectives?
Organizations send two concurrent sets of messages about change. Formal communication is what companies “say” to employees about the organization and its goals. Informal communication is what the company “does” in terms of rewards, compensation, training, leadership behavior, organizational structure, etc. to demonstrate and support what it says. For today’s skeptical employee audiences, rhetoric without action quickly disintegrates into empty slogans and company propaganda.
Question #7- Who’s vision is it?
Effective communicators understand the power of vision to imbue people with a sense of purpose, direction and energy. But if the vision belongs only to top management, it will never be an effective force for transformation. In the end, people have to feel that the vision belongs to them. The power of a vision comes truly into play only when the employees themselves have had some part in its creation. So the communicator’s role moves from crafting executive speeches to facilitating interactive events.Question #8 – Can you paint the big-little picture?
Vision is the big picture, and it is crucial to the success of the enterprise. But along with the big picture, people also need the little picture so they know where their contribution fits into the corporate strategy. And here’s where first-line supervisors can be the most effective communicators. In face-to-face discussions with their team members, supervisors become a vital link in turning the organizational vision into practical and meaningful actions.
Question #9 – Are you emotionally literate?
People have to understand the rationale for change – the business case, the marketplace reality. But change is more than just the logic behind it. Large-scale organizational change almost invariably triggers the same sequence of emotional reactions — denial, negativity, a choice point, acceptance, and commitment. Communicators who track this emotional process design strategies that help people accept and move through the various stages.
Question #10 – Are you telling stories?
Good stories are more powerful than plain facts. This is not to reject the value in facts, of course, but simply to recognize their limits in influencing people. People make decisions based on what facts mean to them, not on the facts themselves. Stories give facts meaning. Stories resonate with adults in ways that can bring them back to a childlike open-mindedness – and make them less resistant to experimentation and change.
Question #11 – Do you know how change really gets communicated?
Town hall meetings in which senior leaders speak openly about change, great stories that embody the spirit of change, well-designed intranets filled with pertinent information about the forces and progress of change, interactive “transformation sessions” in which a cross-section of the organization co-creates a vision and develops the strategy, online employee surveys that query and monitor a work force as it deals with the nuances of change, icons and symbols and signage that visually reinforce change, and (especially) first-line supervisors who are trained and prepared to engage their direct reports in a dialogue about what change means to them – these are (and will remain) vital tools for communicators. But, as powerful as they are, these are formal communication channels operating within the organizational hierarchy. And a single informal channel, the company grapevine, can undermine them all.In the hallways, around the water cooler or coffee pot, over the telephone, as part of a blog, in rouge web sites, and through e-mail messages, news is exchanged and candid opinions are offered. It is during these “off-line” exchanges and daily conversations that people decide whether or not to support change. Want to dramatically improve the effectiveness of your change communication? Then find ways to identify, involve, and enlist your organization’s social networks and informal opinion leaders.
Question #12 – Are you positioning change as an event or a corporate mindset?
With his team, Saku Tuominen, founder and creative director at the Idealist Group in Finland, interviewed and followed 1,500 workers at Finnish and global firms to study how people feel and respond to issues in the workplace. Tuominen’s findings are easy to understand — 40 percent of those surveyed said their inboxes are out of control, 60 percent noted that they attend too many meetings, and 70 percent don’t plan their weeks in advance. Overall, employees said they lacked a sense of meaning, control, and achievement in the workplace. Sound familiar?
Based on the study and the insights of Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School, Tuominen recommends new approaches to changing our work processes that all tap into our unconscious:
- Think about one question/idea that needs insight and keep this thought in your subconscious mind.
- Clear your conscious mind by using this two-step system: move your thought(s) from your mind to a list and then clear your list when you have a short break (if your meeting is canceled, for instance, or your flight is delayed).
- Plan your week and month by listing three priorities you would like to accomplish.
- Make certain you have at least four consecutive, uninterrupted hours a day dedicated to the three priorities you identified.
This last point is key. Tuominen deduced that if you can schedule four hours with continuous flow and concentration, you could accomplish a lot and improve the quality of your thinking. As Tuominen aptly states, “you can’t manage people if you can’t manage yourself.”
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For text messages on cell phones between co-workers, let them decide what to do. Yes, this may be AYOR (At Your Own Risk) behavior, but is it worth the time to be the TMA (Too Many Acronyms) police?
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For email and other communication though—especially messages to customers, vendors and others outside the organization, drop the jargon and abbreviations.
This applies to company-specific acronyms that are totally undecipherable. (Would you translate “CHR” as “Contact HR”? One of my clients uses that acronym regularly in its merger communications. Not exactly welcoming to their newly-acquired employees.)
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For any type of recognition or appreciation, use language and gestures that the individuals you’re acknowledging welcome. For example, having KUTGW (Keep up the good work)show up as a text message or email doesn’t seem warm, friendly or motivational to this curmudgeon.
Clearly, there are basic ‘hygiene’ factors that companies need from their comms people: strong written/verbal skills; excellent conversational and presentation skills; an eye for design; awareness of communication technology trends and corresponding audience reach strategies.
However, a good PRO will always stand out on a number of more complex, intuitive and leadership levels and I would proffer the following attributes:
1) Acts as strategic and trusted advisor to the leadership team (including the CEO, CFO and commercial and functional heads); contributes with authority to strategic corporate discussion and works on his/her track record to be viewed as a contributing equal;
2) Through accumulated insight and marketplace persceptiveness, may be in a truly unique position within any organisation to ‘Bring the Outside World’ in to corporate thinking, ensuring sound future governance and guiding strategies that help protect any company’s future ‘Licence to Operate’ in the open, global marketplace;
3) Is an astute and credible diplomat, able to navigate elegantly through all layers and across all organisational silos to inform, to encourage collaborative thinking and to galvanise operational solutions to any issues or opportunities faced by a company in its public and employee dealings;
4) Intuitively understands and bridges the interdependency between internal and external reputation and has astute command of the theory and tools/practice of its delivery;
What attributes would you add to this list?
Human beings are genetically programmed to look for facial and behavioral cues and to quickly understand their meaning. We see someone gesture and automatically make a judgment about the intention of that gesture.
And we’ve been doing this for a long, long time. As a species we knew how to win friends and influence people – or avoid/placate/confront those we couldn’t befriend – long before we knew how to use words.
But our ancient ancestors faced threats and challenges very different from those we confront in today’s modern society. Life is more complex now, with layers of social restrictions and nuanced meanings adding to the intricacies of our interpersonal dealings. This is especially true in workplace settings, where corporate culture adds it own complexities and unique guidelines for correct behavior.
No matter what the culture at your workplace, the ability to “read” nonverbal signals can provide some significant advantages in the way you deal with people. You can start to gain those advantages by avoiding these five common mistakes people often make when reading body language:
1) They forget to consider the context.
Imagine this scene: It’s a freezing-cold winter evening with a light snow falling and a north wind blowing. You see a woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop. Her head is down, her eyes are tightly closed and she’s hunched over, shivering slightly, and hugging herself.
Now the scene changes . . .
It’s the same woman in the same physical position. But instead of sitting outdoors on a bench, she’s seated behind her desk in the office next to yours. Her body language is identical – head down, eyes closed, hunched over, shivering, hugging herself. The nonverbal signals are the same but the new setting has altered your perception of those signals. In a flash she’s gone from telling you, “I’m really cold!” to “I’m in distress.”
Obviously, then, the meaning of nonverbal communication changes as the context changes. We can’t begin to understand someone’s behavior without considering the circumstances under which the behavior occurred.
2) They try to find meaning in a single gesture.
Nonverbal cues occur in what is called a “gesture cluster” – a group of movements, postures and actions that reinforce a common point. A single gesture can have several meanings or mean nothing at all (sometimes a cigar is just a cigar), but when you couple that single gesture with other nonverbal signals, the meaning becomes clearer.
For example, a person may cross her arms for any number of reasons. But when that action is coupled with a scowl, a headshake, and legs turned away from you, you now have a composite picture and reinforcement to conclude that she is resistant to whatever you just proposed.
3) They are too focused on what’s being said.
If you only hear what people are saying, you’ll miss what they really mean.
A manager I was coaching appeared calm and reasonable as she listed the reasons why she should delegate more responsibility to her staff. But every time she expressed these opinions, she also (almost imperceptibly) shuddered. While her words declared her intention of empowering employees, the quick, involuntary shudder was saying loud and clear, “I really don’t want to do this!”
4) They don’t know a person’s baseline.
You need to know how a person normally behaves so that you can spot meaningful deviations.
Here’s what can happen when you don’t: A few years ago, I was giving a presentation to the CEO of a financial services company, outlining a speech I was scheduled to deliver to his leadership team the next day. And it wasn’t going well.
Our meeting lasted almost an hour, and through that entire time the CEO sat at the conference table with his arms tightly crossed. He didn’t once smile, lean forward or nod encouragement. When I finished, he said thank you (without making eye contact) and left the room.
As I’m a body language expert, I was sure that his nonverbal communication was telling me that my speaking engagement would be canceled. But when I walked to the elevator, the executive’s assistant came to tell me how impressed her boss had been with my presentation. I was shocked and asked how he would have reacted had he not liked it. “Oh,” said the assistant, her smile acknowledging that she had previously seen that reaction as well. “He would have gotten up in the middle of your presentation and walked out!”
The only nonverbal signals that I had received from that CEO were ones I judged to be negative. What I didn’t realize was that, for this individual, this was normal behavior.
5) They judge body language through the bias of their own culture:
When we talk about culture, we’re generally talking about a set of shared values that a group of people holds. And while some of a culture’s values are taught explicitly, most of them are absorbed subconsciously – at a very early age. Such values affect how members of the group think and act and, more importantly, the kind of criteria by which they judge others. Cultural meanings render some nonverbal behaviors as normal and right and others as strange or wrong. From greetings to hand gestures to the use of space and touch, what’s proper and correct in one culture may be ineffective – or even offensive – in another.
For example, in North America, the correct way to wave hello and good-bye is palm out, fingers extended, with the hand moving side to side. That same gesture means “no” throughout Mediterranean Europe and Latin America. In Peru it means “come here,” and in Greece, where it’s called the moutza, the gesture is a serious insult. The closer the hand to the other person’s face, in fact, the more threatening it is considered to be.
So just remember: Body language cues are undeniable. But to accurately decode them, they need to be understood in context, viewed in clusters, evaluated in relation to what is being said, assessed for consistency, and filtered for cultural influences. If you do so, you’ll be well on your way to gaining the nonverbal advantage!
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is the author of nine books including CREATIVITY IN BUSINESS and “THIS ISN’T THE COMPANY I JOINED” — How to Lead in a Business Turned Upside Down. She delivers keynote speeches and seminars to association and business audiences around the world. For more information or to book Carol as a speaker at one of your events, please call: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or visit her website: http://www.CKG.com.
You may never find yourself in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of a presidential debate. But if you are addressing an employee audience, meeting with your team, or even interviewing for a job, you are constantly communicating. You’re doing that through body language, and the key is to know whether the way you stand, your facial expressions, gestures, touch, and use of space are expressing enthusiasm, warmth, and confidence – or arrogance, indifference, and displeasure.
Whether you are a business executive promoting a vision for the company or a politician promoting a vision for the country, people interpret what you say to them only partially from the words you use. They are picking up most of your message (and all of the emotional nuance behind the words) from your nonverbal signals.
Understanding body language is critical whether you are a chief executive officer, a first-line supervisor, or a candidate for president of the United States. But unlike political candidates, most business people are oblivious to the impact of the nonverbal signals they send.
Which can be a big problem.
The female manager who constantly flips her hair as she speaks or smiles too much when discussing a critical business issue probably doesn’t realize that she has minimized her chances of being taken seriously. The team leader who reserves head nods, forward leans and direct eye contact for only a few members of his team may not know that he is demoralizing the rest of the team.
The first step to gaining a nonverbal advantage is awareness – and one way to increase awareness is to learn from experience. The good news is that it doesn’t always have to be your own experience.
If you were not watching the political debates, you missed an opportunity to learn from some body language dos and don’ts. Here are five tips from the debates that would apply to leaders in any kind of organization.
Tip One: With nonverbal communication, it’s not how the sender feels that’s most important; it’s how the observer perceives how the sender feels.
Body language interpretations are often made deep in the subconscious mind, based on a primitive emotional reaction that hasn’t changed much since humans began interacting with one another. Because reading body language is an ancient and primarily process, your audience may not always know why they get that “something just isn’t right,” or “I trust this person” feeling – but most often it has nothing at all to do with a critical analysis of the statements you make. Instead, it has everything to do with what the audience believes you really mean.
A famous debate signal occurred in 1992 when incumbent President George H.W. Bush looked at his watch while his opponent, Bill Clinton, who would win the election, spoke.
Why did he look at his watch? It doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that to the viewing audience, President Bush’s gesture conveyed boredom – as if he had better things to do with his time and was wondering when this annoying inconvenience would end.
This is a common problem with body language: often your nonverbal signals don’t convey what you intended them to. You may be slouching because you’re tired, but your team will most likely read it as a sign of disinterest. You may be more comfortable standing with your arms folded across your chest (or you may be cold), but others see you as resistant and unapproachable. And keeping your hands stiffly by your side or stuck in your pockets can give the impression that you’re insecure or hiding something – whether you are or not.
Tip Two: Watch those facial expressions.
Have you ever interviewed for a job? Ever been interviewed in a group setting? If you have, then you probably did your best to come across as qualified, confident, and likable.
Let’s suppose the interviewer asked you a question that you hoped wouldn’t come up. Did you clench your jaw, raise your eyebrows in amazement, and grimace to show your annoyance? Or did you sigh, smile condescendingly, and shake your head?
Can you imagine the impression you’d make if you did any of those things in an interview? Do you think you’d get the job? Do you think you’d even make the next round?
Job interviews are often as much about body language and impressions as they are about issues and substance. If you think of the debates as a super-sized job interview – and in many ways they are – you can begin to see why facial expressions have such an impact.
Both candidates made facial expression errors. In most of the debates, Senator Obama minimized his emotional reactions and reinforced the impression that he is remote and “cold.” Senator McCain’s forced grins and eye rolling in the third debate sent a negative signal that was reflected instantly in polls rating likeability: Obama scored 70% to McCain’s 22%.
Tip Three: Don’t underestimate the power of touch.
While Senator Obama shook hands with audience members after the debates, only Senator McCain touched anyone during a debate. Toward the end of the second debate, McCain walked into the audience and patted a U.S. military veteran on the back and then shook his hand, which produced a genuine smile from the veteran. McCain’s gesture was exquisitely done and worked very much in his favor.
Usually considered to be the most primitive and essential form of communication, we are programmed to feel closer to someone who’s touched us. The person who touches also feels more connected. It’s a compelling force and even momentary touching can create a human bond. A touch on the forearm that lasts a mere 1/40 of a second can make the receiver not only feel better but also see the giver as being kinder and warmer.
Touch is so powerful and effective that clinical studies at the Mayo Clinic show that premature babies who are stroked grow 40 percent faster than those who do not receive the same amount of touching. And touch retains its power — even with adults in business settings. A study on handshakes by the Income Center for Trade Shows showed that people are twice as likely to remember you if you shake hands with them.
Tip Four: When your body language is out of sync with your words, people believe what they see.
Anytime Senator McCain was speaking in the first debate, Senator Obama oriented his body toward McCain and looked directly at him. In doing so, he sent a nonverbal signal of interest and respect. McCain’s decision to avoid looking at Obama during that debate, was not only dismissive, it was counter to McCain’s stated position that Democrats and Republicans need to work together on behalf of the American people. In fact, his failure to look at Obama was so off-message that if I had been coaching McCain, I would never have allowed it. To me, it was the biggest nonverbal stumble – and the one most significantly against-message – that I saw in all the presidential debates.
In the same way, a business leader who stands in front of a thousand employees – and talks about how much he welcomes their input – derails that message if he hides behind a lectern, or leans back away from his audience, or shoves his hands in his pockets. All of those send closed nonverbal signals – when the intended message is really about openness.
It is crucial to communicate congruently – that is, to align your body to support (instead of sabotage) an intended message. Mixed signals have a negative effect on performance and make it almost impossible to build relationships of trust. Whenever your nonverbal signals contradict your words, the people you are addressing — employees, customers, voters — become confused. And, if forced to choose, they will discount your words and believe what your body said.
Tip Five: Remember – you are never “off camera.”
When the second debate was over, and their wives were on stage, Senator McCain tapped his rival on the back. Senator Obama turned around to offer his hand, but it was not reciprocated. McCain, instead, pointed to his wife, Cindy – an action that many viewers took for a nonverbal brush-off.
As a leader, you are always communicating. People are unrelenting leader-watchers, and your “off-record” behaviors are being closely monitored. In the words of one savvy executive, “What I do in the hallway is more powerful than anything I say in the meeting room.”
So there you are — five body-language tips that can play a positive role in your professional communication. Even if you never find yourself in the midst of a presidential debate.
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is the author of nine books including CREATIVITY IN BUSINESS and “THIS ISN’T THE COMPANY I JOINED” — How to Lead in a Business Turned Upside Down. She delivers keynote speeches and seminars to association and business audiences around the world. For more information or to book Carol as a speaker at one of your events, please call: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or visit her website: http://www.CKG.com.
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Adhere to these and your audience receives your message as you intended, and you achieve the results you desire. Solari Position Paper.
Twenty-five years later, here are some of the lessons I have learned about communicating change . . .
It isn’t about strategy. It’s about people. Communicators may develop well-crafted strategies that emphasize the urgency for change. They may enlist eloquent leaders to deliver those strategic messages.
But . . . organizational change efforts (still) fail more often than they succeed. And rarely because of poor strategies. Rather, it’s almost always a “people” issue. If the individuals in an organization don’t agree with the stated rational, if they haven’t been involved in developing the strategic plan, and if they don’t trust the messages they hear from leadership, there will be no successful change.
Emotion is more powerful than logic. Which is not to say that logic isn’t important. Employees need to understand the marketplace realities that are the driving forces of change. They need to know the consequences of not changing. And they need to hear the answers to questions about how changes will impact them personally: What specifically is changing — and what isn’t? What’s in it for me? How does this affect my job and my security? What new skills will I need to learn?
But . . . what matters more than the facts alone is the ability to place those facts into a meaningful context and to deliver them with emotional impact. That is why stories are such a powerful communication tool. Stories create the context and speak to the emotions. Rolf Jensen, in his wonderful book, “The Dream Society,” says that we need to learn the language of emotion – a language which is embodied in myth, symbols, rituals and stories.
What they see is more powerful than what you say. As a therapist, and later as a consultant, I’ve seen how words have the power to inspire, enlighten, and transform people.
But . . . nothing is more depressing than watching corporate communicators struggle to convince an audience with words that run contrary to organizational symbols and leadership behaviors. If an organization is filled with signs of executive privilege (corporate dining room, over-the-top executive compensation, reserved parking spaces, etc.) and the change message is: “We’re all in this together!” — that message will be derailed by the far more convincing corporate symbols. Likewise, if the stated message is “Let’s all collaborate!” and employees sense that senior leadership does not work well together, the collaboration message hasn’t a chance.
Informal communication is more powerful than formal communication. We will always need and value authentic speeches from senior leaders, well-written and well-researched articles in newsletters, and first-line supervisors who are first-rate communicators.
But . . . organizations are a mixture of hierarchical structure and informal networks, and the approaches listed above – executive speeches, articles and first-line communication — utilize only formal channels. None of them deals with the complex web of social interactions and informal networks that are the conduit for up to 70% of all organization information. Grapevine communication is more pervasive, faster, and more influential than formal communication.
I think this response from a participant in my research on the topic sums it up perfectly: “Formal communication focuses on messages the company wants to deliver, with a scope management feels is appropriate, and at a time management feels is right. The reason the grapevine plays such an important role is that it delivers the information employees care about, provides the details employees think they should know, and is delivered at the time employees are interested.”
Nonverbal communication is more powerful than verbal communication. Traditional explanations of human behavior in the business world presume that employees are influenced most by meaning and reasoning.
But . . . recent studies from the Human Dynamics Group at MIT’s Technology Media Lab, Xerox and Intel’s research centers (and a growing volume of other evidence), suggest that this view is seriously flawed. The key to successful change communication may be found in understanding the kinds of signals ordinarily overlooked, especially tone of voice and body language.
All of us express enthusiasm, warmth, and confidence — as well as arrogance, indifference, and displeasure through our facial expressions, gestures, touch, and use of space. If leaders at any level of an organization want to be perceived as credible and forthright, they have to think “outside the speech.” That’s where they’ll recognize the importance of what isn’t being said, but is being communicated.
The cultural mishaps started when the chamber president was formally introduced to the top ranking Japanese executive. The president held out this hand for a shake, the Japanese chairman bowed. The president then hastily bowed, while his Japanese counterpart thrust out his hand. To the embarrassment of all, this “gestural dance” continued for several minutes,
Then things got worse . . .
When everyone was finally seated for dinner, the welcoming gifts for members of the Japanese contingent were opened. They were lovely pocketknives, handsomely engraved with the name of the Japanese company. Unfortunately, the gift givers didn’t realize that knives are a Japanese symbol suggesting suicide.
By the end of the evening, the city officials had managed to offend all their guests – without saying a word.
In the high stakes world of international business, nonverbal communication often speaks for itself. Unfortunately, much of the meaning may be lost in translation. The most innocuous of gestures – when its intent is misinterpreted – can wreak havoc on business dealings.
Even the simplest hand movement can get you into cross-cultural trouble.
Of course, it’s okay to talk with your hands – if you know what they’re saying. Gestures are powerful communicators in any culture and are obviously easier to learn than language. Just be aware that some familiar hand gestures can have very different meanings.
For example, in most European countries, the correct way to wave hello and good-bye is palm out, hand and arm stationary, fingers wagging up and down. Common North American waving, with the hand moving side to side means “no” throughout Mediterranean Europe and Latin America. In Peru that gesture means “come here.” Called the Moutza in Greece, that same gesture is a serious insult, and the closer the hand to the other person’s face, the more threatening it is considered to be.
The “thumbs up” gesture that North Americans and many other cultures flash when they want to signify “Good job!” or “Well done!” is considered offensive in certain locales (Australia and Nigeria, to mention just two) and should be avoided. In Germany, when you order drinks, the gesture means “One, please.”
When someone taps the side of his nose with his forefinger, it signals a desire for confidentiality or secrecy in many cultures. But, in the U.K., Holland, and Austria, if the tap is to the front of the nose, it means “Mind your own business.”
Flashing the “V” sign for victory in the United States suggests business negotiations have concluded well. But that sentiment will be lost on anyone from the U.K., Australia and New Zealand if the back of the hand is facing out. In which case, it will be interpreted as a rude gesture.
The crossed-fingers gesture (the U.S. “Good luck!” signal — or cancellation sign when telling a lie) has several other meanings. In Turkey, the gesture is used to break a friendship. Elsewhere it is used to indicate that something is good or to swear an oath, or as a symbol for copulation.
The eyelid pull, in which the forefinger is placed on the cheekbone and pulled down to widen the eye a little, translates to “I am alert” in France, Germany, Yugoslavia and Turkey. In Spain and Italy it means “Be alert.” In Austria it signals boredom. In Saudi Arabia touching the lower eyelid with the forefinger indicates stupidity.
Even the “Okay” sign commonly used in the United States as signifying approval is a gesture that has several different meanings according to the country. In France it means zero; in Japan it is a symbol for money; and in Brazil it carries a vulgar connotation.
Some hand gestures are unique to a single culture. In Japan, people use a hand prow gesture (the palm-edge of one hand is placed vertically forward in front of the nose) accompanied by a slight bow to apologize for crossing between two people or to move through a crowded room. The hand acts like the prow of a ship cutting through water.
The greeting gesture that most business people around the world use is the handshake, but even that has its cultural nuances. In the U.S., the handshake is most often effusive. We use several pumps of the arm, and a strong grip to deliver an unspoken message of confidence. A Brit may give three to five hand pumps, and in Germany or France, one or two pumps is considered sufficient, with the pressure generally lighter. In Asia, the grip is often rather limp. A light, lingering handshake is generally more favored in Latin America, and to withdraw the hand too quickly could be interpreted as an insult.
Some cultures add a cheek kiss to the greeting. Scandinavians are happy with a single kiss, the French prefer a double, and the Dutch, Belgians, and Arabs go for a triple kiss. In Turkey, in addition to the normal handshake, a much younger person may kiss your hand and press it to his head as a sign of respect.
Exceptions to the handshake greeting may be seen in Japan and South Korea (bowing), in India (the namaste – palms held together in a prayer gesture) and in Arabic and Islamic cultures (the salaam – touching the heart with the right palm and then sweeping the forearm up and outward).
Professionals around the world prefer to do business with people who put them at ease and make them feel comfortable and appreciated. Cultural sensitivity to nonverbal communication plays a large part in building that kind of relationship. While you probably can’t learn every hand gesture used around the world, you can stay alert for and respectful of the differences you observe. It’s just good manners – and good business!
You’ve heard the old saying that you are what you eat. That’s certainly true. But it is also true that you are what you speak. What you choose to say or not to say, and how you choose to say it, accounts for much of your presence in the world.
For all intents and purposes your words are you. That is true for organizations and individuals alike, and it is true unless and until behavior and actions contradict the words.
At least initially, people will rightly presume you are speaking the truth as you know it. Their presumption of truth carries an institutional sledgehammer of accountability. The accountability is at the heart of our laws on libel, advertising, perjury, contracts, marriage, criminal assault, and commerce. All those laws reflect the need for truth to be stated. They all impose accountability, too, so as to insist on it.
In large organizations, words routinely convey official declarations, intention, and information. We label these words collectively (along with numbers and images in their service) as the organization’s formal voice. The formal voice is foundational to the perceptions and to the regard that people have of any organization. The formal voice also lies at the core of any organization’s capacity to change and grow. It must be managed effectively, for it is absolutely key to the future.
Yet all too often, organizations mismanage the formal voice. They render it as sweet talk, scare talk, and happy talk–in other words, spin. They deliberately mislead, or they inadvertently mislead others by misleading themselves. In doing so, they compromise their own effectiveness as managers and leaders, and they undermine the future of the organization they’re entrusted to lead. They do so for many reasons, some of them enticingly real and worthy. Whatever the reason, mismanagement it is.
What exactly does the formal voice look like and sound like? In a nutshell, it’s the talk of what eventually should be walking the talk.
On the outisde, the formal voice takes the form of advertising, news releases, branding, web sites, government filings, product information, slogans, and the like. On the inside, the formal voice may consist of all-employee announcements, town-hall meetings, intranet sites, newsletters, level-by-level cascading, closed-circuit television, laminated wallet cards, old-fashioned bulletin boards, and much more.
Often the external and internal sides of the formal voice cross paths, as in the case of a major quality certification, or a new commitment to customer service, or a product recall, or a merger or an IPO, or a yearly marketing blitz or retail sale. In those instances and many others, there is a need for coordinated internal and external communication. In any and all cases, though, the formal voice should be cohesive, and it should integrate with its cousins, the semi-formal and informal voices. (More on those voices in subsequent issues.)
For external stakeholders such as customers or investors, and for internal stakeholders such as employees, the formal voice is a window on the company’s thinking.
Ideally it is the verbal representation of reality. It should serve as a reference bank for factual information. When it is deliberately abused, its reliability plummets. The credibility of the company and of its leadership also dwindles. Better to jealously guard the credibility of the formal voice.
In the interest of managing the formal voice effectively, here are important things to keep in mind. Some will strike professionals as commonplace, but for executives and senior line managers, they may be revelatory. Let’s take a look:
- Insist on having and sharing a strategic focus. Much of the power of the formal voice is its ability to train everyone’s sight on a very few priorities. Without a strategic focus, you cannot point people in the same direction.
- Create an industry-specific, unique vision that can productively be drilled down deep into the organization. (We will share more ideas on good vision statements in a future bulletin.)
- Limit the proliferation of messages. Three or four strategic messages are the maximum; any other message should be subordinate to those at the core.
- Maintain those core messages over the long haul. People need a stake in the sand. The inevitability of change is no excuse for here-today, gone-tomorrow strategy.
- Build your mission around your customer’s interest. Making money is not sufficient. Think in terms of why your customers patronize your organization in the first place.
- Minimize and clarify jargon, acronyms, and neologisms. Use jargon only to the extent that everyone in your company understands it. Even then, favor plain language. It has the advantage of actually working.
- Convey a consistent core message through as many of the formal-voice channels as you can. Just as aircraft have built-in redundancy, so should your formal voice. Say the same thing out of both sides of your mouth.
- Let the formal voice be the mouthpiece of leadership, and think of the role of leadership as akin to that of a teacher. Constantly educate the workforce on the changing reality of the industry, its markets, its customers and their expectations.
- Maintain a healthy skepticism toward “cascading” strategic information down through the organization one layer at a time. Cascading alone doesn’t work, and it teases you into thinking that it does. Electronic, mass communication is essential.
- Paradoxically, think of the formal voice ultimate as dialogue, not mere monologue. Ultimately it must move through managers and supervisors, who must initiate and sustain a conversation with ground-level employees about the implications of the strategic messages. Without that conversation, the formal voice is effectively mute.
- Speed counts. Do not wait to “cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s.” Nothing is ever final. Convey information promptly. Otherwise the rumor mill or the news media will rush in to fill the void. Don’t let that happen. Any rumor or news dispatch may or may not be true, but rumors always and news reports usually represent a missed opportunity to convey the context and rationale for a decision.
- Use numbers. Establish clear-cut metrics for performance (and consider developing a “balanced scorecard” if you don’t already have one). Then convey the relevant data in a longitudinal perspective, with historical trends. Represent the data in metaphorical terms, in the way that the late Ronald Reagan did so effectively.
- Be creative. So-called dashboards are efficient, colorful ways to illustrate progress. Strategic maps are likewise effective. Messages need not be verbal. In fact, in most instances, verbal messages are noticed and remembered at significantly lower rates than visual messages are.
- Tell stories. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a story is worth 1,000 pictures. That’s what a good story is, after all: a motion picture in the mind’s eye. Leaders throughout human history have told relevant, brief stories to illustrate their points. People will always digest and remember a story in ways they can never digest and remember a report or a chart.
- View the formal voice in the context of metamessages. No message stands alone. All messages rely for their whole meaning on their environment, expectations, and ultimately their related experience. It’s the metamessage that people receive and remember.
- Strike a balance between simplicity and complexity. Don’t be so reductionist as to ignore important facts and ideas. On the other hand, don’t resort to data dumping just to impress others with your command of detail.
- Periodically audit the content of your formal voice, so that you have assurance it reflects your core strategic messages. If it doesn’t, it is just more ambient noise diluting the impact of your messages.
- Recognize that serious and complete information and ideas rarely move rapidly through an organization. Rumors move fast, but they are simple, anecdotal, and speculative.
- Do not speculate about the future. Discuss alternatives and their implications, but don’t lay odds. Things change too quickly and unpredictably.
- Be prepared to translate the general to the specific. Explain in simple, memorable detail what you hope and expect people in your organization will do with new information as it becomes available.
- Leave the spin cycle to your washing machine. Avoid scare talk, sweet talk, and happy talk. Just tell it like it is. Say what you think, and believe what you have said. When you no longer do, say so.
Above all, proceed to integrate your formal voice with your semi-formal and informal voices. Left to itself, the formal voice will usually fail even at creating simple awareness, let alone the understanding, acceptance and commitment you need to realize your vision for the future. Only through the full integration of all three voices can leadership speak with compelling clarity and credibility.
Thomas Lee has been benchmarking best-practice companies in organizational communication for almost 15 years. To date he has personally benchmarked almost 30 leading American corporations, including 3M, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, Weyerhaeuser, Levi-Strauss, McDonald’s, Shell Exploration, Duke Energy, and many others.
In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, neurologist Oliver Sachs describes how a group of his patients with lost cerebral functions were unable to understand spoken language, yet were highly adept at picking up the subtleties of body language. Sachs recalls how these patients broke into uncontrollable laughter while watching a politician on television, because the politician’s nonverbal communication was clearly stating: I’m a liar! These cues were totally missed by most of the rest of the audience – focused as they were on what was being said.
But what if those body language cues weren’t really overlooked by the audience? What if all those silent signals were being picked up and processed beneath consciousness awareness?
That’s exactly what I think happened.
The ability to decode nonverbal signals is hardwired in all of us. Human beings are genetically programmed to look for facial and behavioral clues and to quickly understand their meaning. Our ancestors made survival decisions based solely on intricate bits of visual information they were picking up from others. Survival of the fittest was not only about physical strength, but also about how quickly they could interpret the intention of others and how accurately they could send appropriate signals in response. As a species we knew how to win friends and influence people (or avoid/placate/confront those we couldn’t befriend) long before we knew how to use words.
So, even if audience members weren’t aware of exactly what they were picking up when they watched the politician, most of them would still have felt that something wasn’t right. That’s how body language works. You may think “It’s only a hunch,” but in reality, your hunches are based on a multitude of subconsciously noted nonverbal cues. And, when someone’s facial expressions and body gestures aren’t congruent with what is being said, you instinctively question the verbal comment.
Which brings us to business leaders I have observed . . .
I’ve noticed that there is often a disconnection between executive body language and the messages they are trying to convey. Last year I was on a panel of speakers and watched the man before me (representing a Fortune 100 company) finish his presentation and ask for questions – standing with his arms folded across his chest. Not surprisingly, the audience had nothing to say.
When a leader stands in front of a thousand employees and talks about how much he welcomes their input, the message gets derailed if the executive hides behind a lectern or leans back or puts his hands behind his back or shoves them in his pockets – or folds his arms across his chest. Such nonverbal signals are closed – while the message is about openness.
Then there is the matter of timing. If a person’s gestures are produced before or as the words come out, she appears open and candid. However, if she speaks first and then gestures (as I have seen many executives do) it’s perceived as a contrived movement. And at that point, the validity of whatever is said comes under suspicion.
So what’s a leader to do?
If you want to be perceived as credible and forthright, you’ve got to think “outside the speech” and recognize the importance of nonverbal communication. I’m a professional speaker and the author of nine books. I love words. But, oh, how I’ve learned to appreciate the power of body language!
Professor Albert Mehrabian at UCLA established this classic statistic for the effectiveness of spoken communications:
o 7% of what you communicate is conveyed through the words you use;
o 38% of what you communicate is conveyed through the tone of you voice; and
o 55% of what you communicate is conveyed through nonverbal gestures-body language.
Remember that Mehrabian was only studying the communication of emotions and attitudes. Obviously, an audience can’t watch you speaking in a foreign language and understand 93 percent of what you’re saying. They can, however, hone in on how you are feeling about what you say.
People both consciously and unconsciously notice how you look and how you present yourself. Then they filter the content of your presentation through that judgment.
They are pretty good at it. And pretty fast!
In one study, students were asked to view a two second video clip of a professor teaching and to say whether or not they liked him. At the end of the semester, students who actually took the professor’s class also reported on whether or not they liked him. With incredible accuracy, the two sets of evaluations matched up.
There is no doubt that you can gain a professional advantage by learning how to use nonverbal communication more effectively. Fully facing the audience, making eye contact, keeping your movements relaxed and natural, standing tall, using open arm gestures, showing the palms of your hands – all are silent signals of confidence and candor. And a good coach can help you find the gestures and facial expressions that are most congruent with the messages you want to convey.
But body language is more than a set of techniques. It is also a reflection of a person’s internal state. In fact, the more someone tries to control emotions, the more likely they are to leak out nonverbally.
Here’s a recent example: The corporate communicator who brought me into her company to coach an executive warned me that he was a “pretty crummy speaker.” And, after watching him at a leadership conference, I was in total agreement. It wasn’t his words. They were carefully chosen and well rehearsed. It was how he looked when he spoke. Mechanical in all his gestures, this man’s body was screaming: “I’m uncomfortable and unconvinced about everything I’m saying!”
The question: Could I help?
The answer: Not much.
Oh sure, I could find ways to make his movements less wooden and his timing more fluid. But if a person doesn’t care about (or believe in) what he is saying, his gestures will automatically become lethargic and restricted. What the executive needed most was genuine enthusiasm and passion about the company’s new strategic direction. Because, just like Sachs’ patients who decoded the politician’s authentic emotional state, what audiences saw when this business leader spoke was exactly how he really felt!
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is the author of nine books including CREATIVITY IN BUSINESS and “THIS ISN’T THE COMPANY I JOINED” — How to Lead in a Business Turned Upside Down. She delivers keynote speeches and seminars to association and business audiences around the world. For more information or to book Carol as a speaker at one of your events, please call: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or visit her website: http://www.CKG.com.
Here’s what scientists have found: A baby, viewing a videotape of the mother’s face becomes distraught; the baby needs to see the mother’s “real” face before it calms down. Eye contact, it seems, is not just important for conveying messages, it is the means by which two limbic systems come into contact and affect each other.
We know intuitively that Mr. Strasberg’s reasoning is sound, but leaders seldom apply it in the workplace. Instead, most workers report that they are singled out for notice only when there is a problem with their performance. Here is a question I often ask my audiences: If your boss told you that she noticed something about your performance and wanted you to come to her office to discuss it, would you assume that she had noticed an area of your special competence and wanted to bring it to your attention? Among the majority of audience members who respond with nervous laughter, only a few hands raise.
Bosses tend to notice and comment on weaknesses and mistakes more than they comment on talents and strengths. While continuous learning and self-improvement are valid concepts for future success, focusing solely on what is lacking leads to an unbalanced evaluation of employees’ worth and potential. It is no wonder then that most workers have problems taking risks and confronting uncertain situations.
Certainly, if you manage people or lead a team, a powerful change-management strategy is to help people focus on their strengths and find ways to build on them that is congruent with the direction the organization is taking. It’s the same thing in change communication. Approaches (such as Appreciate Inquiry) that look at what an organization already does well – and builds on those accomplishments to be even better – energizes and stimulates people to change because it is based on talents already possessed.
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is the author of nine books including CREATIVITY IN BUSINESS and “THIS ISN’T THE COMPANY I JOINED” — How to Lead in a Business Turned Upside Down. She delivers keynote speeches and seminars to association and business audiences around the world. For more information or to book Carol as a speaker at one of your events, please call: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or visit her website: http://www.CKG.com.
Here are a few highlights from that presentation:
The Grapevine is the informal, but powerful communication medium in every organization. The grapevine is pervasive and, according to my research, highly persuasive.
We can’t stop the grapevine. And we can’t outrun it. Word spreads like wildfire from person to person. And now blogs have become the “grapevine on steroids.”
While formal communications are important and effective, informal channels should not be ignored. Understood and optimized, the grapevine can be a powerful vehicle to align the company around important messages.
There is a perception gap between senior and lower management. Lower managers are more likely to recognize the existence, the conditions under which the rumor mill accelerates, and the benefits of tapping into the grapevine.
* Some information that people can only get from the grapevine. “If you want to see what insurance coverage is offered, check the brochure or intranet. But if you want to know what it really takes to be successful around here, ask the grapevine.”
One study found that employees receive 70% of their information from informal networks vs. only 30% from formal communications. Yet, most employee communications programs (even those employing first-line supervisors) focus almost exclusively on the formal communications and hierarchy, ignoring informal interactions within networks. What would happen if we looked at the grapevine not as a problem, but as an additional communication channel to be optimized?
In any organization, there are a small number of people whose opinions are highly sought and respected. Identified in a number of ways, these “influencers” can be a communicator’s biggest asset.
You’ve no doubt seen them tromping through the halls of your company, or at least hiding in the corner of the room. Elephants. These elephants have two characteristics: They’re something big that your organization knows is there and finds impossible to ignore. They’re also something no one talks about—because nobody knows what to do about them.
Some companies have lots of elephants; others have fairly few. But there’s one elephant that resides in nearly every organization (and that communicators should be helping to hunt down)—e-mail overload.
Why is e-mail overload an elephant? For one thing, the costs are huge. A couple of years ago, the CFO of a professional services firm shared a startling factoid with his organization. If everyone spent an hour a day less managing e-mail, it would add $2 million a year to the bottom line. And that’s for just 500 people!
That amount strikes me as quite conservative: By my calculations, if you work in a 500-person organization where employees average $50 an hour, you can free up $2 million in productivity in a year by eliminating just 20 minutes of wasted time per day. Consider the amount of time employees spend simply handling (or mishandling) the mechanics of e-mail, and 20 minutes a day seems like an easy target.
Too much e-mail can bury vital information. According to IDC, knowledge workers spend more time recreating existing information than they do turning out new information. Why can’t they locate the existing stuff? My theory: A lot of it was shared via e-mail. Then it got deleted to make room for more messages, or buried in folders with subject lines that didn’t do the job. IDC says chasing existing info can cost untold millions in a single knowledge company.
How about your IQ? What’s that worth to your company? Research by Hewlett Packard and the University of London shows that the IQ of an average employee falls 10 points when interrupted repeatedly by incoming e-mail – more than twice the four-point drop experienced by marijuana smokers. HP is striving to reduce “always on” communications among its own employees, and has created a “Guide to Info Mania” to help others.
Most organizations, however, aren’t sure what to do about the e-mail elephant. There’s no shortage of software, books, courses and other tools to help tackle the problem. The challenge—as countless communicators have discovered—is that no one offers an off-the-shelf solution that will address e-mail overload comprehensively.
So we have assembled a toolbox for you that will enable to you combat information overload on three fronts within your organization: Better tools for in-box management, changing sender behavior, and alternative technologies.
Try any or all of them and see what they do for your organization. Just as important, please let us know which ideas worked well for you—and which didn’t.
Use tools for in-box management
1. A good system—including self-discipline
There are many places you can turn for advice on how to deal with the 2,785 e-mails awaiting your attention. Which system you choose is not nearly as important as having a system of some kind.
Productivity consultant and executive coach Sally McGhee teaches courses on the Microsoft campus on how to get the most from Outlook. You may want to consider something similar for your organization.
Like many e-mail gurus, McGhee prefers an empty inbox. She recommends that you start at the top, tackling e-mails one at a time, and do one of four things with each:
- Delete it—you can do this with about half your e-mail
- Do it—if you can accomplish that in two minutes or less
- Delegate it—this should take no more than two minutes
- Defer it—this should be about 10 percent of your e-mail
McGhee says power e-mail processors can go through about 100 messages an hour. She also recommends you build a simple e-mail reference system. Read McGhee’s article at http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/manageinfo/e-mail.mspx
Consultant Bill Jensen, author of several books on simplifying communications, advises you to delete 75 percent of your e-mails. “They bring the noisy, unfiltered, unfocused, and undesired world to you!” he says. “You need to get disciplined about closing your virtual door.”
In The Simplicity Survival Handbook, Jensen says the first step in eliminating most of the noise coming at us is admitting that we own part of the problem. Advises Jensen: “If BOTH the Subject and the Sender fail to create this reaction – I have to read or at least scan this today – DO NOT open or scan the message. Hit Delete immediately.”
Then, he says, scan the remaining e-mails for two bits of information: Action you must take, and date or deadline for that action. “If the messages do not contain an action and a short-term date, delete them.”
Other e-mail experts advise you to touch every message only once. The success of any system will depend on balance – the balance between dealing with e-mail regularly enough to keep it under control, but not so often that you “live” in your inbox.
2. Teach employees to use more descriptive subject lines
When it comes to being able to handle e-mail, better subject lines are one of the most promising “quick hits” available. Sally McGhee advises her clients to include three elements: An objective or project name (which lets you know what the e-mail relates to), a requested action, and a due date. “Taking the time to create clear subject lines makes e-mail communication more effective and increases the chance that your e-mail will be responded to,” says McGhee.
Another little-considered subject line is the one attached to meeting requests. Instead of “SETI Project meeting,” how about “SETI Project: Responding to e-mail from aliens”?
You might also include one other category of useful info – who’s supposed to attend. Unfortunately, Microsoft Outlook’s calendar entries include where a meeting will take place, but not who’s invited. Add Your name, Invitee 1, and Invitee 2 to the subject line – and you’ve undoubtedly saved time for all three people. (No, this won’t work with 10 people – but how many of your meetings include 10 people?)
3. Create a priortization code for subject lines
There’s yet another element to subject lines that—if widely used—could help everyone filter their messages more effectively. One of the problems with e-mails is that they seldom clearly indicate what you’re supposed to do with them.
“Imagine,” says McGhee, “if you could sort your Subject lines by action – Action Requested (AR), Response Requested (RR), and Read Only (RO) – or if you could sort them by objectives or due dates.”
I believe this system would work even better with unique four-letter indicators (I call them “O-Marks,” for Outlook):
URGT: Urgent – respond or act ASAP
ACTN: Action required
RSPN: Response requested
UN2K: You need to know
FYIN: Read at your convenience
Other categories could include:
MTNG: Pre- or post-meeting communication
BUSN: Strategic business information
EMPY: Information for employees – benefits, job postings, HR
TRNG: Training-related communications
And, for your team or department, make up your own. Create O-Marks for projects, team updates, whatever your particular group is working on. Adding O-Marks at the front of your subject line can make e-mails – at least from your teammates – easier to process quickly. Just sort your in-box alphabetically to group like categories – or send each type of e-mail to its own folder.
Change sender behavior
4. Write some corporate e-mail rules
Most companies have rules—ranging from a few guidelines to thick manuals – on how to use the Web. Almost no one has rules surrounding e-mail (apart from the usual boilerplate about how We The Company can read every word of it – and if you violate one of the 50 rules, you’re history).
Why shouldn’t the rules include how to use e-mail effectively? E-mail is a business tool, and companies have the right to decide how it will be used to conduct business. That could mean, for instance, limitations on use of the “cc” line. Companies are very quick to identify the cost of producing communications – but they too seldom calculate the cost of consuming them. A low-value e-mail sent to 20 top managers can be very expensive, indeed.
The rules might evolve into a comprehensive guide to how to use all the company’s electronic channels. Technology consultant Shel Holtz says too often, the launch of technology is left to IT:
“Most IT departments do a great job at what they’re supposed to do: get the technology working. It’s not—and shouldn’t be—IT’s job to establish policies for the use of technologies, to market the tool, or to drive a cultural change around how the tool should be used in a business context. Whenever IT is the only department involved in the launch of a new technology, technology is all employees get. ‘Here you go everybody. We’ve installed e-mail for you. Godspeed.’
“As a result, employees figure out how to use the technology based on personal preferences rather than a companywide imperative.” Holtz envisions a joint effort between HR and Employee Communications – which he calls “Message Mission Control” – to set and communicate policies on the use of all messaging channels, from interoffice mail to SMS.
Holtz says this effort must include promoting behavior change through rewards and recognition. “Part of the culture change,” he says, “is knowing when NOT to use e-mail, but rather the phone, fax, IM, face-to-face or other channels.”
Part II of Taming the e-mail elephant
By Bill Boyd, ABC
Communications Integrator + Principal, Outsource Marketing
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2006 issue of the Journal of Employee Communication Management (JECM) magazine, published by Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. (http://www.ragan.com). It is shared with members of the Communitelligence portal with the kind permission of JECM’s editor, David R. Murray.