Hello everybody and welcome back!
Today I would like to work with you on some aspects related to communication and relationships with the team, which have never been as important as in this very complex world we are living in, both on a professional and personal side. But it is precisely in these situations that as managers we are called to give the best of our abilities.
Communicating is all if done correctly
Communication with and for your team is, as we have said many times, a founding element of high performance and a result-oriented working environment. However, the difficulty lies more in being effective than in “communicating for the sake of communicating” which is essentially within the reach of many. And communicating correctly is the “multiplier” of your efficiency and tells apart those averaging from those succeeding.
Three is a magic number
I believe that as managers one of the legitimate aspirations we have is how we can be effective in transferring concepts to our resources. There are certainly many valid approaches, but a good method is what is called the “rule of three”. Whether you are making a presentation, telling a story, sending a proposal or selling, keep in mind that counting to three is an efficiency enabler.
The number “3” if you think about it recurs in many ways in our lives: from traditional stories of our childhood to scientific researches to daily things.
Research shows clearly that that there is a logic behind the use of “three” in our social narrative: our brain tends to think naturally using this numbering basis and so, adding or subtracting one or more’ elements to our memory model tends to be less effective.
And so why not take advantage of this tendency then in our interactions? This “rule” can be used it in presentations, alignment meetings, and any other elements of key communication can have a decisive impact as people will tend to remember what you have said. To facilitate this approach, choose three examples, three key points or three ideas that best illustrate the message you want to convey. Repeat these concepts in different ways during the presentation and end by returning to these three elements.
Not all communications are born equal
Like clothing, can happen that a single size doesn’t fit all. The same applies to communication because needs to be crafted depending on the objective: we all communicate in different ways and often the part of information that is retained is also linked to the means by which we receive it.
The challenge here is to focus on the receivers before crafting the communication. Try to understand how do the different members of the teams prefer to communicate; which is the preferred way of meeting (in-person vs remote, mail vs call,..) and the leve of detail (big picture or details?)
As managers it is important to be aware of these preferences and adapt our style to meet the needs of different members of our organisation. These small changes can have a big impact, but it is important to understand that it is a matter of adapting, not distorting: if a certain communication style is not your thing, be sure to use it naturally before using it with your resources. In this case, a means of communication that is perhaps less “appreciated” but which you are comfortable using is more effective.
Relationships count
Our work happens through relationships, and our ability to make connections outside of our team is critical to the company’s success.
We need to understand how the relationships inside and outside our team will interfere with our messages. Always remember to check how your team relates and how this can be used to strategically vehicle information.
