Dr. Abiola Salami | Performance strategist with valuable insights for high-performing professionals, entrepreneurs & nation-builders | CHAMP
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Productive communication is knowing the etiquette of sharing or exchanging ideas in such a way that the original intentions of all parties match the actual outcomes. The magic of productive communication is really in its simplicity: doing the little things that resonate with your audience or stakeholders, as the case may be.
When you have power, influence or wealth, it may be difficult to discover that you may be operating on the level of unconscious incompetence when you communicate. In a world that is culturally inclined to genuflect toward people in authority, it becomes even more challenging for unproductive communication to be improved. The following productive communication nuggets will better enable leaders to drive peak performance.
1. Assertiveness
Assertiveness can be a healthy way of communicating. It's the courage to speak up for ourselves in a way that is honest, respectful and considerate of others. It’s very possible to put your foot down when communicating with others without being offensive. Assertiveness means that the qualities of authority and sensitivity are fused together in a delicate balance without leaning too much to either extreme.
To drive peak performance, leaders must cultivate assertiveness. Leaders must understand how to get their message across without sounding condescending to their team and other stakeholders. Assertiveness comes with a quiet resolve and an insistence to get ducks in a row; an ability to lay out the facts with finesse without compromising your stance. Assertive communicators are competent at clearly defining boundaries.
Assertive communication can be permissive but not passive; it involves knowing when to make concessions and when to double down on one's positions. Assertive leaders don’t easily tire out; they insist on the right things being done and only stop when those things are actually done.
Assertiveness orients us to the fact that maintaining a great relationship with others is more important than winning an argument—hence the importance of tact and restraint in the tone of our message.
2. Collaborativeness
In a real sense, no one is self-made. Success is a multi-stakeholder adventure—everyone plays. To drive peak performance, leaders must understand that interdependence is a necessity and we must cultivate the capacity to harness the strengths, opportunities and interests of stakeholders.
Collaboration is an admission that you need the strengths of others to further your goals in such a way that benefits them, too. It may be that such people are highly skilled, possess certain information or are in positions where they make decisions in your favor.
When you embrace collaborativeness, it doesn’t mean you are weak or incompetent; it shows you understand your dream is bigger than your ego. Many leaders have delivered less performance owing to their unwillingness to extend a hand of fellowship to those who could have expanded their possibilities. The question then becomes: Do you want to have 100% of a small thing or a small percentage of a very big thing?
Collaborativeness orients us to the fact that self-focused communication limits our potential performance but with synergy, we can record exponential growth.
3. Conciseness
Some leaders say a lot of things without saying much; they seem to substitute verbosity for substance. Productive communication looks at the issues and addresses them head-on instead of beating about the bush.
To drive peak performance, leaders must master the art of keeping communication short and simple. It’s very possible to keep the communication "short and sweet" while also clarifying expectations, inspiring action and meeting the yearning and aspirations of your team. We should watch out for the tendency to have lengthy, long-winded communication to rehash a point. We should also watch out for the practice of sending lengthy emails driven by ego and not impact.
The most powerful way to communicate isn’t just about what you say but what you do consistently. After a while, people no longer pay attention to your words but to your history of backing up your words with necessary actions.
Concise communication is about both brevity and impact. Whether it's for praise, instruction or recommendations, most people get worn out by lengthy communication. Therefore you want to use the equivalent of elevator pitches—a microcosm of a more elaborate idea designed primarily to spark interest in the minds of the readers and listeners.
Being concise allows us to keep communication within effective limits.
4. Tactfulness
Many leaders tend to speak more than they listen. They make the mistake of dominating conversation to prove they are in charge. With the erroneous assumption that years of leadership experience equal competence, they often find themselves in awkward but avoidable situations.
Some leaders insist on honoring every media interview even when they don’t exactly possess the gift of gab, instead of sending more media-savvy spokespeople or team members to represent the company. The consequences are usually dire; it costs more for disaster management than it does to actually get the right communication across the first time.
Leadership development requires you to continue to seek to improve your capacity to use communication as a tool for driving excellence on your team. I hope these four nuggets will enable you to achieve your goals faster and more easily.
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