Tag: Communication

Leadership During Uncertainty…

During times of uncertainty and the resulting anxiety it brings, most people are looking to leaders, or voices of reason for words to continue move forward with. Keeping conversations clear and concise is critical to communication. Trying to project alternative messaging, make a statement, taking a stance is not going to be helpful and should be avoided. Sure, leaders do not possess a crystal ball to give us what we really desire (answers to the complex questions) but they do have an engaged audience and the attention that others may not have. They are not the voices that need to publish to be heard, they are typically a voice that is subscribed too. Therefore, an element of positivity and total clarity is key to the communication.

For example, if someone was to ask…When is this all going to end, when do we get back to normal? (use a checklist)

  • Be Positive: Simple statements – We will get back to normal, this is not status quo
  • Be Factual: Over the last “x” days, or weeks we have seen the curve flattening in “x” countries – This has happened because of “x” actions
  • Be Clear: Don’t make your audience guess what you mean, or interpret it differently than stated
  • Provide Perspective: Prior to this situation, here is where we were with regards to the economy, opportunities and technological advancement
  • Be Open-Minded: Answer with – That’s a valid point and lets address this offline and get back to everyone as a whole on our finding
  • Provide Guidance: In “x” days, we will reassess where we are and make the next set of decisions – This will be based on the following criteria and here is where you can find that information
  • Assign Accountability / Ownership: Each item that was not answered, needs to have an individual assigned and estimate on delivery provided – The audience will know who to go to for resolution of “x” issue

Remember – Facts, ultimately speak louder than emotion in the end. Of course, people will tend to gravitate towards emotional, loud, salacious and wild commentary versus a dialog surrounded by facts and figures. Facts don’t get the pageviews and clicks that controversy will. But at the end of the day, people will remember who “lead” them in times of uncertainty and if or when these times happen again (and you know they will) hopefully they will call upon the voices of reason to provide guidance they desperately need.

Staying Positive…

There are currently two channels of communication out there…folks trying to be positive (via any method) and others that will claim the world is burning and it’s just a matter of time before we see the end-of-days.

However, it’s interesting to see where the source of this information is coming from. The positivity will often come from individuals that would typically see positive themes during a time of negativity. They comment about the righteousness of religion, friends, family and even health. While being positive, they are hoping for the best, keeping their heads-up, reaching out to friends and family…soul-searching. I respect these individuals more than you can imagine. They have built a foundation of trust, belief and confidence that I can not imagine building during a time of ambiguity. I’m truly impressed by their resilience and ambition.

Then there are the negative folks, those that thrive on spewing the worst of a situation. Things like…this pandemic, quarantine, shelter in place situation we are in will last forever…our government let us down, Gen-Z are screwing the progression of flattening the curve, the Baby Boomers are making this worse because they didn’t prepare. We have politicians / mass-media battling about calling things racist or incompetent, yet people are still getting sick, or infected. Do these folks go home at night and check the box…yep, I’m happy I satisfied my objectives for today.

I may be asking for too much, maybe a balance between the negative and the positive, but the extremes are continually unproductive. At this point I would be satisfied with just a target/goal…by “x” date, we hope to be able to have “x” available to the population. This way I can measure if we are ahead, or behind our goals.

Some thoughts about latest commentary on and off mass-media…

Guys Being Guys…

Thought I’d share a funny call I had today:

We have been working together for a few weeks to deploy a new “tool” for the Practice that helps to identify people within the practice that can ultimately work on projects, or answer questions related to a specific technology or skills. The team is worldwide, one fella is in Amsterdam, one in India, one in the Philippines and me in the US…the guys were awesome with English (always sad that I have no other language).

As we started to wrap up the meetings today, we were talking about size and weight of “men” across the world (something I assume women would be sensitive about, but guys can care less). The guy in India says he is 5’10” and 200 in India and is considered pretty large for out there, then the other from the Philippines says “I’m 5’8″ and 150 and considered overweight and pretty tall, the guy in Amsterdam says he is 5’7” 150 and feels pretty average (my gut says he is small based on guys I met in the Nordic region of the world).

They now ask me for measurements…do I go low, or do I produce actual measurements and get a response that I either expect, or feel a bit out-of-place? I decide to go actual and tell them I’m 6’5″ and about 280…they start mentioning wrestlers, actors and other large individuals that they have seen over time that were about the same size and can’t imagine what it would be like to be my size. In my mind, I’m laughing thinking that Tre, Coltrane and Miles are all bigger than them and what would they think about this group of big-guys meeting them in a dark alley. Ultimately, I remember they live in their own little worlds and get used to seeing what they see each day. Just guys talking about guys.

At the end of the call we wish we could all meet each other someday and more importantly, I wish they could meet my huge family!! The whole reason I write this is I could never imagine four women talking about their size and weight of each other (including family members) and at the end of the call laughing at the differences we all have!!