Example 1: What response are you getting?

One day, back in the mid-nineties, I was offloading my frustration to my first coach. I spent all my time writing beautifully crafted memos (pre-email days) communicating important things to ‘my’ people and, in spite of my efforts, it wasn’t working. My coach asked me about the response I got from my memos. I replied, “Nothing, zilch, silence.”

She said, “Dave, your communication is the response you get” and left me with that.

Confused, I asked a few of my people about a recent memo I sent out. Frank, the general foreman, said, “Dave, I just chuck them straight in the bin, like most other people do.”

I got it. My communication is the response I get. No response, no communication. I was not communicating. Time to try something different.

Example 2: What do your people think of your communications?

About 20 years ago, I was coaching Brian, a company owner. He had set it up from scratch and employed over 100 people. He was annoyed about constant complaints from staff about the ‘lack of communication round here’.

He said, “Dave, I’ve got to crack this communication thing, but I don’t know what else to do.” Visibly frustrated, he continued, “I tell them everything I know, I don’t hold back, it’s all up there on the noticeboard and in our Board meetings. I explain everything and ask all the directors to tell their people and they tell me they do and I believe them. What else can I do?” And then, “Actually, I’m sick of this, I’m going to sack the next person who complains about lack of communication!”

“What do your people think?” I asked.

He shot back, “About what?”

“I don’t know … about the stuff you and your directors are telling them.”

Silence.

“Dave, I’m not listening to them am I? I’m telling them. Communication is two-way, talking and listening, isn’t it?”

He set up Friday lunchtime open comms sessions in the canteen where he mostly listened.

No one got sacked.

Example 3: Staff communications are not black and white

Steve, a company manager, said to me, “Today, I want to work out with my team why it’s so difficult to bring about change in our organisation.”

“How are you going to do that?” I asked.

He told me he had been thinking about it in the lead-up to this workshop and his plan was to explain the change and then show them the organogram which set out the corporate hierarchy and lines of communication.

“It should be simple, but never is, we always get bogged down. Exploring this will hopefully shed some light and open up new avenues.”

When they were in the thick of it, I asked, “Does your organogram explain the lines of communication in reality?”

Steve confirmed in front of the group, “Yes, that’s how it works here” and most seemed hesitant while a few nodded in agreement.

I invited an experiment: write the names of the people featured in the organogram randomly on the whiteboard (about 30 people) and connect those who frequently talk with each other using a green marker pen, and those who ‘should’ be talking with each other but don’t with a red marker pen.

After twenty minutes I invited comments on their whiteboarding, asking “What does this mean to you?”

One person said it was a mess of green and red lines and that nothing discernible could be drawn from it.

Another said it was great how mostly everyone was freely talking with everyone else.

Another agreed but wondered what they were talking about and if it was on mission and if so, who’s mission?

Steve said, “It’s clear that our actual communication is way more complex than the lines dictated in the organogram. I’ve been naive to think it ever worked as shown.” He continued, “Actually, I don’t think top-down change has ever worked here. Right, we need to learn from this and come at it differently. Let’s put our minds to that for the rest of the day.”

The difference between dialogue and debate

Debate is where you argue your point; your intention is to prove you are right and the other person wrong. In the UK House of Commons, for example, the Government and the Opposition hammer it out; there is no listening, they don’t attempt to answer questions, they have their own agendas and it appears the intent is to score points against the other. The one with the most votes wins the argument, seemingly irrespective of its merit. In organisations, the boss usually wins the argument.

Dialogue is different. Let’s say you and I are having a dialogue – I stay open to what you are saying even though I may not agree with it. And you stay open to what I am saying even though you might not agree. We each suspend our thinking, like clothes on a washing line, so we can stand back and look at it. Our intent is to understand each other’s perspective. We avoid a rush to judgement and fixed positions. If we can do that, we might learn something and move forward together.

To distinguish dialogue from debate, I have oversimplified, unwittingly portraying one as good, the other bad. In reality, both are needed, depending on the situation. You choose. Debate tends to be competitive; dialogue collaborative.

Often, we talk about working collaboratively while using the competitive form of exchange – it’s jarring and feels wrong.

Coaching is underpinned by dialogue. A coaching style of management is a good match for our desire to work collaboratively – it feels right, it’s congruent. (See useful resources below for how to adopt a coaching style of management.)

Going deeper than communication

There is a deeper way of relating to people at work than merely communicating and that is to engage them. To engage is to intensely involve. How do you intensely involve someone? Well, not by hitting them with 45 PowerPoint slides; that’s broadcasting to them, one-way traffic.

Asking questions of one another and deeply listening, giving them space to think, draws on coaching skills – that’s a good way to intensely involve someone. Make sure to consider their response and build on it, though avoid stacking questions, machine gun style – that’s interrogation and not at all engaging. Also delegating a deliverable in a deep and deliberate way is very engaging that wins back your time and frees you up to permanently operate at a higher level.

Links to useful resources:

Delegate for Results – course and book

Coach for Results – course and book

Leadership Team Coach Dave Stitt works with construction industry executives and project teams enabling them to deliver remarkable results in a remarkable way.

Dave is the creator of  Coach for Results, an accessible online course teaching the basics of a coaching management style so managers can grow confidence, capability and enthusiasm in the people around them. Read more blogs from Dave:

Leadership – a useful definition

The post How effective communication can transform the way you lead your teams appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

Communication

Communication is essential in fostering collaboration in virtual environments. In a traditional office setting, team members can depend on face-to-face interaction, body language, and other subtle cues to communicate their points effectively. However, virtual settings often require a high level of verbal and written communication skills. Leaders must train their teams to communicate clearly, regularly and with consistency to ensure everyone is on the same page. Virtual meetings and online collaboration tools like chatrooms and video conferencing software can facilitate effective communication even from remote locations.

Building Trust

Building trust in a remote team can be challenging without the opportunity for in-person interactions. Leaders must work to ensure that team members feel comfortable, valued and included in virtual meetings and events. This can include virtual coffee break times for non-work conversations, structured team-building activities and targeted online training. It is also essential to set clear expectations around work deliverables, timelines and performance metrics to avoid misunderstandings and missed deadlines that can lead to mistrust among team members.

Team Motivation

In any work environment, team motivation can play an essential role in productivity and morale. However, in a remote team environment, motivation can be harder to maintain due to the absence of physical cues, cues linked to in-person activities and human interaction. Leaders can employ various approaches to keep motivation high, including recognising and celebrating individual and team achievements, providing coaching and support, and regularly assessing the work environment’s pulse.

Flexibility

The rise of remote work has shown that leaders who are more flexible are better positioned to lead remote teams effectively. In today’s business environment, it is essential not only to identify the right skills for remote work scenarios but also the right mix of policies that support remote work. Leaders should be open-minded and open to new ideas and willing to adjust current policies in line with remote work requirements. They should monitor their company’s policies and training regularly to keep up with the ever-changing business environment.

Technology

The technology landscape has expanded in recent years, enabling virtual workforces to thrive. Companies have installed cloud-based software to facilitate virtual collaboration and communication platforms to facilitate real-time feedback. Effective leaders need to provide secure technology tools to their distributed teams to enable the effective collaboration and communication needed to thrive in this environment. Proper training for the virtual products that will be used is essential as part of the overall technology plan.

The rise of remote and distributed workforces has required leaders to develop new skills to manage and foster collaboration in virtual environments. Without in-person interactions, effective communication, trust building, team motivation, flexibility and technology are all crucial components in leading remote teams to success. Leaders must be willing to adopt and adapt to new policies and procedures that are designed to support remote work. HR leaders and internal coaches should tackle this head-on to ensure a successful and prosperous future for their organisations.

Read more leadership blogs: Crisis Management: Essential Skills for Every Business Leader, Leading with Agility: How Agile Methodologies Can Transform Leadership

The post Managing The Remote Workforce appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

These are some of the approaches I discuss with coachees who are facing these challenges:

• Take deep breaths and stay calm, courteous and controlled. Even if your heart is racing you can ensure that your body language appears open and relaxed
• Don’t apologise for something you’re not sure about, or be over-defensive. Calmly offer to find out more about a situation and agree to feed back your findings when you know more
• Never be tempted to throw individuals to the dogs. If your staff have done something wrong, you need to accept responsibility for what’s happened and for sorting it out
• Listen to what’s being said, acknowledge other perspectives but stick to a consistent response (often called ‘the broken record technique’) e.g. ‘I hear what you say – but as I said before this may be working for your team but at the moment it isn’t right for mine ‘
• Showing that you feel anger can be OK when something is seriously inappropriate or unjust – but make sure you have your behaviour fully under control
• Negotiate wherever possible and agree to disagree, if necessary. Say something like: ‘I acknowledge your point of view but from where I’m standing this isn’t a problem … but we can always keep it under review ’
• Don’t make enemies by always needing to ‘win’ an argument. Be big enough to admit a mistake or change your mind if you are presented with sufficiently persuasive evidence.

In any situation it takes two to create a conflict. If you refuse to lose your cool, then you are   preventing differing points of view from turning into heated arguments.

Henrietta Bond is an experienced coach and communications specialist. Henrietta works with clients all around the world who want to be truly effective leaders – to motivate and empower individuals, deliver effective messages, manage conflict and challenging situations, and draw out the highest potential of their teams.

Read more blogs from Henrietta

The post Holding your ground without losing your rag appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.

‘World Values Day’ happens every year in October. It’s an ideal opportunity to stop and take the time to think about your most deeply held values.

What are Core Values?

Values are the things that are important to us such as respect, honesty and integrity. They are deeply held principles that guide our decisions and behaviours, and influence our emotions. Values are at the core of who we are. They are our motivators, our drivers, and the reason why we do the things we do.

What happens when your core values are not met or ignored?

Who or what has been ‘pressing your buttons’ today? If you find yourself getting irritated, frustrated or generally fed up, this is often the result of one of your core values being compromised or ignored. This can create the ideal breeding ground for conflict, both internally and externally, adding to the stress in your life.

How do your values impact on your team?

When you understand your core values, it will start to make sense why certain people and certain behaviours frustrate you, and why you are not getting the results you want in life.

Once you recognise what your core values are, you can explore and share these values with your colleagues, and find out what’s important to them.

Consider what underpinning values will be instrumental to your shared success? If you want to be able to manage the expectations your team has of you, make an effort to find out what is important to them too. You do not have to have exactly the same values, but as long as you have mutual respect for each other’s values, you will be amazed at how your relationships improve.

Find out more about World Values Day and explore your own core values here… https://www.worldvaluesday.com

Talk to one of our coaches about your Core Values

The post Who – or what – is pressing your buttons? appeared first on Trusted Coach Directory.