{"id":633660,"date":"2017-02-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/latest-news\/articles\/manage-by-communicating\/"},"modified":"2019-02-06T13:18:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T12:18:12","slug":"manage-by-communicating","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/manage-by-communicating\/","title":{"rendered":"Manage by Communicating"},"featured_media":636480,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[],"areas":[20,25],"subjects":[],"class_list":["post-633660","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","areas-human-behavior","areas-talent"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["The ability to communicate enhances the vitality of an organization or a society. Even the best communication cannot make up for the worst reality\u2014but it can modify our perception of it."],"wpcf-article-body":["In both personal and corporate spheres, lifeblood is not enough, even when it is infused with wisdom. Countless grand projects and promising leaders\u2014both contemporary and historic\u2014have been thwarted or undermined by inept communication. Companies are like people: they think, they feel, they dream, they grow, they get sick, and if they don\u2019t get better, they die. Having problems isn\u2019t bad in itself, but not solving them is.\r\n\r\nTo communicate, first and foremost, you must listen to understand, not to reply. Another important point is that lying\u2014in the strictest sense of the term\u2014cheapens communication. And finally, the more connected you are with the outside world, the less connected you are with your inner world. Here\u2019s a concept that applies to all organizations: even the best communication cannot make up for bad management, and the worst communication discredits the people in charge. Bad communication exacerbates bad governance, but the best communication can strengthen it.\r\n\r\nThrough internal communication, organizations either energize or infect their environment, their corporate soul. Neglecting the people on the inside\u2014being careless with internal communication\u2014can cause an infection that leads to new diseases and aggravates existing conditions. Early detection increases the effectiveness of the treatment.\r\n
In both personal and corporate spheres, to communicate you must start by listening to understand, not to reply.<\/blockquote>\r\nListen, be, and convey<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCommunicating with executive verbs like listen,<\/em> be<\/em> and convey<\/em> is inseparable from today\u2019s notions of management. Listen<\/em> is the mother of all communication verbs. Although now somewhat diminished by widespread rhetorical use and diffuse practical implementation, it is striking to see the broad application of the verb listen<\/em> in digital environments despite the dwindling use of this particular action in the personal realm, where conversations are postponed, shortened, hurried, interrupted, and noisy.\r\n\r\nThe verb listen<\/em> goes hand in hand with a noun: humility.<\/em> A humble person has his feet on the ground, is in touch with reality, and\u2014for this very reason\u2014is committed to changing it for the better. Humility allows you to learn\u2014which can only be done by listening, not speaking\u2014and makes your mind more agile, open to positive developments (progress), and able to identify negative practices (regression).\r\n\r\nThe only effective verb-noun combination is listen with humility.<\/em> Practitioners of this executive communication style strengthen their position of leadership because they develop skills such as learning, demanding, motivating, apologizing, correcting oneself, and even growing. This management style gives rise to a key capability: managing perceptions. Through the mere act of listening with humility, you are able to see that a single reality (data) can be perceived differently by different people, depending on the context and their emotions. If you manage a company or institution without listening with humility, you are guaranteed to encounter avoidable conflicts and face significant losses of time, energy, engagement, and therefore money.\r\n\r\nThe second executive verb is be.<\/em> Although it is an unsophisticated verb, it has a great deal of value compared to its debased imitator: seem.<\/em> In both personal and corporate communication, it\u2019s easy to mistake one for the other, especially when you don\u2019t start by listening with humility. The adjective that goes with be<\/em> is true.<\/em> Truth forms the basis of genuine communication and often falls victim to environments tainted by appearances that conceal wretchedness. We are all wretched in one way or another, so we mustn\u2019t deny it, but we also shouldn\u2019t magnify it recklessly.\r\n\r\nTransparency doesn\u2019t mean baring your soul; it means showing the right things to those who deserve it. The aforementioned ability to manage perceptions provides some interesting guidelines with regard to transparency. In communication, the decisive factor is not what the management says, but what others perceive and interpret.\r\n\r\nThe last of the three executive verbs is convey.<\/em> Many people see this as the essence of communication and decisive action. I don\u2019t deny the importance of speaking, but I insist that it is most effective when it comes after\u2014not before\u2014listening with humility and being true. I think this sequence is conceptually logical and also effective from a business perspective.\r\n\r\nThe noun that goes with convey<\/em> is consistency.<\/em> Once the first two verbs have been properly applied, consistency is perceived as such by those who feel that they have been heard and have seen for themselves that the message is true.\r\n
Leaders of the past knew how to talk; leaders of the future base their eloquence on empathetic listening, which requires high doses of passion for people and a commitment to reality.<\/blockquote>\r\nCredibility is based on deeds<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWith the listen-be-convey<\/em> process, credible messages can be delivered with little effort because they merely serve to confirm what people already perceive. Credibility is derived not from words but from deeds, so you needn\u2019t\u2014and shouldn\u2019t\u2014convey a large number of messages. Among other reasons, too many messages make for dispersed content.\r\n\r\nSome organizations sacrifice the truth to preserve the good. They disguise or conceal official facts and data, with the admirable goal of preventing employees from becoming discouraged. By doing this, however, executives reveal their incompetence and immaturity, as well as the myopia of their sensitivity. In this communicative pathology, your deeds show\u2014although you may deny it\u2014that you believe the ends justify the means. In the best-case scenario, silence and denials work only in the very short term.\r\n\r\nSome executives wonder what they should do to stop people from thinking that they are inconsistent, unfair, and incompetent. Well, they should start by not being those things. Even the best communication cannot make up for the worst reality, although it can modify our perception of it. Manipulation\u2014a tactic as old as humanity itself\u2014is a tempting option that can be very effective in mediocre, inbred, self-satisfied environments. The only way to improve is to change, but not all changes are for the better, nor are they automatically noticed, especially if the transformation sought is profound. Changing for the better requires thought, and thinking is incompatible with increasing speed and mental dispersion.\r\n\r\nNew things aren\u2019t good just because they are new, but because they are good. Likewise, old things aren\u2019t bad just because they are old, but because they are bad. The key is to look not at the clock but at the compass. Communication is not about knowing many languages but about contributing or learning something.\r\n\r\nLeaders of the past knew how to talk; leaders of the future base their eloquence on empathetic listening, which requires high doses of passion for people and a commitment to reality. This attitude has an immediate healing effect on team members (who are motivated by knowing and feeling that they have been heard and probably understood), on the organization (problems are detected that would otherwise be disregarded and left unresolved), and on the leader (whose internal prestige grows and spreads).\r\n\r\nCommunication has something in common with the exercise of power: its effectiveness is based more on authority (leading) than on clout (giving orders). If you are what you say you are, you have nothing to worry about. But if you\u2019re inconsistent, no words can sustainably convey something that you are not. Credibility is like prestige\u2014you can\u2019t confer it on yourself; others must decide that you deserve it.\r\n\r\nHere, it is useful to recall Franz Kafka\u2019s words to his father: \u201cYou, so tremendously the authoritative man, did not keep the commandments you imposed on me.\u201d It seems that Kafka\u2019s father began his intended communication with the verb convey,<\/em> but did so inconsistently.\r\n\r\nThe fact that convey<\/em> occupies third place on the podium of executive verbs does not mean that it is any less important. Conveying a message well can be the final flourish in an exemplary communication process, but it can also be the opposite. If, after listening and being what you say you are, you don\u2019t convey the message well, your previous achievements will have been in vain.\r\n
Credibility is like prestige\u2014you can\u2019t confer it on yourself; others must decide that you deserve it.<\/blockquote>\r\nCrisis situations<\/strong>\r\n\r\nForeseeing the foreseeable and sharing whatever you can will keep you on the right path of executive communication and help you go from KO<\/em> to OK<\/em> in crisis situations. If you failed to engage in preventive communication before a round of layoffs, for example, here\u2019s what you need to do now: call your people together, look them in the eye, apologize, and do something positive: help them find another job, provide fair severance packages, etc. This sort of genuine communicative action can\u2019t change the past, but it can change the future.\r\n\r\nJust as the mere company of people doesn\u2019t necessarily alleviate loneliness, information overload can leave us feeling isolated. Sending messages, publishing newsletters, providing suggestion boxes, calling meetings, canvassing the social networks... All this is for naught if people don\u2019t hear what they want to know, what they need to know, and what they should know. It\u2019s like having a pharmacy stocked with every drug for every possible disease, but not having the advice of an expert who knows which one to prescribe.\r\n\r\nJust as ethics shouldn\u2019t be considered a bonus in business management, it should come as no surprise that lifeblood imparts wisdom, or that top executives in any field need to have basic communication skills. From the fertile fusion of communication<\/em> and management,<\/em> in the early 21st<\/sup> century I developed the concept of communicagement,<\/em> which translates, roughly, to \u201cmanage by communicating.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights.\r\n\r\n "],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Enrique Sueiro<\/strong>. The ability to communicate enhances the vitality of an organization or a society."],"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["In both personal and corporate spheres, the ability to communicate is essential. You must begin by listening with humility<\/em> in order to learn and open your mind to new possibilities; the next step is to be<\/em> rather than seem<\/em>, demonstrating authenticity; finally, after listening and being yourself, you must convey your message with consistency.<\/em> The leaders of the future base their eloquence on empathetic listening, which requires a passion for people and a commitment to reality. This sort of attitude will motivate the team, prevent problems, and cultivate internal prestige. Communication skills also involve apologizing during crisis situations, not overloading workers with unnecessary information, and viewing ethics as an intrinsic part of business management."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/633660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=633660"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=633660"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=633660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}