The essential skill for being a successful manager is the ability to motivate your staff to meet tough new goals. To do this you have to communicate with the staff clearly and concisely and, particularly, with passion. You have to use this skill in both face-to-face meetings and when using the new communications technologies. You really need this skill when the goal is difficult to reach and/or the task team includes people who don't report to you.
A really good manager can hold a meeting with a diverse group of people, present a challenge to them and have them leave the meeting committed to meeting that challenge.
A good manager avoids relying excessively on the new media to communicate with the staff. This kind of manager seizes every opportunity to have flesh-and-blood, from-the-heart interactions with the workforce. Too few managers leave the comfort of the office do this.
Full engagement with the staff allows the manager to communicate goals and strategy directly and without ambiguity.
A good manager has large meetings but also interacts with smaller groups of employees, where everyone can feel more comfortable questioning the status quo or making an unconventional suggestion - and with individual employees as well.
When making a presentation, a successful manager presents with passion, appeals into the emotion as well as the intellect and conveys feelings as well as facts. The message uses the languages of home and hearth rather than jargon or euphemisms.
The manager puts aside the organization's boilerplate and speaks to the particular needs of the group being addressed.
When speaking before groups, the manager gets out from behind the lectern, commands the stage, wades into the room, continually reads the audience and adjusts the presentation as needed. Since attention spans are shorter today than in the past, the manager's message has been finely honed and distilled to its essence.
When communicating with groups and one-on-one as well, the manager responds to questions openly and directly, without defensiveness or evasion. Though a question may be designed to agitate, the manager reacts with equanimity. The question may betray a lack of knowledge but the manager treats the questioner with respect. The manager responds to those who may disagree without relying on the power of the office. Instead, the manager tries to fully understand the other person's position and the personal motivators behind it.
Some managers hide their emotions rather than use them to express their feelings because they feel it is more "professional." It's counter-productive, however. If you want to get people excited about your idea you have to show your own excitement for it.
This does not mean you should show anger; you should always maintain your control. Think hard about how what you're saying will affect the other person before you say it. Be particularly careful when using humor; the other person might not think you're funny or aren't taking the problem seriously. Be careful also when expressing your feelings in an email; it's easier for you to be misunderstood because your message doesn't convey your voice tone and facial expression.
Don't be afraid to apologize. It's a sign of strength, not weakness. Don't say "mistakes were made"; say "I made a mistake." Don't be evasive.
You can't improve your staff's productivity significantly with consistent and clear communications. Take every opportunity that presents itself to do that.
"Bill Rosenthal is CEO of Communispond, www.communispond.com, which has taught more than 600,000 people to communicate more effectively in any situation. Now in its 44th year, the company provides open enrollment seminars featuring individual coaching in major cities and has provided company-sponsored programs for over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Rosenthal writes thought leader articles for Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Chief Executive and other leading publications." Contact him at brosenthal@communispond.com.
I feel like the term "servant" leader is passed around quite a bit in the nonprofit sector but it seems that few leaders truly understand what it takes to live up to that title. To truly try to lead in that manner you have to be willing to check your own ego at the door. You have to be willing to follow the lead of the individuals on your team and give them to opportunity to learn from their own mistakes and successes. There have to be very clear goals set that everyone agrees on at the beginning, but once those are established, you have to move out of the way and let the people that you put into those positions do the work you hired them to do. I think far too often there are leaders who hire individuals based on an impressive skill set but want to micromanage the way in which the work gets done. That is a total nightmare for everyone involved. The individual that you hired never gets to grow and develop into the role and the leader never gets to focus on their own position. No one develops, no one grows and the organization takes the hit because of that. You have to be willing to share the spotlight and let your team take the credit for a job well done. You have to understand that you as the leader will only succeed through their success. You have to be willing to support your team in many different ways to keep everyone engaged.
And you have to be willing to assess when things are not going the way they need to and act quickly when an individual is not the right fit for the team. Sometimes it's really difficult to identify staff that can succeed in an environment with little or no micromanaging. Although everyone says that's the environment they want to work in but it can be a frightening challenge for an individual who has been trained to "do as they are told" and not bring their own interpretation or plan to the table. It can be challenging for a leader who is used to having a hands-off role in how things get done to slow everything down to train the new individual how to succeed in this type of environment. It's possible to train the individual for success, but you have to be willing to make the tough decision if the individual cannot adapt.
Bridget Clement
Director of Development
