Watch what you say -- and don't say

Watch what you say — and don’t say

A business leader communicates constantly, often without saying a word

As a business leader, you are constantly communicating — even when you don’t realize it. Unfortunately, however, “leaders are rarely trained in the nuances of communication,” write Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove in “Because They Take You at Your Word,” an article in The Conference Board Review (March/April 2008), the magazine of the business research organization The Conference Board.

Crainer and Dearlove, who are consultants and the editors of The Financial Times Handbook of Management, say that effective communicators master these principles of leadership communication:

1. Realize that you are always on. Everyone in your company watches you. They read into your comments, gestures and actions for signs of your intentions. “Even your silences are audible,” the authors note. “You must recognize that you are communicating even when you don’t mean to.”

2. Know your messages. You not only have to devise your company’s strategy; you also have to communicate it in a compelling way to people inside and outside the company. “Stay on message,” regardless of whom you are addressing. You might emphasize different points for different stakeholders, “but the message must remain consistent.”

3. Distill your messages. Be concise. “Messages that are pithy and memorable are easiest to communicate,” say Crainer and Dearlove.

4. Find your own voice. Few people excel in all aspects of communication. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Do you perform best when talking to a large crowd, a small group or one-on-one? “What’s important is that the leader chooses an effective medium to transmit desired messages,” the authors write.

5. Tell stories. Human beings have always used stories to communicate important messages, according to Crainer and Dearlove. “Communication must appeal to the head and the heart. The head is about making a rational case, using hard facts, but it is the heart that commits to action.”

6. Use symbols. What you do is as important as what you say. For that reason, you should “recognize the power of symbolic actions,” the authors say. For example, if the CEO parks next to the front door, but “everyone else has to traipse across a vast parking lot, they might conclude that hierarchy is alive and well” despite the CEO’s claim that the company has a flat management structure.

7. Stay in touch. The best leaders work hard at staying in touch with internal and external stakeholders.

8. Listen. According to Crainer and Dearlove, listening is the most underestimated communication discipline. “Great leaders are great listeners. They hear what people have to say and use that information to inform their decisions and their communication.”