Ever feel overwhelmed by the number of people clamoring for your attention, and the many ways they do so in this digital age? You are not alone. Research suggests that most executives now spend at least half their time communicating (Silverman 2012). That communication may take the form of face-to-face meetings, conference calls, phone calls, e-mail messages, and other means. Meetings generally account for up to two full days of an executive’s work week, while managing electronic communications may account for up to one full day (Krauss 2014). We are drowning in communication, or so it seems. What’s a leader like you to do?
To be certain, technology, globalization, and economic pressures place incredible demands on executives and other business leaders these days. People at all levels of an organization need information, often urgently, and, above all, they need expert insight and perspective to make well-grounded decisions. As a leader, are you fully owning up to that responsibility? Are you living your values each day, and communicating as efficiently and responsibly as possible with all of your key stakeholders, both inside and outside your organization? That is, are you communicating in a way that is candid, clear, and consistent, and fully rooted in values-driven decisions, regardless of how busy you are, and how many people need your time?
If you said no, you are not alone. Communication is often a significant challenge for leaders. The good news is that you now have some helpful answers right at your fingertips. Welcome to The ART of Responsible Communication.
About This Book
This book is a how-to communications guide for business executives and other leaders like you. The intent is to help you identify and understand some simple yet pivotal ways in which you can take greater responsibility for communication, and substantially improve the vitality and adaptability of your colleagues and your organization. You will learn to define and honor strong values and better streamline your thoughts and actions, in accordance with those values. Above all, you will learn how to consistently and efficiently communicate with all those who have a vested stake in your organization. You will become an expert at responsible communication, and, in turn, relationship-building.
The primary chapters examine several key leadership principles—namely Accessibility, Responsiveness and, Transparency (thus, the acronym ART, from the book’s title)—and provide you with opportunities for self-reflection, as well as actionable ideas to implement immediately. These chapters are designed for quick reading, emphasizing why you should be more purposefully involved in communication, and how you can do so without adding to your already full plate. The final chapter—comprising Part 3—organizes all of the key lessons from the book into an easy-to-skim action guide. Read the full book now for depth and full context; use Part 3 as a handy go-to resource in the months and years ahead.
Why This Book?
This book came to be because, after two decades of working with executives and other leaders, I know many like you strongly and sincerely want to do better, communication-wise. Most who lead businesses and other organizations long to see both their enterprises and employees succeed. They want to keep people informed and engaged. They want to build a strong groundswell of support. But, the world is an increasingly tough place to do business, and even more so a tough place to communicate in a truly effective fashion. We are all so damn busy and pressed for time. Even the best intentions don’t always result in the most productive words or actions. To my knowledge, there hadn’t been an action-oriented communication guide specifically addressing communication as a leadership responsibility, so I made it a point to write one.
By way of background, I came in and out of the mortgage industry during two separate booms, each prior to the financial collapse of 2008. There was so much money flying around in that industry during those times; normalcy was anything but the norm. I worked with teams of executives in back-to-back, all-day meetings that often stretched from sunrise to well past sunset. That’s how work was nearly every weekday, regularly supplemented by weekend conference calls, business travel, and/or grinding through hundreds of backlogged e-mail messages and action items. On at least one occasion that comes to memory, I worked nearly 42 hours straight with little more than a few catnaps here and there. Balancing work demands and personal life was tough enough, let alone trying to champion personal values through solid communication. You have no doubt felt this same way, at least at times. Our desire to do good can easily get beat down by day-to-day pressures.
Let me share a story that became a touch point for me, and may be a wake-up call for you. There came a time in my corporate career when a mandate was put in place by a C-level executive, prohibiting presentations at senior-level project team meetings. All that would be allowed going forward was a single-page dashboard handout listing measurable objectives and containing two or three small charts illustrating key metrics. Nirvana? Not exactly. Twenty-minute, relatively straightforward presentations quickly became multihour, nonlinear debates full of sidebar conversations, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations. People walked in and out of the meetings at will, and there was truly no focal point for dialogue. Takeaways were unclear and inconsistent among project team members, and discord was high. Communication-wise, things simply got worse.
This story is not to defend presentations, which often fail to foster open dialogue and debate. Rather, this story illustrates that when we attempt to streamline and control communication, we often create even greater problems. Communicating effectively is rarely easy, nor is it ever a one-time, one-way action. Effective communication is a dynamic, ongoing, two-way process, and that process requires—no, that process demands—strong leadership principles of Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Transparency (ART), underpinned by an equally strong sense of commitment and enthusiasm.
How much or little to communicate isn’t necessarily what matters most, I have found. The answer lies in how you communicate with the intended audience, and the tone you set with people, especially those who must follow your lead, or at least who rely on your judgment and wisdom. Perpetuate a highly controlled, stifled, and ultimately suffocating communications environment, and you’ll simply reap more of what you sow. Take a more conscious, open and dynamic approach to communication, though, and you’ll soon find people adapting their behavior to mirror yours. This is, truly, the ART of responsible communication.
Defining “Responsibility”
There are many ways to define responsibility, so we need to be more specific. In business, we tend to associate the concept of responsibility with legal obligation—and perhaps moral and ethical obligation, too. Let’s focus in on the legal aspect, though, which underlies all business activity. The American Bar Association (1969) defines professional responsibility for its members, in a broad sense, as obeying the law, avoiding conflicts of interest, and consistently putting clients’ interests ahead of one’s own. Applying this concept to the aspect of leadership examined in this book, we might say that a leader’s responsible communication is lawful, mutually beneficial, and other-focused. Could responsible communication really be that simple? No. If it were, there would be no need for this book.
The following pages will shed light on the many considerations that fall within the domain of responsible communication. You will come to a clearer understanding of what it means to communicate responsibly, and what it means to lead with values every day. Let me be clear: this notion of responsible communication applies to all stakeholders, not just the employees and contractors within your span of control. That means you can and should also apply the principles contained in this book to your ongoing communication with fellow managers and supervisors; investors and regulators; editors and reporters; and customers and prospects, especially those who are active on social media.
You honestly can make a difference. In fact, as a leader, you may be the only person who can make a difference, given your position and channels of influence. This book will help you learn how.
Inspired by Giving Voice to Values
This title that you are now reading is absolutely a book about communication. But, to be honest, this is also a book about values-based leadership. The lessons contained in The ART of Responsible Communication are inspired by Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right, by Gentile (2010), a senior research scholar at Babson College. That book integrates examples, methods, and guidelines into a playbook for how to implement values in times of ethical conflict. Giving Voice to Values is not about deciding what the right thing to do is, but rather about how to get the right things accomplished. In a similar way, The ART of Responsible Communication is designed to help you implement values through day-to-day words and actions. The difference is that this book is written specifically for leaders like you, and with a purposeful focus on communication.
Don’t worry if you have not read Giving Voice to Values. You will find that Gentile’s guiding philosophies, relative to communication, are referenced at key points in this book. The driving intent of The ART of Responsible Communication is to help you, as a leader, leverage your power, time, and resources in ways that most effectively champion values. The focus is not on decision making itself, but rather on how to communicate values-based decisions as a means of sense-making and coalition-building, both within and outside of your company.
Structured to Challenge, Inspire, and Guide You
The book contains three sections: Part 1 addresses the principles of responsible leadership and communication, Part 2 examines communication strategies for each of your key stakeholder groups, and Part 3 provides a succinct action plan for putting all of these ideas into immediate motion.
Part 1 is intended to challenge your thinking about what it means to lead and to communicate, particularly in today’s complex, global, technology-infused world. You will reflect on the three important leadership principles—Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Transparency—that constitute the ART of responsible communication, and learn how to put these principles into motion.
Part 2 applies the ART principles to each of your key stakeholder groups. Chapters dive into how to best communicate with other leaders and managers in your organization; employees and contractors; investors and regulators; editors and reporters; and, finally, customers and prospects, especially those who are active on social media. The purpose of Part 2 is to inspire you about the many ways in which you can put responsible communication principles into daily action.
Finally, Part 3 summarizes key takeaways from the prior two sections, in a step-by-step action plan. This brief closing section essentially serves as a clear guide for how to become a more responsible communicator and leader.
The book stays focused on your leadership role, and how that role can be more active and influential, thanks to consistent outreach with your many and diverse stakeholders. The sections and chapters allow you quick access to the areas of most interest or concern now, or as challenges shift in the future.
An Important Disclaimer
This book is not for every leader. Why? Many executives consider communication the responsibility of an internal colleague or department, not something requiring their own active involvement. These leaders tend to focus almost exclusively on financials, key performance indicators, and other metrics. That is fine—except that these numbers are nearly always lagging measures. They reveal problems only after problems have already begun to bubble to the surface.
Inevitably, employees, customers, vendors, investors, policymakers, and consumers will become disgruntled with your organization and one of its offerings or initiatives. There is just no denying; things go wrong.
You are a leader, and it is your responsibility to proactively stay in touch with key stakeholders. You can play an indispensable role in helping prevent or mediate issues, before a crisis develops and matters quickly escalate beyond organizational control via the immediacy of news media and social media.
Leaders who value efficiency and financials above all else, manage their days accordingly, and with blinders on as far as the importance of responsible communication. They see leadership as strictly science, and rarely as ART. They tend to be reactive rather than proactive when it comes to sharing information, gathering feedback, and managing issues. You? You’re likely much different.
Chances are you appreciate just how powerful—and vital—candid, clear, and consistent communication is to your organization and everyone it touches, internally and externally. You are fully committed to, and actively involved in, internal and external communication, or you at least you desire to be. You wouldn’t be reading this book, otherwise.
Truth be told, it isn’t easy to lead an organization or operational unit and play an active role in multiple forms of communication. This book is designed to help. The short, pointed chapters should prove invigorating and inspiring. You will take away actionable ideas for immediate implementation, integrating the science of your technical and functional expertise with the ART of values-based leadership. These steps should result in meaningful, positive, and lasting impacts, both for the near- and long-term, as well as inside and outside of your organization.
Imagine a culture where all employees operate with values top-of-mind, and where communicating efficiently and effectively becomes the norm, rather than the exception. You can help make this kind of culture a reality for your organization.