Organize your thoughts
When Bolen listens to his direct reports
and employees express their position on a
given topic, he’s not just sitting at the head
of the table twiddling his thumbs.
“Do everything that you can just as a matter of style to be supportive, be interested
and be interactive,” Bolen says. “Do your
homework. Come to the table informed so
that you’re not totally shocked by everything that happens around you.”
The point is that while you have an open
culture that welcomes feedback, both positive and negative, every organization still
needs a leader who is in charge.
The trick is to strike a balance between
openness and authority in your dialogue
with your people.
“It helps, at least for my style, if you can
inject a little humor into it and use humor
to make your point,” Bolen says.
Whether you use humor or not, you
should always strive to be as direct as possible when you speak to your people.
“It may come across as too direct at
times, but I think on balance, they would
rather have that than to walk away wondering what I was trying to tell them,”
Bolen says. “I try to be as prepared and
direct and funny as I can muster.
“You have to not talk around an issue, talk
directly to it. Keep it short, keep it simple,
and keep it direct — and make it as hard to
misunderstand as possible. Be organized
and know what it is that you are trying to
communicate when you stand up.”
The trick is to avoid making it sound like
a script.
“You end up more trying to remember the
exact sequence of words than trying to get an
idea out or make a point and evaluate how
that idea is being received by the audience,”
Bolen says. “It’s listening with your eyes.”
By being more informal, you can more easily engage the people you’re talking to in your
dialogue and reinforce your open culture.
“Try to connect with an individual in the
audience and bring them in,” Bolen says.
“Ask them a question. Use them as an
example of a particular point. … That gives
you a connection with the audience that
you don’t have if you act as if they are not
in the room.”
