Q. How do you make your
communication inclusive?
A lot of it is in the words you
choose. There’s a few key rules
that leaders can use in situations to bring out the brilliance
in people. One of those is reducing the size of your ‘but.’
We tend to often say when
someone contributes an
idea, ‘That is a great idea,
but …’ If we as leaders could
change the word ‘but’ to
‘and’ in most of our vocabulary, ‘That’s a great idea, and
how would you feel about
improving it by this?’ it just
changes the whole tone.
There are a lot of words that
include, endorse and encourage the contribution of others.
Using the word ‘but’ is often
not one of those. Replace your
‘but’ with ‘and.’
Going around the table and
saying, ‘I’ve invited you to this
meeting because I think your
skills in this area are so
incredible; I wanted to be
sure we got the value of your
abilities there. And so-and-so,
you’re in here because, good
grief, the job you did with the
Minute Maid event was wonderful. And so-and-so, you’re
in here because you’re part of
the reason we’re one of the
fast-growing companies.’
Endorse everybody so they
feel like their contribution
really does matter because it
does matter. Make sure everyone understands why they are
in the meeting. There is some
pressure for them to contribute for the very reason you
asked them to be there.
Q. What’s the key to giving
direction?
What I try to remember is,
every time you give an instruction, there ought to be an
inclusion that, ‘When you are
completed with this project,
what we should have is this.’
What do we want to have happen? Then you figure out the
best way to do that.
If you don’t paint the picture
of what we want to have happen at the end of this assignment, you’re probably not
going to get what you want.
I’m amazed at the creativity
that people will exercise in
finding a solution if they really,
clearly understand what you
are headed toward.
HOW TO REACH: Marion, Montgomery Inc., (713) 523-7900 or www.mmihouston.com
