How New Leaders Can Set the Right Communication Style with Their Team

Not long ago one of my readers asked how a new Leader can best establish their own communication rhythm with their new Team, ensuring they understand the topics the Leader wants to hear about and the Leader’s preferred modes of communication.  

Meet Your Team

If you’ve seen my new eBook or the related videos, you know one of my strong recommendations for a Leader is to ensure you’re meeting your new Team members during your First Hundred Days.  

Get to know (and begin to assess) them.  Let them get to know you, sharing your preferences on what is communicated to you, when it is communicated and by what means.  Give them a sense of your “leadership style” and your values.

Also ask them how they wish to hear from you.  How would they like you to engage with them?

Expectation Setting:  The WHAT, WHEN & HOW of Communication with You

1. Urgent matters should be communicated with urgency!

No Leader likes to be on the receiving end of a nasty surprise, especially if that surprise will draw the attention of more senior leaders, key customers or regulators, consuming your and your Team's precious time.  

But bad things happen.  And because the buck now stops with you, you need to be aware of emerging trouble. 

Remember your team are not mind readers so share your expectations.  Help them understand how you are filtering for urgency and risk.  Tell them your expectations when exigency raises its head.

Let’s say a Governmental Regulator turns up at the door unannounced with Lawyers and questions in tow, it is a non-starter that someone writes a memo, sending it your way as paper stuffed into an interoffice envelope (what a charmingly a 90’s approach!).  Rather, you’d expect them to pick up the phone.

Likewise, if your team hears a key customer expresses great dissatisfaction with a product or service, that “there will be hell to pay if concerns are not addressed NOW!!” such information must come expeditiously to you.  Concerns of customers irritated by your Team’s performance must move to the top of your list!

These are somewhat extreme examples, but illustrative of the point that as the new Leader, there are matters of sufficient significance that they warrant your immediate attention:  help the team understand what these are for you.

1. Keep in mind though, not everything is urgent!  Segment according to significance.

Part of what you are telling your team is that with communication, you’re about segmenting and prioritizing what occupies your brain and calendar space.  

Your continued employment requires you to spend time on the big stuff, not rinky-dink topics which others have the capacity and empowerment to manage.

A failure mode for Leaders, especially new Leaders is the belief that they need to know as much or more than their team knows.  Avoid this trap..  You’re not there to be the master of every detail.  You’re there to get meaningful, important, work done through your Team.

Likewise, don’t let the Team bury you in email tomes brimming with useless minutiae and reeking of CYA.  Tell them the level of detail you expect, to write concisely and to the point.  When they don’t, send it back to them to fix (you do this a couple of times and the entire team will know you mean business).  

Find the right level of information ingestion for yourself.  Communicate to your team and hold them accountable for honoring their role in the exchanges.

1. It's only fair to ask them what they need from you

Communication is a two-way street.  So, ask them their preferences, e.g. what sorts of information would help them better understand the context and content of their role, helping them to execute more effectively?  

Are there gaps in their understanding of the strategy and direction of the organization?  Would it help to know more about competitors, the market or the attitudes and satisfaction of key customers? (BTW, some good questions to the Team on these points will clarify in short order their level of understanding)

For Team meetings (including Leadership Team meetings, Town Halls, offsites, etc), what do they want for frequency, duration and scope of topics which ought to be covered?  

Work to understand their needs and whether, over time, you’re holding up your end.  Check in with them on the effectiveness of your communication.  Adjust accordingly.

It is tough to step into a new Leadership role.  Clarity of your expectations to the Team in all things, starting with effective communication, is a key ingredient to success.  

I work everyday with individual Leaders and Leadership Teams to enhance their effectiveness.  If you would like to know more about how my Coaching, Consulting and Training offerings can help you and the Leaders around you improve your craft, please reach out and schedule a complimentary, no obligation Exploration Session at https://www.coaching4executives.com/explorationsession 

Until then, be well.

Brian