Blaming your employees for poor performance? Perhaps your communication style is the culprit! People are only as difficult to communicate with as rats!
Every manager or executive has one: the employee who just won't respond to coaching no matter what you try. You've told them what to do and how to do it, you've repeated instructions, maybe you've even put them on a performance improvement plan, but they're still clueless. What should you do now?
"...what you've always suspected is true:
your people are slow to understand
what you're saying."
Given that reality, the only solution is to change your own communication style. Try these four things.
1. Give them the WHY.
Especially during change, leaders frequently want to focus on the big vision, but your followers want to know why they should care and what's in it for them. If you can't communicate that, you're unlikely to get their cooperation.
2. Give them WHAT they need to know.
If people aren't following, leaders frequently focus on repeating the vision, when followers really want to know what resources are going to be available to help them do their job and what data and evidence back up the change.
3. Give them time to PRACTICE.
Encourage role plays with customers if it's a new sales strategy or a product demo if it's a new product. Make sure they understand how they will execute their own next step.
4. Give them a look at the FUTURE.
If you want different performance from them in the future, what will success look like from them? Do they know what specific behaviors they need to demonstrate in order to be successful?
What Should You Do?
If you go through each step, you're likely to have a successful communication, if not, your attempt to introduce change or simply to encourage the behavior you want, may fail.
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Did You Know?
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We train and coach leaders in communication for successful performance. For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or [email protected]
Be sure to read Lynne's helpful book on how to handle tough conversations with your employees.
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