Understanding the heart of the message that you want to communicate is but part of crafting your communication. As a leader, your role is to help other people place meaning on what is going on, not just to impart information. You do this by framing your message.
The first step in framing a message is to meet people where they are at. This involves showing that you understand how people are feeling. Consider the following examples shared by Daniel Goleman and his colleagues:
Nearly a decade ago, the British media heavyweight, the BBC, announced it was closing one of its divisions. This closure would result in the 200 journalists and support staff from that division losing their jobs. The executive sent to deliver the bad news was full of praise for the BBC’s competitors and even shared the fact that he had just returned from an overseas holiday. He then wondered why those gathered were hostile in response. The news itself was bad enough but the disdainful way in which he delivered it rubbed salt into the already open wound. Not surprisingly, a different executive was sent to talk to staff the following day. The news had not changed. Everyone would still lose their jobs. Yet, the way in which he engaged with those gathered was very different. He spoke from the heart and treated his audience as human beings. The second executive started by talking about the importance of journalism (and journalists) to modern society—not just to the BBC. He then reminded them of how no sane journalist enters the vocation for the money, and that unfortunately it is a volatile industry in which job security ebbs and flows with the economic times. Finally, he wished them well as they pursued their careers elsewhere. When this second executive was finished speaking, those gathered responded not with anger and hostility, but with applause.
The second step in framing a message comes from Marketing & Sales 101. Like meeting people where they are at, it also involves understanding the world through the eyes of the people you are communicating with. Only then can you frame your vision of the future as the answer to their prayers. It is the classic problem-and-solution model. You identify the problems your staff already have, be they aspirational or reactive in nature, and you then enroll others in your vision by showing them how it will help them solve their problems. This is quite different to offering a generic list of benefits or reasons why this solution is good for you. You need to identify personally relevant hooks that get different groups of staff onboard. Understanding how to frame your vision is often the difference between managers who harness the power of vision (sometimes without even using the word), and those who mechanistically go through the motions of writing bland vision statements that often would be better in the bin than on the wall.
The final step is to frame your message in an optimistic yet realistic light. As Napoleon once said, true leaders are dealers of hope. People are attracted to leaders who give them hope that, despite whatever challenge lies before them, the future is going to turn out okay. This tendency to deal in hope is known as optimism. Optimism is not wishful positive thinking. The true optimist acknowledges that the glass is half empty, but they are also eagerly planning ways to fill it until it is overflowing. Furthermore, they believe this is possible because they know that someone, somehow had the nous to get it half full already. Optimists experience the same setbacks and hardships as pessimists, but react to them differently due to a different outlook on life in general. They are filled with hope and a genuine belief that they can succeed despite the circumstances. When you think that humankind has actually put someone on the moon and discovered how to split an atom one million times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, you can see that such hope in human ingenuity is well placed. Optimistic leaders do not cover up failures and bad news, but rather they keep them in perspective and talk in terms of what can and what will be done be done to address these issues.
Sure problems exist…but they will not exist for long on my watch
Stay tuned next week to discover the best channel for communicating about change.
