Leaders are often challenged with requests for more communication. These appeals may simply reflect a need for more information about the condition of the business, or the status of a strategy, new policy, or change initiative.
But often, they signal a deeper yearning to share feedback with you, feedback you should welcome and encourage from those stakeholders most impacted by planned or implemented strategies or change initiatives.
As you consider your response to these requests, identify the affected stakeholders, and then categorize them by the level of impact they are or will be experiencing.
For those least directly impacted, a thoughtful, goal-oriented, and culture-centric status update may be sufficient. Your message can recall the necessity for the strategy or change, describe how it is progressing, and clarify the expected benefits, plus when they should be realized.
For those more directly affected, proactively seek feedback to gather insights and perspectives on initiative status, wins and challenges, impact, and potential adaptations. Perspective taking enables you to better understand the reality as other stakeholders see it, to more clearly appreciate why they perceive it as they do, and to foster the sharing of ideas that can strengthen stakeholder commitment and accountability.
Structure the dialogue to encourage the exchange of as many ideas as possible, in a reasonable timeframe, while resisting the impulse to prematurely share your own. There are likely multiple ways forward, so promote the challenging of assumptions, and recognition of connections or patterns.
Perspective taking expands everyone’s vision and awareness, enabling a shared perspective to emerge that will accelerate progress and preserve team commitment. Moving towards resolution, reveal what you’ve heard, highlighting how different stakeholders’ viewpoints relate to others in the discussion, including your own. Then, to validate the emerging shared perspective, connect it with your company’s goals, strategies, and values, before finalizing agreement on next steps.
More communication accelerates progress by minimizing uncertainty, conveying respect for stakeholders’ contributions, and fostering agile engagement in the implementation process to sustain momentum towards your goals.
How are you welcoming requests for more communication?
