Welcome to this Insight 2 Go focused on strategic communication. My name is Amanda Young Hickman, and I'm a partner at Insight Experience. I've spent my entire career teaching and coaching leaders across a wide range of industries as they’ve taken on larger leadership roles. As I’ve worked with those leaders, I’ve come to believe that their ability to communicate, particularly to share strategy in a clear, powerful, and effective way, makes an enormous difference in their success.
Nitin Nohria, the Dean of Harvard Business School from 2010 - 2020, said, "Communication is the real work of leadership," and I think that’s true. It’s the work that ultimately enables you to lead a larger-scale organization and make big ideas come to life. It’s work you need to pay attention to—what you're saying, what people are hearing, and how your message is landing across an organization.
So, given how important it is, how can leaders improve their strategic communication? I think there are three important things to keep in mind.
First, strategic communication doesn’t start with the speaker. As leaders, we often spend an enormous amount of time polishing our presentation skills, polishing our message, rewriting our slides, and revising what we’re going to present. In fact, the most important place to start is with our audience, with the people we’re speaking to. What do they understand today? What do they need to understand about tomorrow? What will they be concerned about? What will they be excited about? If you start by asking, "What do my employees need to hear?" as opposed to, "What do I need to say?" your communication will improve dramatically.
Second, strategic communication includes four dimensions that reinforce each other to increase its impact. As I talk about them, think about a message you’ve received—I’ll bet it included all four elements.
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The first is content and context: a clear message that includes not just the what, but also the how and the why. It includes the reasoning behind a direction or decision, so people can understand why that direction was chosen.
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Second, it’s consistent. It’s consistent with what employees are seeing in the actions of the organization and hearing from others. In situations where you have to communicate a decision that may be inconsistent with something said in the past, it’s important to be transparent about why the direction or decision has changed and help people understand the reasoning for that shift.
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Third, it includes empathy and energy. It speaks to people’s feelings as well as their thinking, acknowledges if there’s a tough ask, and motivates people with passion and enthusiasm for a new opportunity.
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Fourth, it’s clear about how employees can act on that message. What’s expected of them? How can they contribute, given the message you’re communicating? A powerful message includes all four of these elements.
Third, it’s important to remember that strategic communication happens all the time. Often, we invest a lot of energy into proactive communication opportunities—whether it’s an all-hands meeting, a team meeting, or a presentation. We want to make sure our communication is as effective as possible. However, it’s important to remember that communication sometimes happens in reactive, offhand moments—answering a question, stopping by a desk for a conversation—that can have as powerful an impact on employees as those structured, scheduled events. Being conscious of the fact that you’re communicating all the time can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your strategic communication as a leader.
What’s the benefit of doing this effectively? What’s the benefit of focusing on and growing your strategic communication skills?
First, speed. With a clear message and clear communication from leaders, the organization can get down to business. People can take action; there’s little rework, and people understand what to do and how to get going. Second, with a clear message, your employees and team can bring their vision and creativity. They can build on that message with ideas you haven’t thought of about how to execute it, put it into practice, and deliver value for your customers. Third, everyone in the organization understands where they fit. When they understand where they fit and how they can contribute, they ultimately free up your time as a leader to think about what’s next and begin moving toward the next horizon, while they execute on the strategy and direction you’ve set and communicated effectively.
Jim Rohn, author of The Power of Ambition, has said, "If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles." Communication is one of the greatest levers and tools you have in your toolkit as a leader.
For more information, download our Strategic Communication Checklist.
