Some of the most vital and insightful information I have seen communicated in business has been delivered by way of presumptuous and offensive email messages. Those examples have included input on reducing expenses, improving profits, saving customer relationships, correcting ethical lapses, and reducing risks. Unfortunately, the input was often discounted because messages were unprofessional or seen as a pattern of unprofessional communication from someone.
We should never ignore communication because of the source or the tone. We should dig deeper and show more willingness to seek substance over form. The reality is we are all more sensitive than we would like to admit.
Passionate people need to effectively communicate with leaders in order to advance their objectives. When passionate people - especially the very smart, skilled and technical - communicate with leaders about issues that are frustrating and urgent, what often happens is the value of that message goes unrecognized because of how the message is packaged. The focus here will be on written communication, but the lessons are applicable to verbal communication. Although leaders should be looking at the content more than the “container” of the message, it is understandable when leaders don’t understand what was intended because, just like everyone else, howsomething is communicated matters often as much as what was communicated
There are some things to remember about most leaders
- They have short attention spans. Technically, it’s not so much a short attention span as it is countless decisions needing to be made, issues awaiting input, and frequent need to quickly assess, decide and execute. Leaders may not be doing the work of that organization, but are responsible for execution of the work, which means they are accountable for it. The window of time you have a leader focused on your issue may be more limited than you would like. It is also safe to assume the higher up that leader is on the org chart the less time you will have. You can debate whether it is fair or true, but it is a safe assumption. It means your window of opportunity is narrow. Make the most of each opportunity.
- They may feel easily threatened, so try to understand what matters most to them, what approach works best, and which topics are more sensitive. Leaders are flawed people with insecurities and fears, but this is made more challenging because of unrealistic expectations many have of them. That can make dynamics more complex. Leaders face the same types of political challenges, fears, and headwinds as you. Leaders are scrutinized intensely by everyone at all times, so they sometimes wear their hearts on their sleeves - even when it doesn’t appear so.
- They will see your communication as one indication of how much they should trust you. Each interaction with a leader is painting a picture of your judgement, values, discretion and insight. Make those instances of passionate communication reinforce the value of your input and not illustrate how you “fly off the handle”. They want to trust you because you report to them.
- They frequently are in no-win situations requiring balancing of two or more undesirable choices. They have visibility into details and issues you may know nothing about. As important as you are to the organization, your voice is just one among others so yours will not be the only input that will be considered.
Don’t lead with conclusions, value judgements, or harsh critique
Present your own perspective, the supporting (but concise) details for your position, and avoid making value judgements about the person (reader/listener). Organizations are made up of people, people are flawed, and so opinions will be flawed to some degree or another. What is so obvious and clear to you has to be balanced against the views of others who find their own perspectives just as obvious and clear. Often there is more than one way to approach a problem, so two people can fiercely disagree and at times both be right. Part of a leader’s job is to navigate a path ultimately yielding a positive result, even if the contributing voices feel like they gave up something in the process. This means you may find you only get a partial win and your input did not find wholesale agreement. The only thing you can conclude is your position. Before you harshly critique the leader, a situation, or colleague, try to remember times when you made the wrong call, jumped to the wrong conclusion, or failed. Humility is never out of fashion and may just keep you from looking foolish.
Treat leaders as ethical, bright, thoughtful and capable (even if that is not your opinion)
Before you decide your leader has made an unethical or poor decision, always leave some room for a potential misunderstanding on your part, the possibility you have incomplete information, or simply a difference of opinion. You would expect the same courtesy from a leader and would be very offended if your leader came at you aggressively with some incorrect information that painted you as inept. Before you accuse a leader of something serious - directly or otherwise - be absolutely positive about the facts. Not only is it the appropriate thing to do, making an unfounded or incorrect assumption by way of accusation can be professionally fatal.
When you are presenting information to leaders, don’t decide for them what they should think. Just as you want to be treated as a bright, thoughtful, and capable person, extend the same courtesy to those in positions of authority. That includes interacting with those who may not have your type or depth of expertise and experience. You have a critical job to do, but remember so do they. Ideally, there is true mutual respect, but the essential requirement is behaving as if that is the case.
State your wishes as requests and not as demands
When a brilliant, passionate and principled person is asked to reshape and adjust howthey communicate, it is often met with resistance because it implies they are being asked to water down what they communicate. Those are two different things and comes down to a simple question for the passionate employee to consider:
Is it more important to you how you communicate or whether you are effective in getting others to consider your perspective?
It should be the latter. You want your input to be carefully considered. The last thing you should want is to have your important message ignored simply because of how it was delivered. It is message versus method.
Leaders are just as prone to feeling threatened as everyone else. How someone arrived at their leadership position has little to do with their true confidence. Although it’s not your job to make a leader feel better, safer or tiptoe around their insecurities, it is in your best interest to avoid needlessly alienating someone responsible for deciding what will be done with input. It’s just a practical matter.
For example...
Instead of saying, ”This is the 4th time John Doe has screwed this up. He is incompetent and clearly does not care about his customers. You are going to have to fix this now!”
Consider saying, “I am concerned about whether John Doe understands what is needed with this type of task. I have seen this same problem several times. Would you be open to talking through my concerns and recommendations?”
In the first example, this might be what is heard -
- You are now counting John Doe”s errors
- You have deemed the mistakes to be screw-ups (a crass term)
- You have (seemingly unilaterally) decided John Doe is incompetent - a very broad statement
- You have decided John Doe does not care - a very heavy value judgement
- You have decided for the leader what should be done by the leader
Assess your communication for 3 elements
- Details being communicated
- Are there too many or too few details?
- Are the details relevant or a distraction from your input?
- Purpose of the communication. Be aware of it because it will be one or more of the following -
Informing
Educating
Disagreeing
Affirming
Requesting
Clarifying
What it says about you -
-
- Is it a measured tone?
- Does it consider a bigger picture?
- Is it a rational presentation of details?
- Is the message directed to the appropriate audience?
- Is it practical and actionable?
- Is there good critical thinking (e.g. no convenient omissions)?
- Does the message provide insight into what you value?
A few more suggestions
- Don’t ask rhetorical questions. It typically comes across as condescending and lazy.
e.g. “Isn’t it your job to monitor those situations?”
- Don’t decide for the other person what is right or wrong. Focus on your perspective.
e.g. “That group is clueless with how they fixed that problem.”
- Don’t paint broad pictures of situations based on single instances or isolated events
e.g. “This proves the process is completely broken and a waste of time.”
- Don’t indict someone’s value system or decide for them what their priorities are or should be.
e.g. “This needs to be your top priority for this team.”
- Don’t raise red flags without cause. Not every problem is a crisis or issue urgent. Raise the red flag too often, you risk legitimate crises being ignored as status quo.
- Do limit distribution to the appropriate audience needing to know about or act on your input. Broaden an audience needlessly and it looks and is wasteful.
- Do avoid escalating unless truly necessary. It’s a quick way to burn bridges. This often comes by way of a cc: to the audience’s superior on an e-mail when it was not needed.
- Do acknowledge your own failures, how you may have contributed to a negative outcome, or how you have been responsible for the same mistakes. Get in front of your own failure - it helps build credibility.
- Do attempt to be self-deprecating. It’s a nice way to diffuse a situation and communicate to the leader that you take your responsibilities seriously but not yourself. It’s an important distinction.
Summarize your message in the right places
- Put the topic in the subject line. Even subject lines need to be professional and appropriate. It’s the first thing the leader will see. Just as important as tone, don’t use (or leave unedited if a forward) obtuse and frustrating description of what someone is about to read. Make your expectations clear in the subject. It will likely be one of the following -
-
- FYI Informational only for those on the cc: line
e.g. “FYI Only: I Followed Up w/ Acme And We Are Set”
-
- Request Action needed, but don’t demand it, and advise if time-sensitive.
e.g. “Please Review Budget Request - If Possible, by 08/01”
-
- Orientation Involves orienting your audience to the key theme and details of the note.
e.g. “Concerns About Today’s PM Meeting - Recommendations”
These extra steps communicate you value their time, can succinctly indicate what you need, and will improve the effectiveness of your message.
- Summarize the topic at the top of the body in case there is a lot to digest in the thread your message. No matter how important or complex your message, you should be able to distill the key points into a concise and digestible summary at the top. It demonstrates your ability to synthesize details for an audience.
- Excerpt and highlight key portions - but do this without taking those sections out of context. Consider using highlights to draw their attention to key themes or details. If it saves them time, they will appreciate it. If your e-mail runs several paragraphs or includes numerous messages in a thread, it shows you respect their time but giving them the key points.
- Acknowledge what is correct just as much as you call out what you feel is wrong. If your communication concerns a person, very rarely is someone completely incompetent, so don’t paint them as such. If they did a good job with a,b, c and d, but failed with e and f, take the time to acknowledge the full picture. It will actually bolster your credibility because it demonstrates your being able to see a bigger picture.
- When mistakes and errors are identified, do it graciously. This is perhaps one of the most difficult for some. Stick to the facts and not what they make you feel. Don’t state far-reaching implications unless it is very clear those exist.
You don’t have to do any of these things to keep a job, but it will serve your interests to consider adjusting your approach to see whether it is helpful. You likely have a lot of insight to offer your organization, so don’t waste that insight simply because your method undermines your message.
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