Phillip Van Hooser - Transformational Service & Leadership

Principle 6:  Do Your Job (This is the final part in a series on becoming a great communicator.)

When communicating, what if…?

• People respond differently than you hoped or predicted?
• People become too emotional?
• People resist your communication efforts?

After considering these and other “What if…?” questions for a while, I came to the realization that none of us can predict with certainty what the outcome of any communication effort ultimately will be. We can know what we want the outcome to be. We can know what we have planned the outcome to be. We can even know what we have intentionally worked for the outcome to be. But in the end, we simply don’t control all the variables.

It was then that the sixth communication principle came into focus for me. I realized that whatever happens in the course of our communication efforts-good or bad-the people who are depending on us still expect us to do our jobs.

It is human nature to be drawn to those activities that excite us, inspire us and fulfill us. But life and work is not always exciting, inspiring and fulfilling. Sometimes you are called to rise above that which you wish you could avoid completely. All of your personal and professional activities can be enhanced as well if you simply commit yourself to doing your job and doing it at the highest level possible.

Here are three ideas on how to get better.

When Doing Your Job…Strive to Become a Better Communicator

One way to become a better communicator is happening for you at this very moment-you’re reading and studying. Though reading this book or others is no guarantee that you will be ordained the next great communicator. It is, however, a wonderful step in the right direction. Self-study serves to prepare the mind and will for greater future accomplishment.

My intention here is not to burden you with a suggested reading list as long as your arm. If you are really interested in more reading materials related to communication skills enhancement, fifteen minutes spent in your local library, bookstore or online will provide you dozens of options. I will suggest one book in particular though that I think can be helpful to anyone at any stage of their life or career. Secure a copy today of Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. You won’t be sorry. It hasn’t sold millions of copies over the past sixty plus years by accident.

Remember, reading is great, but doing is better. If your desire is to be a better oral communicator, I highly recommend you enroll in one or both of the following. Dale Carnegie courses are available in every major city as are Toastmasters International clubs. Both are dedicated to helping develop the skills of those who wish to communicate orally with more confidence and expertise. I can assure you both will be money and time well spent.

When Doing Your Job…Work to Exceed Expectations

One of my mantras for life is “do more than is expected.” I have discovered that if you are constantly doing more than is expected, you will never again have to worry about evaluations, regardless of the form or fashion they might take.

As this concept applies to enhancing our communication skills, I suggest you look around and take inventory of the expectations people have of the various communicators in their life. If you are a teacher, pay close attention to other teachers and students. If you are a manager, pay close attention to other managers and employees. If you are a parent, pay close attention to other parents and children. If you are a member of the clergy, pay close attention to other spiritual shepherds and their flocks. Watch and listen. Gather up all the good ideas you can unearth and incorporate them into your communication “bag of tricks.” At the same time, notice the communication gaps that exist and that people are talking about. Then do everything you can to make sure you are not guilty of the same.

One other thing. Don’t wait for your boss, your spouse, your parent, your client or anyone else to challenge you to exceed their expectations. It probably won’t happen. Remember, they aren’t expecting much. The opportunity always exists for you to give them more.

When Doing Your Job…Never Give Up

I will make this last point short and sweet. Don’t you dare give up! Don’t ever allow yourself to be lured into thinking that your effort toward developing your interpersonal communication skills means little. Communicating person-to-person means everything. Where a communication void exists, rumors, assumptions, half-truths and perceptions creep in to fill it. There is no need for that to happen.

A quick recap of the six strategies for becoming a great communicator:

1.  Talk “with” people.
2.  Explain the process.
3.  Tell the truth.
4.  Work for understanding.
5.  Get others involved.
6.  Do your job.

A detailed discussion of each of these principles is available in my book, We Need to Talk.  The book is available at Amazon.com and on my website. If you are interested in discounts for volume purchases, please check the pricing details here.   

All the best!

Phillip Van Hooser
Cultivating Great Leaders to Create Competitive Advantage
phil@vanhooser.com

Principle 5: Get Others Involved (This is the fifth in a six part series on becoming a great communicator.)

When Getting Others Involved…Ask Their Preference

One of the best ways to get others involved is by asking a fairly open-ended question such as, “What would you like to see happen from this point forward?” or “If you had your way what direction would you have us go and why?”

Not everyone will immediately embrace personal involvement. However, some will. And when they do choose to respond to the type of question offered above, it is very easy then to move to the next step. The next step involves extending a personal invitation to become more personally involved in the actions to be taken or decisions to be made.

How many people around you are waiting for this invitation? Probably more than you think. But, you’ll never know for sure unless you ask.

When Getting Others Involved…Be Specific

When offering the chance to get others involved, too often the tendency is to leave the activity open-ended. That’s a bad idea. Few people will reach blindly into a bag unless they have some idea what is in that bag already. Not knowing creates fear, anxiety and hesitancy.

It’s much better to tell people specifically what they are getting into and what is expected of them. As it relates to communication, specificity rules!

When Getting Others Involved…Recognize Success

Once you are successful in getting others more actively involved, there is one more key activity that should not be overlooked. Catch people doing things right and recognize their successes in every way possible.

It takes courage to step out on faith and to take on additional responsibility. Over time, the more involved people become, the more communicative they become. Fewer problems occur when people are talking to one another. So, we should be doing all that is within our power to keep people talking.

Show people what success looks like. Trumpet the successes that you are observing. Don’t wait for huge, “front page news” successes. Be just as quick to acknowledge and highlight the “look, we’ve made a little progress” successes, too.

The personal involvement of others is a skill not easily mastered, but one that can pay significant future dividends.

The last of the six principles next time - Do Your Job.

Phillip Van Hooser
Cultivating Great Leaders to Create Competitive Advantage
phil@vanhooser.com

Leader Transformation Tip 6: Know your followers’ service anniversary date and call attention to it every year. http://www.vanhooser.com

Phillip Van Hooser
Cultivating Great Leaders to Create Competitive Advantage
phil@vanhooser.com

Our society revels in success stories. The rags to riches, Horatio Alger stories are inspirational for all of us. But being too ambitious can be seen as a negative by your followers. Remember there are two ways to get to the top. First, I am sorry to say, you can get there by climbing over people. Most of us know a few people who have chosen that approach. However, dedicated leaders know that there is an alternative route to the top. They know you can also get there by being lifted up by people. I ask, which of the two approaches has the firmer foundation?

Phillip Van Hooser
Cultivating Great Leaders to Create Competitive Advantage
phil@vanhooser.com

You are a leader, entrusted by your organization with the responsibility of creating, developing, directing and supporting the cooperative efforts of those individuals under your influence. Your job description clearly states that you are in charge. But, are you really? If you are in charge, why is it often so difficult to know for sure how to begin the process of building and leading teams?

Recognizing leadership responsibility can be a sobering experience. I suggest all leaders begin their work by taking inventory of the people they will be leading. An honest, clear-eyed evaluation of individuals is a critical first step to building cohesive, long-term working relationships. There are three general categories of employees of which all leaders need to be aware. The following are Van Hooser’s unabridged definitions of each.

Groups:  A collection of individuals with no unified purpose.

Mobs:  A collection of individuals with a unified, albeit negative, purpose.

Teams: A collection of individuals with a unified, positive purpose.

Let’s begin by considering the most common category of employees - groups. Groups can be found almost anywhere two or more people interact or coexist. Many people mistakenly expect that simply working or living in close proximity to another is enough to allow an effective team to emerge. Not so. Though individuals may be close physically, it would be foolish to generally assume they are together in their thought processes or their levels of commitment. We have all encountered individuals who work simply for a paycheck. Their lack of concern for the organization, its activities, its mission, and its people, are obvious to even the most casual observer. These individuals do just enough to get by but not enough to make a difference.

Mobs on the other hand are distinctly different. Mob members are not disengaged in their efforts and activities. They are purposeful. Many people generally think of mobs as being chaotic, disorganized and unstructured. I encourage you, however, to remember that the Mafia (a.k.a. the Mob) is also referred to as “organized crime.” Mobs of employees (two or more) often form with the focused intent to challenge, malign, and even sabotage the established order of things. They do so, having rationalized that their negative, even destructive actions are in some way a solution to the normal problems experienced by every organization.

Finally, teams. As elusive as truly effective teams can be, they are worthy of being wished for, prayed for, and most importantly, worked for. Building an effective team requires a leader to establish an organizational environment in which individual team members can reflect on and analyze relationships with other team members. It requires leaders to not only allow, but to encourage the resolution of conflicts through healthy, professional confrontation. It requires a leader to willingly and opening negotiate necessary changes in their professional expectations of each team member; changes that may affect roles, responsibilities, authority and even work allocation.

As leaders, we are obligated to engage those who prefer to be disengaged; to work with those committed to working against us; to support those who grant us support. Henry Ford said it best, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”

Phillip Van Hooser
Leadership Expert, Author & Keynote Speaker
phil@vanhooser.com