The perfect leader.

Paint a picture in your mind, for a few moments, of someone that people will follow without hesitation. Think of them as someone on whose every word their followers will hang. Picture a person who is almost constantly the centre of attention not because of the loudness of their voice but because of the power of their messages and the meaning that they have for the people who listen. This person is an inspiration to whom many will decide to devote their lives to work with. Think of the person as someone who can cause a storm of controversy in one moment and yet bring reassurance and validation the next. Contemplate this person as a powerful, unique individual who stands out from the crowd. Does this sound like a leader? And if they do, what do they actually look like in your mind?

What does this person wear to make all those things happen? A smart suit? The khaki shorts of an explorer? The camouflage fatigues of a soldier or the saffron robes of a monk? And what would they need to be able to do to command that kind of attention? Would they need to be able to run or even walk? Would they need to see properly? Surely they’d need to at least have charisma and a powerful voice for oratory?

The imperfect yet powerful leader.

Now think of someone like Professor Stephen Hawking. Virtually immobile; totally commanding. His ideas and his communication of them is apparently all that he has. He might not have chosen his predicament but it looks like he has decided to use whatever remains of his life to think and to communicate. Think and communicate is all that he can do. But would he have thought the thoughts and would he have devoted himself so purely to getting them across had he had fewer physical constraints? Had his personal clock not been ticking away the seconds to the moment when he could no longer move his eyes or hand to select his on-screen words, would he have been so determined to get his messages across?

Most of us are fortunate in the extreme to have almost limitless options for what to do with our days, our energy, our thinking, our bodies. But, if you are anything like me, you’ll waste so many minutes every day talking inconsequential rubbish and doing purposeless ‘stuff’. Many of us use our time and our opportunities to communicate, wastefully, as if we had literally limitless chances to make ourselves heard.

Limitless chances?

But of course, our chances are not limitless. In fact, the more we talk, the less people feel inclined to listen. The more complicated our language, the harder we are asking people to work to stay with us. The more unfocussed our messages the more confusing we become. Most of us don’t make it easy for others to follow; in my experience, clients typically only get spontaneously interested in the detail of communication when they are preparing to give a PowerPoint show. Ironically, the way that most people use technology and gadgets for delivering messages almost guarantees that they and their messages will melt inconspicuously into the background on the very occasion that they are trying to make an impact.

Three places to start.

Humans seem to have an almost infinite capacity and intelligence for adaptation. Even now, we seem to be getting almost used to the volatile markets and the gloomy news in the press; ‘horrible’ is the new normal, the lights will switch on in high streets all over the country and Father Christmas will still come down the chimney on the 24th. And yet those in positions of leadership, with small teams or large, still have their work cut out for them with regard to using their limited opportunities to communicate, to best effect. What counts as important will vary depending upon whom you ask. If you ask me, I think a person in charge of a team (whether their organisation is going from strength to strength or is struggling to survive) needs to pay attention to many different aspects of the way they communicate. Here are the three that seem most relevant to me today:

1. Listen and watch for the thoughts and feelings of the people you are supposed to be leading. If you are prepared to take notice your people will tell you what they need from you at any given moment. Your people can steer you to their interests and their preoccupations. Their turn-ons and their turn-offs. If your people realise that you are habitually paying proper attention to their needs before asking them for more effort, they will be much more likely to give you what you’re looking for – and more.
2. Say as much as you can of the truth in plain words and explain transparently why you can’t say the rest.
3. Slacken the stiff upper lip of trench leadership in favour of allowing a more authentic, real person to show through. People won’t stick with an emotionless, invulnerable, ‘wooden’ leader in tough times for the same reasons that they wouldn’t follow a robot into a fire.

I suggest that inspirational leaders must be able to use their capacity for communication to transmit whatever they think they have to offer as leaders. Unless a leader can uncover their ability to communicate really effectively, all their vision, creativity, intellect, willpower, energy and focus will remain locked away in their heads – as if they’d never spoken at all.