One recurring management theme that I see is there are some leaders who assume that their people know what's on their minds. I call this as “managing by telepathy”, as these leaders often neglect to articulate what they want.
This is rarely intentional. After all, you don't sit in your office and think about how you can avoid good communication with your people. But you can get swept up in the busyness of your day and simply think that you said something, when it never left your mind.
Executives who complain about communication challenges are often guilty of weak communication skills themselves. When I drill down about exactly how they communicate, it doesn't take too long before discovering that they “forget” to mention specific directives or details.
One way to keep your thoughts organized is to keep running lists for the various individuals or groups that you talk to on a regular basis. As an example, you can keep a running list for staff meetings, for key managers, or for specific projects. Then when you meet with them, you're not relying on memory or leaving a string of emails after the fact.
It doesn't matter what method you use to manage these lists; what is important is that you keep them. You can use a notebook, the tasks function in Outlook, and any number of software packages or apps.
I know this may seem super obvious, but you know that the little things can make a big difference when it comes to communication.
So make a plan to stop all of the telepathy, and start the conversations!
Helping businesses and leaders succeed, one conversation at a time.
