Leadership Thought #227 – Connecting With Your Audience Is Not Optional
Connecting with your audience is a leadership imperative.
In my experience, the best leaders become comfortable in a variety of work and social settings. They can adjust their style to meet the needs of their audience or conform to the group dynamics. They understand that a leader without a receptive audience is handcuffed in his/her ability to turn a vision into reality. People tend to connect with others whom they feel they can relate to. All conversations are a search for some level of common ground. The quicker you get there, the sooner you can focus on the purpose of the discussion.
Flexibility in communication style requires strong listening and observational skills. You don’t just walk into a room and expect other people to adjust to suit you. If you hold a senior position of authority (or perceived power), people may feign an attempt to understand you, but you are creating distance, not a connection. No one likes to feel inferior to another person. All individuals crave some level of personal acknowledgement and recognition. Due to our basic human nature, we often shut down or only half-listen to messages we either don’t understand or dislike the way they are being communicated.
We regularly see examples of leaders who, on paper, have extensive skills and capabilities but fail to rally others to a shared vision. Throughout our country’s history, numerous talented individuals have aspired to the presidency, only to lose out to less capable candidates due to their inability to relate to the everyday person. Regardless of the soundness of the content, a policy-wonk speech will not be effective in a cornfield in Iowa or an assembly line in Detroit. Sadly, being right is often less important than being liked. Voters will forgive all sorts of human failings if they believe you can empathize with them and respect their perspective. They frequently conceal these feelings under the guise of what they refer to as common sense. Whether or not their opinion accurately reflects the facts is less relevant than how they feel about the issue. How else can you explain certain candidates still being in the race?
Leaders must genuinely like and be interested in other people. They prioritize connecting with their team, colleagues, and clients. They do care about how others perceive them. Good people skills are helpful, but don’t take them for granted or become complacent about reading your audience and adapting to social or professional situations. To be effective in the long term, you must develop your people skills. Dale Carnegie’s books remain a solid starting point for learning the fundamentals of communication and relationship-building skills. If you can afford it, you can certainly hire a #2 who balances out your interpersonal shortcomings; however, this role doesn’t abdicate full responsibility for communicating effectively with your employees, clients, vendors, or other stakeholders.
All my years of coaching and consulting others have led me to a basic conclusion. There are people who want to lead and will do the work necessary to get better at their leadership skills, even when it doesn’t come naturally. Then there are those leaders who believe that having a clever idea, taking the necessary risks to make it happen, and providing others with employment or product/service opportunities should be sufficient to win their loyalty and consent. Life is much harder for the latter group.
Related articles
- Effective Leadership Skills in a Business (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
- Public Speaking as a critical success tool (changemanagementassociates.wordpress.com)
- Be More Present: People Skills (peopleskillsblog.wordpress.com)
- What don’t they teach you that is critically important? (nixonara.wordpress.com)
- What Are Leadership Skills in Big Business? (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
- 3 People Skills to Develop as an Entrepreneur (wamyentrepreneur.wordpress.com)
