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You cannot convince everyone…
It is proverbially noted that leadership is influence. Many leaders and managers exert a significant amount of time and energy trying to convince every member of their team to support an initiative. Most of the time it is important to have everyone understand what the initiative is all about, but rarely is it critical for every member to fully “buy in” to the plan.
…but you can communicate so that everyone understands.
Communicating with the goal of everyone understanding – that is effective communication. Trying to persuade everyone – that is an act in futility; as William G. McAdoo put it, “It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.” (Okay, so just because someone doesn’t agree with you, it doesn’t make them ignorant; despite what political pundits purport!) However, to effectively communicate with your team, focus on whether they understand first and foremost. Full understanding is the first step. Getting buy in” to the plan is secondary and is less likely to happen if it is not understood first.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Andrew // May 31, 2010 at 11:07 am
“No” is not the most painful word
Sure, when they say “No”, it hurts. But it also ?releases you, lets you go on your way.
The most painful word is actually a sentence:
“OK. Sounds good. Let me think about it.”
THAT one is like a recurring toothache. It can tie ?you up for days or weeks or months or … years?
A leader makes decisions. Go with your gut. Do it. ?Right or wrong, it really does not matter. You ?can always change it later. The longer you think ?it over, the more time & mental energy you waste.
2 Jonathan Frye // May 31, 2010 at 2:12 pm
That’s a great point, Andrew. It is better to get a definitive “against” rather than indecision. To take it even further, it is often good for the organization to have disagreement; as William Wrigley put it, “In business, when two people always agree, one of them is irrelevant.” Of course, many leaders try to achieve an environment without conflict, but that fails to truly benefit the organization. A better objective is to determine processes for working through conflict and disagreement in way that sharpens the capability of the organization.
Setting the target of “full understand” for an initiative allows the organization to move forward. Waiting for only initiatives that have complete “buy in” causes the organization to slow down, stall, and fall behind – in worst case scenarios, become irrelevant.
3 Susan // Jun 12, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Really good post on communications. This year I started measuring myself on ROC (return on communications) because I realized that in the past I wasn’t spending enough time understanding my audience and their needs before distributing my messages. In effect, the audience has to be more important than the sender.
4 kate // Jun 24, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I am agree with your great thoughts. I think a leader makes decisions. Go with your gut. Do it.
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