AchieveGlobal's blog

The Marginal Idiot

By Chris Blauth

When you think of ‘effective communication’ does Napoleon Bonaparte come to mind?  If not, he should.

Much has been written about Napoleon’s brilliant military strategy and his unending quest for world domination.  Less known, and perhaps legend, is the process he devised and followed to ensure that his generals understood his every command.

Enter the Marginal Idiot. Napoleon knew that if someone lacking full capacity to understand information did understand a message, then it was so clear that others in more critical positions—namely generals miles away on the battle front—were certain to comprehend the message and act accordingly.  Unlike in Napoleon’s day, we have the technology today to communicate to one or thousands at the blink of an eye.  Yet are your messages really understood by others?  Keep the following principles in mind when communicating either mission-critical strategic plans or delegating mundane tasks:

1. Organize your thoughts.  It pays to think before you speak.  Whether getting your thoughts on paper or just thinking through what you’ll say, you need to consider your objectives, your audience, and the key points in your message.
2. Deliver you message in compelling ways.  Effective communicators know that how they deliver a message is just as important as the message itself.  Use stories, illustrations, and metaphors to convey your point in memorable and compelling ways.  
3. Explore responses.  Take the time to respond to the questions, concerns, and ideas of others.  Go beyond active listening to empathetic listening.

Or you might want to run your message first by someone you work with that you feel is a…oh, never mind.

Study Exposes Serious Blind Spot Among U.S. Leaders

By Craig Perrin

This is the second of seven posts on AchieveGlobal's international study of leadership today, "Developing the 21st-Century Leader" (complete report available HERE.)

A surprise for me in our recent research was that of six "leadership zones" - Reflection, Society, Diversity, Ingenuity, People, and Business - U.S. leaders rated Diversity as least important. While this finding begs more study, I can't help wondering about possible causes and effects.

It's important to note that only after we ran the survey did we choose the term "Diversity" for seven related leadership best practices:

• Strive to meet the needs of customers representing other cultures.
• Encourage collaboration among people from different groups.
• Display sensitivity in managing across cultural boundaries.
• Collaborate well with people very different from yourself.
• Effectively lead groups made up of very diverse people.
• Learn about the business practices of other cultures.
• Manage virtual teams with explicit customer-centric goals and practices.

Since we labeled this group "Global" in the survey, we can rule out the term "Diversity" (incorrectly seen by some as code for "political correctness") as a cause for low ratings. Low scores may in part reflect that many U.S. leaders have no urgent need to manage across borders, learn about business practices in other countries, or manage virtual teams. 

Leading Through the Sudden Impact on Morale

By: Chris Blauth Last week, I discussed unnerving actions companies have been forced to make in response to quickly declining revenues. Even more unsettling, a recent AchieveGlobal study found 59.6 percent of leaders predict a hiring freeze and 43.6 percent expect to downsize or conduct layoffs throughout this year. These depressing trends have an equally depressing impact on employee morale. More than half of the leaders who responded to our survey reported that stress is a problem or severe problem for their employees, and slightly less than half the respondents admitted that stress is a problem or severe problem for them! So – how is a leader supposed to handle that? Very carefully. Still, even with all of this bad news, leaders are finding ways to boost morale and productivity:

• A majority say they “motivate employees through ongoing, positive communication.”
• About half say they “offer special recognition for employees who perform well.”
• 40 percent say they “hold fun events at or away from work.”
• 38 percent say they “offer non-monetary incentives or rewards such as time off.”
• 24 percent say they “offer monetary incentives.”
• 5.6 percent say “my employees don’t need more motivation and their morale is good.”
• And, thank heavens, only 5.2 percent say they “do nothing.”

What are some things you do, as a leader – or an employee – to help boost morale? With the economy always in mind, let’s assume that a big fat raise is out of the picture.