You Must Communicate To Lead

by Jonathan Jones

Visionary people have a knack for observing the current state and determining a path to achieve a better future. As individuals, they can follow that path through their own actions to achieve their vision. If they make mistakes, they can self-correct and get back on the path to achieve their goal.

When visionaries are leaders of people, they need the additional skill of communication. A common challenge these intuitive thinkers face is their belief that their followers understand what is in their heads or that they communicated it effectively.

A self-aware CEO compared his communication skills to his skill as a Pictionary drawer: He has to draw a castle, so he draws a box and maybe a few squiggles to indicate the ornaments of the castle and expects everyone on his team to instantly guess ”castle.” The silence and “ridiculous” answers like “house” and “boat” frustrate him, so he clarifies. He takes his marker and taps the board hard a couple of times and does a hand gesture to say, “You know” and then taps in the tqwobvious “castle” picture again. He can see it; why can’t they? He repeats the tapping and hand gestures with more force until the time runs out or the competition beats him.

Visionary leaders must assume others do not understand what is in their heads and find effective ways to communicate. If not, they will not be leaders but frustrated visionaries whose dreams will not be achieved to their potential.  
What message is not getting across to the people you are leading?

Jonathan Jones (Jonathan.jones@vistagechair.com or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.