Page 162 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Listen More Than You Talk • 143

Without being tedious, tell people what you’re going to tell them.
Tell them, tell them what you told them, and ask them if they got it—in
no more than three to five sentences. Then wait for a response; give
people a moment of silence in their heads.

Speak plain English. Don’t use buzzwords from your MBA school.
You’ll only impress other MBA schoolers. Ninety percent have no
idea what you’re talking about.

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As a leader, before you embark on a conversation, ask yourself these
questions: Why am I doing this? What is it that I want or need to say
that is of value to someone whose time is as precious as mine? What
is compelling about my message? How do I deliver my words in a way
so that others can understand them?

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You don’t want to finish and have your people ask, “What did he say?”

Ask Lots of Questions Without Grilling,

Interrogating, Challenging, or Playing “Gotcha”

Questions more than statements stimulate the possibility of effective
communication. You cause people to be better communicators around
you by asking questions of them, listening, and not interrupting. You find
out what they want, but just as important, you reach out and make the
uncomfortable comfortable. You get people who don’t normally open up
to open up. And you set an example for others to do the same.

Uncertainty is the only thing you can be certain of, and to make
things less uncertain, you have to ask about them.

Make it a practice goal to ask everyone you encounter during the
course of a day at least one question, and always make the first verbal com-
munication an inquiry rather than a statement. (“How’s your day?” is a
little unimaginative but still better than “Let me tell you about my day.”)