Page 124 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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Empathize. When issues on are the table, communicate your concern.

This does not mean that you say whatever the audience may want to
hear, it means that you demonstrate concern—e.g., “I understand the
issues you are facing.” With guests on her show, Oprah oozes sympathy
in a way that gets the guest to open up and share a personal moment
that will enable the audience to understand an issue more vividly and
sometimes viscerally. GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
Remind the audience of shared experiences. If you or your organization
has a prior relationship with the audience, mention it. If it is a good
relationship, say so. If it is one that soured, say so. The audience
expects you to be honest. At Newburgh, Washington established the
shared experiences at the outset. Katherine Graham made the Washing-
ton Post her life; her communications emerged from that commitment.
Everyone who was part of the company understood that she stood for
journalistic excellence and that by embracing that premise they could
share in the enterprise.
Deliver the message. Once you have laid the groundwork for your
presentation through acknowledgement and empathy, you are ready
to move into your message and deliver your content. You are free,
however, to emphasize or deemphasize according to audience expec-
tations; in this way, you remain responsive to audience needs.
Actor-director Robert Redford is accustomed to fighting battles over
causes he believes in. His public speeches, together with his profes-
sional commitments, give him a platform upon which to stand tall
on an issue, even when he knows that people can and will disagree
with him.
Open the door for compromise. If the issue you must defuse is poten-
tially divisive, you may wish to create a forum for compromise. Your
presentation then becomes the first step in the healing process. You are
entitled to present your views, but if you expect to create an action
step—e.g., a sale or a dialogue—you need to open the door for action,
that is, what’s next? As a manager of 25 highly talented baseball play-
ers, Joe Torre lives by the art of compromise. He uses his communica-
tions to smooth over disagreements and open the door for cooperation.
If you get beyond the objection, you can talk about how you would like
to be part of the solution. You would like to help bury the hatchet and
work out the issues together.
The good news is that when you can overcome objections within your pre-
sentation, very often you will win the audience over to your side and it will be
receptive to your message now and in the future.