Page 64 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
encouraged to write self-appraisals and set forth new performance objectives,
were leery, too. Their fear seemed to be twofold: first, lack of privacy, and sec-
ond, how they were supposed to evaluate themselves. They feared that if they
graded themselves too high, they might seem shallow, whereas if they graded
themselves too low, they might get stuck with a poor review that would affect
their compensation and their eligibility for promotion. As a result, the entire
system, which cost $2 million to implement, was in danger of being written off.
Worse, employee morale was sinking. Refrains of “Big Brother is watching”
echoed in the hallways.

Unfortunately, this situation is all too common. Whether the subject is perfor-
mance evaluations, new project guidelines, or new policies governing over-
time, the underlying principle is the same: The new initiative represents
change, and people do not like change unless it is explained properly and put
into the context of the organization.
The reason for the failure of this new performance evaluation system was
not the system itself. It was the way in which it was introduced—or, frankly,
not introduced. While a huge investment was made in the development of the
system, little or no attention was paid to communicating the system to man-
agers and employees. Rather, it simply appeared, as if from on high. The HR
director was so involved with developing the application and the benefits of
using it that she and her leadership team simply forgot to introduce it properly.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to throw stones and accuse the HR
director of being myopic and not in touch with the reality of the situation, but
the fact is that organizations often institute change initiatives, big and small,
without so much as a second thought about communicating them. Leaders
seem to assume that whatever they introduce will be accepted. Months later,
when the initiative fails, they wonder why. They tend to blame the initiative
itself, when all too often it was simply the failure to communicate it properly.
As a result, a great deal of time, money, and good ideas is wasted. Worse, the
whole cycle is repeated when organizations seek to refine or redesign an ini-
tiative that probably would be good, if only it were explained properly.
Leadership communications plays a vanguard role in communicating
change as well as in reinforcing organizational culture. Planning communica-
tions in advance is essential to developing a leadership message that is consis-
tent with the culture, finding ways to communicate change, and ensuring
continued credibility. Noted commentator and consultant on change Rosabeth
Moss Kanter places a heavy emphasis on the role that communications plays
in keeping a culture unified as well as helping to keep it together during a
transformational effort.