Advanced Communication Methods for Leaders

Advanced Communication Methods for Leaders - Eagle Education Experience - EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

This presentation is designed to assist Scouts, parents and Scout leaders with the Eagle Scout advancement process and leadership-capability enhancement. The Washington, D.C. District of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America offers the Eagle Education Experience to empower Eagle Scout candidates with knowledge, skills and abilities that they can use to achieve the Eagle Scout rank, become stronger leaders and more effectively accomplish noble goals. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Leadership Involves Communication Effective Communication: the process of enabling one’s ideas to be expressed and enabling another to understand those ideas. Effective leadership requires effective communication. Anyone, regardless of his or her current level of communication capability, can become a stronger communicator and therefore a stronger leader. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Providing Details Enhances Success If a leader wants those he leads to precisely accomplish what he wants them to accomplish, his communications to them must provide them with sufficient details regarding what he wants them to do. • Leaders of any project or other endeavor, regardless of how complex it is, can increase the degree of success by providing details. • Providing sufficient details about a project before work on that project begins can reduce time a leader spends fixing problems that arose from lack of clarity, and therefore can enhance efficiency. • All details do not need to be provided at the same time; a leader, for example, could provide details about the second half of the steps for a project after completion of the first half of the steps so those details are more relevant when conveyed. • Complex details about a concept can be better understood by workers if a leader already ensured, perhaps through conducting education himself, that they understand basics about that concept. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Skilled Leaders Are Skilled Speakers The most effective leaders are versatile communicators who can communicate effectively not just through writing, but through speaking. Spoken communication is far more effective than written communication when a leader needs to issue directives: • and is at the site where those he leads are working; • that must be quickly fulfilled; • to those who, because of work they are performing, do not have practical access to electronic devices; • to those who are illiterate; • for which quick verbal responses are expected; or • that would be more effectively implemented if receivers experience intended intonation designed to motivate them. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Influence of Intonation Intonation: the overall manner in which words are spoken that is associated with: • conveying an emotion; or • emphasizing a concept; or • in general, providing context for a phrase. • Differences in intonation are not with regard to the words that are used, but the way words are said. The type of intonation that a leader uses when speaking to those he leads can significantly influence the way they react to his directives. Some types of intonation are far more effective than others. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Influence of Intonation Example of intonation: Communication of the phrase, “You are doing a great job,” could be highly affected by intonation used for it. If said energetically, the person who said it likely is expressing that he believes someone is performing a task quite well. If said in what sounds like a condescending manner, it could be thought that the person who said it meant the opposite. If said in a timid manner, the person to whom it was said might not know whether the person who said it was sincere or afraid to admit the opposite. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Influence of Intonation In general, among types of emotion-based intonation: • These help leaders enhance the efficiency of those he leads: • Confident, energetic, charismatic, encouraging, vigorous, ebullient. • These are appropriate for leaders in solemn or serious situations: • Confident, calm, insightful, respectful, brave, courageous, valorous. • These cause a leader to be perceived as disrespectful, which could cause those he leads to have insufficient devotion to his efforts: • Unconfident, overconfident, fearful, conceited, irritated, timid, intimidated, condescending, arrogant, ungrateful, brash, deprecating. The way a leader’s words are perceived, regardless of his intention, affects those he leads. Leaders should be conscious of this. The way an emotion is conveyed through intonation varies among cultures, emphasizing the importance of “knowing one’s audience.” EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Know Your Audience Know your audience: understand various aspects about those with whom you are communicating, as the more you know about them, the more you can recognize how best to communicate with them to achieve your goals. An effective leader recognizes that based on who he is leading, that affects, in communications to them, the: • most appropriate intonation to use; • degree of formality or informality he should use; • language or languages to use; • complexity or simplicity of words he uses; • examples he uses to clarify concepts; • details they need to be provided so they can effectively perform work; • body language he uses in conjunction with his words; and • linguistic framing that could be effective. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Framing can Enhance Motivation Linguistic framing: the process of influencing the perspectives of others through tactical communication choices, primarily through presenting ideas and choosing some words instead of others to convey concepts, often so that a goal can be achieved. • Presenting others with evidence suggesting that pursuing a task would be beneficial exemplifies framing in support of that project. • Referring to a project as a productive endeavor instead of an irksome burden also exemplifies framing in support of that project. • The primary application of linguistic framing is to motivate people to pursue an action or to think a certain way, with that behavioral influence helping the communicator advance his goals. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

The Core Four Motivators The type of motivation most effective for prompting individuals to perform a task highly depends on who those individuals are, therefore emphasizing the usefulness of “knowing your audience.” The highest level of effective communication involves significant consideration of the psychological aspects of those to whom the communication is directed. Four types of motivation can function especially well for prompting workers to be more efficient, depending on who they are and depending on the context of the situation in which they are led: A sense of righteousness, responsibility, needing to uphold honor or wanting to accord with the principles of a moral code; Risk avoidance or other response to risk, or aversion to potential hardship; The opportunity to have fun, possibly through humor; and The opportunity for a sense of personal achievement or advancement by overcoming a worthwhile challenge, or working to achieve that goal. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Leaders Must Recognize Psychology Everyone is unique. A leader who wants to know how to motivate each of his employees, and not just the group as a whole, to achieve even greater efficiency must communicate with each member of his team so that, for each team member, he can better understand that individual and discern the type of motivation that works best for that individual. Almost all individuals seek to achieve a greater quality of life for themselves and those to whom they are devoted, and often in some form support causes that they feel would empower themselves or those to whom they are devoted with improved quality of life. A leader should recognize the degree to which a worker’s actions and statements are indicative of such desires so the leader can better understand how that individual is motivated and know which of the core four motivators would be most effective in communications to the worker designed to enhance the worker’s efficiency. • As part of this general principle, almost all individuals prefer to be strong instead of weak. If a leader says to a worker that he could more strongly support a worthwhile project than he currently is if he does something other than what he currently is doing, that could motivate that worker to modify his behavior. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Confident, Competent Communication Actual confidence:an assertion of pride that causes an individual to believe that he can overcome a challenge. Perceived confidence:a belief by others that an individual can overcome a challenge. Actual competence:an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). • Knowledge: the information an individual possesses, but the individual does not necessarily have the ability to act on the information. • ability: something the individual can do, but which the individual does not necessarily know he can do • skill: a unification of knowledge and ability; knowing something and being able to act on that information. • Perceived competence:an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities, as others interpret them. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Confident, Competent Communication The convergence (union) of confidence and competence when communicating compels receivers of a message to trust a leader and respect him to a greater degree. If it is perceived that a leader has one without the other, or neither, this can cause a lack of trust in what the leader says and a lack of respect for him. As a benefit of perception versus reality, if a leader is nervous but acts confident, he can more effectively accomplish the task or overcome the issue that caused him to be nervous. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Confident, Competent Communication The Eagle Scout Service Project process tests an Eagle Scout candidate’s confidence and competence, not just with regard to how these manifest in his communications, but in general. His Eagle Scout Board of Review will examine the degree to which has demonstrated these traits. With regard to an Eagle Project, an Eagle candidate who communicates with high confidence and high competence will be especially adept in: • networking with a beneficiary to establish a potential project; • crafting a Project Proposal and defending its merits and details; • recruiting volunteers to help with the project; • overcoming unexpected challenges that arise before project implementation and that require modifications to his plan; • delegating responsibilities to volunteers; • overseeing the implementation of the project; and • overcoming unexpected challenges that arise after implementation of the project began, with innovation and adaptation necessary for success. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Verbal Communication Upgrades • Avoid the following when speaking (the Subpar Seven): • The sounds UM, UH, AH or ER (often used while thinking what to say) • Use a brief pause instead • You know or y’know • And (followed by a long pause) • Starting sentences with so or well (often followed by a long pause) • Like (when unnecessary for sentence) • Kind of (when unnecessary for sentence) • “Tsch” – (the sound of one’s of tongue going toward the top of one’s mouth before one speaks, also could sound like a click) • If during a speech you commit an error in speaking technique, such as one of the Subpar Seven or mispronouncing an improper noun, do not take time to apologize for it, as this causes an audience to be more likely to remember that you made an error and could decrease the audience’s confidence in your speaking capability. However, if you realize during a speech that you inadvertently said something earlier in the speech that was inaccurate or insulting, a brief apology would be appropriate. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Verbal Communication Upgrades • If you have a large group of individuals who are being led: • Do not yell or shout; project your voice instead. • If you have access to a microphone, study the acoustics of where you are presenting to determine if it should be used. • If speaking to a group and you want some within the group to perform an action, mention those individuals by name instead of saying that some, in general, should perform a task. • Prepare to be asked questions, know in advance answers to likely questions and confidently and competently answer questions. • Instead of facing toward just one part of the group throughout an entire speech, you should throughout the speech shift the direction you are facing so that as many parts of the group as possible can be additionally engaged through your direct communication to them. • If you are speaking in conjunction with other speakers, ensure that unintentional interruptions are minimal and that all understand when it is appropriate to speak. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Nonverbal Communication Upgrades • That which one says could be undermined by nonverbal factors. Leaders should ensure when speaking with a team that they: • have great eye-contact with those with whom they are verbally communicating (focuses their attention); • have a strong, confident stance that accentuates the degree to which they can be perceived as strong and confident; • do not have their hands in their pockets, as this can be associated with an unwillingness to personally work hard or a lack of conscientiousness; • do not look away while talking, and instead look only at their audience (looking away could imply a lack of confidence or untrustworthiness); • have appropriate hand gestures and emphasize more significant words and concepts with more significant hand gestures; • demonstrate proper hygiene in their appearance (as perceived care for oneself can indicate that one in general cares about what one is doing); • do not use written notes (as speaking from the heart and mind instead of from the page emphasizes confidence, competence and sincerity); and • use facial expressions that are appropriate for the situation. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Effective Methods of Training • When teaching workers skills they need to possess to perform tasks, leaders can effectively develop those skills through: • repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, and more repetition; • the EDGE Method (explain, demonstrate, guide, enable); • alliteration and acronyms (beyond EDGE); • asking questions of those who are taught the information to encourage their analysis of the information, as such analysis can reinforce that which is being taught; • having those who were taught a skill teach the skill to others; • have those who learn the skills create notes regarding the skills; • teaching more complex skills than the basic versions of those skills, with only the basic versions actually needed, because if the workers become proficient in skills more complex than what are needed, their proficiency in the basic versions likely would be far greater than was necessary and their efficiency consequentially would be enhanced. EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Discussion and Questions EAGLE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE – WASHINGTON, D.C. DISTRICT, NCAC, BSA

Advanced Communication Methods for Leaders