PUT IT SIMPLY : A LEADER AS AN ORATOR

September 11, 2018

I met my childhood friend recently and we shared, having caught up after nearly 10 years. It was a delight and there was one conversation we had that stayed with me and got me thinking.

Ronit Do you ever get the feeling sometimes that you don’t really know what’s going on at work? At the same time mindlessly just go along with it? Me (chuckling) Yeah, sometimes. Why?
Ronit Well, it happens to me often! Just this morning, I attended a staff meeting at my company. My boss addressed the whole team in the following manner:

"To help our crucial heading, we need to proactively utilize scalable methodologies for fortifying. It is our corporate duty to determinedly centre to flawlessly execute our tactical objectives to meet our deadlines."

At least that’s what I think he said. I mean he lost me in his first few words and went on for a good 10-minute talk. It may seem like a short period of time to you, but to me, it felt like an eternity where I could feel my hair turning grey and the real meaning of what he was trying to convey to the team got lost in his heavy words.

 

Simplicity in communication

This conversation just stuck and got me reflecting on why some leaders and managers perhaps disregard simplicity. It is a major misconception that complexity is synonymous with sophistication and wisdom. If the language is simple, it will be easier for the leader to explain, and more likely that the employees would understand. This, in turn, would mean greater chances of implementing the solution. It is close to impossible to solve a problem if one cannot understand it.

 The institution is always bigger than any individual. A great leader, therefore, keeps every level of staff engaged, also by opening up opportunities that employees are motivated to contribute to and influence. This is achieved by keeping things simple, for instance, encouraging the staff to make suggestions and offer their perspectives rather than giving dull monologues. A leader can only look at a box through his own depth of understanding. However, a group of people will most certainly see the same box in a thousand different ways. It is the mark of a great leader to listen with the intent to understand rather than to refute. One should speak in a way that others love to listen and listen in a way that others love to speak. Hence, any message delivered with “easy to understand” words, simplicity, emotional intelligence and body language that is in sync with what is being said will go a long way in creating the right impact.