Tag: effective communications

Mindful Leadership in Organisations

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Be the change that you wish to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi

It is no coincidence that today’s post starts with this important quote; I have indeed spent the last months figuring out the organisational culture of an international association being confronted once again with entrenched positions, misunderstandings related to poor communication, a lack of intercultural dialogue and pretty much negative mindsets.

Looking at all this with my trained “mindful” eyes and as always believing in the power of motivation, empathy and a transparent, strategic, positive way forward, I have begun to slowly impact this environment by simply “walking the talk“, looking at solutions rather than problems and listening to the various actors and their concerns to identify an appropriate way forward.

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn via Foter.com / CC BY

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn via Foter.com / CC BY

Among others, I reminded people that:

  1. Rome wasn’t built in a day meaning that what slowly came to undermine processes and hampered the motivation of people cannot be changed in a couple of weeks but takes time to evolve.
  2. Everybody has a role to play meaning that a culture of complaining will lead to even more complaints, whereas a culture of trust, empathy and positive focus will shift moods and move mountains.
  3. Intercultural and effective communications is a skill and can be learned. Working in Switzerland, where many different languages are spoken, being sensitive to different cultural habits and backgrounds is even more important than in other local contexts so that teams can productively work together.

The next mile stone on the road to a more mindful organisation is set: a creative vision finding workshop for staff and Board where unconscious wishes and thoughts will have a central role to play. Looking very much forward to seeing how people will react as this doesn’t follow the “usual” way to proceed!

Stay tuned for more insights from within,

Jenny

Photo credit: symphony of love via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Photo credit: symphony of love via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

 

 

 

Trust: An Important Ingredient for Effective Communications

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Touching the stone wall
Having worked lately with various groups of people on effective internal communications and  team building it struck me again how the trust factor remains of major importance for any successful intervention.

Not only trust and confidence in the capabilities of the facilitator but also trust in team members, collaborators and most and foremost trust in the participants themselves and in their own capabilities. Obviously, this trust has to be established and participants need to be ready to listen to their inner feelings and intuitions….this sounds like an easy exercise but as a matter of fact, for many it is the most difficult  – as the most unusual – part.

As we all know, it is not possible not to communicate: our non-verbal signs and behaviour already give clues to our counterpart about what is going on (even if this often happens unconsciously), before the conversation per se has started. Being aware of how your own body behaves and moves in space and how others might perceive this, is in fact a first step towards more self-awareness and from that to trust in your own abilities and capacities. Adding empathy, curiosity and openness to others, you will have a strong basis for building relationships of trust and thus effective communications and effective intercultural communications.

Are you willing to trust and be mindful about how your own body relates to external stimuli and how you and your actions are perceived by others?

 

 

We need a new model of communication!

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Theater mask Communication
Otto Scharmer points out rightly that a new model of communication is needed, involving all stakeholders and being multilateral. A link needs to be created between all actors in society and economy, consumers to producers, leaders to staff etc. Many parties should join in the conversation, breaking up silos, sharing and opening up in dialogue. Being open and transparent will enable new ideas to emerge and this new connection will be far more effective than any extrinsic, monetary motivation and bonus. Think about it! Join me for a new journey in communications: a mindful one! Jenny

Storytelling – A powerful tool for changing organisations

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Storytelling

Earlier this week I posted “Strengthen and Sustain Culture with Storytelling” from Nancy Duarte on LinkedIn. It instantly sparked reactions, also on other social media channels.

Storytelling in communications and marketing is not new but the fact that it can and should be applied to organizational culture is very relevant. As an organization you certainly want to live up to your mission/vision and attain your objectives. If you do it by retaining talent, motivating people intrinsically and  making them feel ‘part of the game’, even better.

In line with the ongoing discussions about emotional intelligence and its importance for modern businesses, a story is an emotionally  – and from a communication perspective very important  – ‘tool’ that:

  • bonds people together (not only the ones featuring in the story itself)
  • conveys values and culture
  • motivates intrinsically as people feel concerned
  • visualizes objectives, measures etc. in a powerful way
  • makes people remember what you were talking about
  • etc.

As Ms. Duarte points out correctly in her TEDxEAST talk, “if you communicate and idea in a way that resonates, change will happen”.

Now, let me ask you: is your organization investing money into making people communicate more effectively with each other?

Have an excellent rest of the week,

Jenny

Congratulations ShaoLan Hsueh!

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Chinese language

Do you remember that I wrote about an amazing woman, ShaoLan Hsueh, some time ago, who illustrates the Chinese language to make it easy and fun to learn? Well, she continues on her path and just successfully raised funds for her Chineasy Book on Kickstarter.com.

This truly is a very exciting project and undertaking and once I have a bit more time, I will definitely look into it more deeply as her method really makes learning all the different characters engaging and definitely easier!

Have a good start in the new week! Jenny

Innovation

Internal (intercultural) communications: Secret Ingredients for Innovation

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Henry Doss has recently published an article on Forbes entitled: “Innovation: Leadership is always the key”. He rightly says that if an organisation is struggling with innovation it might be focussing on systems and processes rather than on the development and nurturing of powerful individual leaders. Whereas I certainly agree that (mindful) leadership is a very important factor when creating and fostering a culture of innovation, I also believe that communication, especially internal communications and intercultural communications are key ingredients that cannot be missed out.

Why? Imagine how many different teams in diverse functions such as marketing, sales, research&development etc. have to work together to predict trends and think about new products/services that could succeed in their specific market(s). Without effective internal communications including discussions, feedback, questions and so on, an idea will never get through the funnel and be tested in the end.

Likewise, if the various team members are lacking intercultural communication skills, they will not only fail to identify how a specific customer need could be successfully met in their identified target market; they will also fail to communicate the creative input or idea to the respective teams and functions which very often are globally spread out and staffed with people from around the world. An idea needs clear communication and a tailored approach to market so that it can be successful and developed further by all relevant internal stakeholders.

Of course teams and organisations need visionary and powerful leaders who are able to put their ‘creative thinking cap’ on and translate sometimes vague and ‘fancy’ ideas into real products and services adapted to customer’s needs and markets. Nevertheless, in my experience, effective internal (intercultural) communications, mixed with a culture of trust and appreciation are really the “secret” ingredients for successful innovation.

Do you have any experience with innovation and what works/what doesn’t? Looking forward to reading/hearing about it!

Have an excellent weekend and please follow me per mail or in your WordPress reader to learn more on intercultural communications and mindful leadership! Jenny