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Mastering Executive Communication With Melinda Lee · Speak In Flow

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  Melinda Lee: Welcome to the speak in flow podcast, dear
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  listeners where we dive into techniques and strategies to
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  change the way our world communicates for the better.
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  Today's episode is all around executive communication. I had
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  the opportunity to interview an entrepreneur Kimi, and also a
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  corporate leader, Michelle, around executive communication.
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  And so in this episode, I thought to bring in all the
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  learnings that I've discovered through our interviews, as well
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  as bringing some components that I've developed along the way,
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  and what executive communication means to meet. Let's face it,
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  our world has changed quite a bit. And I think that before
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  executive communication meant that you had to have a pedigree,
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  you had to have the right education knowledge, and that is
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  how I demonstrate executive communication. That's not true
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  anymore. So today, we're gonna dive into the eight components
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  of what it is. And first, its vision. Then second, be concise,
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  third, present powerfully to a group. Fourth, influence. Fifth,
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  know how to manage a crisis takes provide powerful open
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  feedback, seven, be authentic. And then eight, know whether to
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  do digital or life. First, a clear vision, have a powerful
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  vision for the future, make it so clear in your mind. And once
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  you have that clear, you communicate it in a way that is
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  concise, and effective. Without having a clear, concise vision.
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  People are lost. People don't know what their role is, people
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  don't know what to do. So you lose productivity. And you lose
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  your respect as the leader. So take the time to reflect and
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  take the time to find relevant examples, stories to illuminate
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  the direction that you want your team to go. Really paint that
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  visual picture of where you want them to be, and be clear and
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  specific. Then for have some follow up right and tie your
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  goal, your team's objectives and goals to the strategic direction
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  to the vision of the future, and then have regular follow up.
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  Once you have the vision, once you're following up with where
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  the team is going, then you want to be to continue to be concise,
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  concise with your words, bottom line it How am I going to say
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  what I need to say in the fewest words possible? That's a
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  question you can ask yourself. If you don't, if you're spending
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  a lot of time bringing too much fluff in or going off on a
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  tangent people get annoyed, we just don't have the time and we
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  don't have the luxury of time. So ask yourself, How can I say
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  the exact thing in the fewest words possible. And then if you
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  need to add to it great, I be intentional about what you add
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  to your communication. So once you've mastered the skill of
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  being concise or understand how to do that, third, go to
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  presenting powerfully develop your ideas and present it to a
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  large group. This demonstrates your ability to lead, lead and
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  be effective as a leader in front of a group one to one is
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  important one to one builds meaningful relationships. And
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  then go to the group and present it in a way that exudes your
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  leadership. If you're still feeling nervous, and I know a
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  lot of you may still feel that way. I share a lot of techniques
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  and tools to help you get more into a confident state. Using
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  some breath work. This is a this is a really powerful one that I
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  like and I've been using lately, which is taking one breath and
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  then another one. And then you can do one, hold it at the top
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  or exhale, but you could take two after inhale, inhale and
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  then take another one and then exhale. And if you're still
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  feeling nervous, use your nervousness to elevate your
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  performance. Those nerves are there to actually elevate so if
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  you not if you're not afraid of them, use them to turn your
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  nerves into excitement. My daughter uses a very fun phrase
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  called nervous sighted. I'm not I'm nervous related to
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  transforming your nerves into excitement and elevating your
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  performance. Even in presenting to a large group, you will be
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  seen as an effective leader. And after you present your ideas,
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  the fourth key to executive communication is influence. How
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  do you influence people and the ability to embrace help them to
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  embrace your idea? How do you transform naysayers into
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  believers of your idea? And that begins both at the beginning
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  before you even enter the room. Michelle, it's that this great
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  pre socialising before you enter into a meeting, talk to the
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  individual naysayers that may not be on board with you. Ask
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  questions. When someone is furious, get curious, ask
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  questions. Where are they coming from? What causes them to be a
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  naysayer, what causes them, they're probably really
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  concerned. And you want to give them the time to talk to you
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  about their experiences, talk to you about their concerns, and
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  ask the relevant questions and really put yourself and when
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  you're listening to them, really listen, be present, and put
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  yourself in their shoes. And then include relevant examples
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  and stories. And how to potentially help them to
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  transition where they're, where they're from, to where you want
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  them to go. And so that is one key technique you can use for
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  building influence. Then once you built up influence, you have
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  the allies, you have people on board with you, you move into
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  crisis management, of course, not everything is going to go
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  the way you want, there's going to be some crisis, there's going
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  to be some obstacles. So your ability to manage the crisis is
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  also included in your executive communication. Most people will,
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  will go into the crisis and get consumed, they get emotional,
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  and then and then suddenly everybody's communicating the
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  wrong information. When there's a crisis, it's important for you
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  to take a leadership role, and breathe and be objective. Ask
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  the right questions. Sometimes the people's perspective, even
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  though it seems real in their mind, is probably not the real
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  story, or real objective perspective. And so you have as
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  a leader can ask the right questions, and then formulate
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  what the objective communication is, be authentic, be timely,
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  with your communication. If you don't have all the information
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  talam, right, be authentic, I am waiting for the right
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  information, I'll give you this is what I know. And if when I
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  have the relevant information, the more accurate information
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  I'm going to share that with you. Right now, this is what I
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  have. So be timely with managing the crisis, as well as be
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  accurate in information you share with people. And that
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  requires that you answer you ask the right questions. Then
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  providing effective feedback, the sixth component of executive
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  communication, provide open honest feedback. I know
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  sometimes feedback can be very challenging, because you don't
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  want to hurt people's feelings. You don't want them to feel bad.
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  And there's a way to do this so that it's both respectful, and
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  also mutually beneficial for everyone, you're going to have
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  the opportunity to get to know the person, they're gonna get to
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  know you where you're at. So don't be afraid to have this
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  open dialogue. As a team leader, you want to have the entire team
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  feel comfortable providing feedback in a way that's
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  respectful, specific, objective, timely. And then, and curious.
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  Also get to the perspective of the person that you're talking
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  to. Which leads me into the seventh piece, which is
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  Authenticity. Authenticity is interesting, because as I
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  mentioned before, executive communication can be perceived
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  as I have authority over you. And I have all this experience.
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  And so I'm only going to show you that. Nowadays, authenticity
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  means that I am real, I'm a person. Yes, I have experienced
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  and I also have some potential areas to improve. And it's okay
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  for me to show that. I talk about how authenticity when you
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  hide some of your potential perceived weaknesses. People
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  can't get a sense of you, they can actually sense that you're
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  closed off
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  to allowing yourself to do some reflection of where your
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  strengths are and also where your perceived areas of
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  improvement Don't accept them, be accepting of them and find
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  help to either improve it or find other allies to help
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  support you in this area that will help you to feel authentic,
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  and be seen as that leader of respect, because most leaders
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  are respected when people can connect with you. But if you
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  have a guard not being authentic, they're not going to
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  be able to connect with you. And then therefore the trust that
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  you lose trust as a leader. Then finally, the eighth component is
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  know when to use live or digital communication. With so many
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  modes and platforms and how to connect digitally, I think it's
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  powerful to be able to know when you talk live and when to talk
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  digitally. Because as a team, it's, it's important, it's
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  important, especially if you so there's two things that you want
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  to consider. How will you know each other, and how clear the
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  situation or the direction is? First, if you don't know each
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  other, well, then maybe a team is forming. And you don't know
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  the direction people don't know the direction, it's very
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  unclear. that lends itself to a live meeting, when it's unclear
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  when you don't know it. Because when you're live, and people can
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  read each other's verbal cues, body language, you miss that
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  when we're in the small box virtual box. So take the time to
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  gather people, especially when it's the time is complicated.
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  You don't know what's happening, and they don't know each other.
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  But if there's clear direction, and people know each other, then
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  digital communication is a powerful way you save time, you
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  don't have to travel back and forth. But you could do follow
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  up so you can have a quick conversation over a digital
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  platform. So knowing when to use each is an important skill as a
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  leader, and demonstrates your executive communication and
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  intention for your meetings. So you know what the purpose of the
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  meeting is, and the platform. So all of these components I know I
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  said a lot today, but those are your opportunities. When you
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  dive into each and master each, you will have an executive
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  presence, that communication that demonstrates you as the
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  powerful leader that you are that appear to make a
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  difference. If you have any questions about these, I invite
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  you to message me I invite you to just get on a call with me.
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  And I'm going to start to break these down in the following
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  episodes and give you more clear strategies and techniques to do
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  each. But in the meantime, I can't wait to see you on the
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  other side to the next episode. I'm your sister and Flo take
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  care