Most businesses have a good business and marketing strategy in place, they know who their target audience is and are able to sell to them accordingly. The truth is though that many businesses fear change, partly and understandably because of the last few years of economic insecurity. However the knock on effect is many businesses have lost their mojo, are stuck in a holding pattern and are failing to really understand who their customer is today which is not helping our growth recovery. We must understand the neuroscience behind the decisions of our customers.

Neuroscience of customers
Motivation to buy or invest is far more effective when using positive instead of negative, stimuli. We notice negative stimuli incredibly quickly in order to survive. In context of being a customer, of course it’s true that if we have a problem we want to fix it, therefore marketing with a negative tone does motivate us (e.g. take painkillers to stop a headache getting worse). The downside to this kind approach is that once our problem has gone away we will are likely to stop buying the product. If however, we encourage people with feel-good stimuli such as looking forward to the future, people are far more likely to approach products and services with optimism therefore increasing repeat purchases.

It is not only consumer buying behaviour that can be explained by neuroscience but also that of brand association and loyalty. In terms of marketing a product, understanding an individuals emotional response is a key tool. When a consumer makes a choice in regard to a product or brand they work through a number of emotional and cognitive processes involving different areas of the brain including the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. We can use imaging technology such as MRI’s to monitor activity in the brain relating to key areas such as emotion, which have a significant impact on our decision making process as consumers.

Individuals can be influenced by a number of factors including that of the choices of the people around us. Psychological research has repeatedly shown us that as social creatures we look to belong to part of a group and our decisions as consumers can be influenced by that need at both a conscious and unconscious level

Neuroscience of the workforce
Understanding our customers is vital but similarly it is very important to truly understand our team/ employees.

Having the ability to be open minded, using lateral thinking and pushing the boundaries every now and again can push your business into the realms of stratospheric growth versus treading water. Calculated risk taking can be excellent for business and when we are successful the feel good chemicals in the brain such as dopamine are secreted in abundance giving us a high to the point of wanting more, so we continue to seek out more risks. This is fine as long as we don’t take it too far. An increased delicious cocktail of dopamine, testosterone etc can push us to beyond sensible limits and we need to listen to our ‘gut feelings’. Research now supports the efficacy of gut feelings in monitoring our behaviour, as does our cognitive braking systems such as the prefrontal cortex.

Neuroscience of leadership
There is a lack of dynamic business leaders who inspire and drive their workforce to be their very best. Good managers need to ensure that people are happily engaged at work and that the company is harnessing their employees’ individual personalities, goals, needs and abilities to build a successful and intuitive working environment. When business leaders are employee focussed and communicate with them properly, the employee will feel valued and valid. This will empower them and alleviate any stressful situations thus calming down stress hormones such as cortisol. As a result, rather than people narrowing their attention to any perceived threat, which is causing the stress, we open ourselves up to broader thinking, better problem solving and greater creative thought.

Leaders need to give their staff opportunities to develop and grow, and to lead by example. The brain loves to learn, but this invariably leads to change in a business environment, which the brain is resistant to. This is why development needs to be delivered in a positive way thus encouraging people to want to learn. Synapses in the brain grow and strengthen with new information, but we can overload the system if we deliver too much all at once. Research shows that we retain information better when learn in chunks and this is the case for learning something small like a telephone number or learning on a training course. Positive, upbeat delivery for half a day will allow the brain to assimilate and use the information well. Of course, the old saying “lessons are best caught not taught” means that leaders really do need to lead by example, it’s a subtle way of learning and will enhance all development opportunities that are implemented.

How a leader reads and then reacts to a positive or negative workplace situation can have a huge effect on staff. Emotions in business – positive or negative – can be infectious. Negative situations are bound to occur, but it is how they are handled that will make the difference. Bad news needs to be delivered factually and then positive solutions discussed by everyone. People react well when given the whole picture, they will feel trusted and part of a team and far more likely to work together to improve matters. Equally, what the brain doesn’t know it makes up, so any negative office gossip is extremely harmful. Give the whole story, be brief with the negative facts and then work together to fix problems.

We want our employees to believe anything is possible with the right work ethic and a yearning to learn. They also need to accept constructive criticism is simply a platform to learn from. The prefrontal cortex is partly responsible for the learning and processing of new information. Neurons in the prefrontal cortex hold existing information and knowledge whilst taking in new information to adapt and develop. Lessons are learnt and people feel great because they are progressing, becoming better informed and developing their expertise. Self-esteem improves thus strengthening mental health.

Concepts and techniques derived from brain research and psychology can play a crucial role in improving individual and business performance. Making every effort to understand emotions to customer rationale means we also hold the keys that can potentially open many more doors and opportunities.

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The importance of neuroscience in business

You might expect because we live in a culture that is more accepting of people of all sexes, nationalities, sexuality and religions than ever before that technically speaking, age should be no different right? Wrong.

Stereotypical ageism is short-sighted and dangerous on many levels. At the very least, it can lead to a minefield of poor productivity, absenteeism or even litigation, simply because of a lack of understanding and communication.

We are increasingly aware of how changes in demographics can affect the workforce. People are now living longer than ever and need to continue to earn in order to finance their later years accordingly. For any business, this should come as good news, as longevity has its benefits – low turnover, reliability and dedicated employees! So much experience to hand is a huge asset for any company on many levels. An older employee may give clients/ customers the feeling of being more experienced and therefore better at handling problems.

At the other end of the scale, it can also be a difficult job to instill loyalty and to keep young people engaged and enthused. Many seem to commit to a role for a short period of time before moving on, without giving much thought to the implications and the company’s time spent devoted to their training. Or is that a stereotype too? It’s not just our older members of the workforce who face ageism.

So what do we know about young people of this generation? Evidently, they are serious and eager to do well. They show focus, ambition and willing to put in the graft, but there is a sense of urgency to achieve each stage at lightning speed in order to reach the top. When I think back to my 20’s, our outlook was very different and we certainly didn’t possess the same drive as young people have today. What we find now in today’s 20 year olds, is the enormous pressure that is put on their shoulders to do well and achieve in their education. On the other hand it’s true to say young adults today are undoubtedly more privileged compared to years gone by which may mean they are less tenacious, leaving them less resilient and more exposed?

Most importantly though it is a common misconception that each generation of 20, 30, 40 year olds and so on are the same and it gives out the wrong message and breeds poor communication. When we recognise this, we are more likely to understand the foundations of everyone’s profiles and appreciate them for who they are irrespective of age. Communication between colleagues will improve, giving the workforce as a whole more consistency and respect for one another. No matter how old we are.

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Is ageism just poor communication?

When we are motivated our brains release dopamine which reduces stress and increases feelings of pleasure and perseverance. This feel-good chemical is so powerful it affects our behaviour, motivation, thinking and some forms of memory. It is also implicated in reward. No wonder the motivated brain is galvanized into action.

Motivation ultimately stems from the individual themselves but specifically is largely influenced by self confidence. You were hired because the employer felt you were capable and this should be a real driving force for motivation. If we lack confidence or self esteem, our motivation is affected because we believe we will do a bad job anyway and so lack the energy and drive to ensure we produce our best work.

Undeniably it is also partly the employer’s responsibility to keep their team motivated. Colleagues appreciate feelings of self worth, being of value and that they are a key member in the organisation. It is important to remember monetary rewards aren’t the only way to make a team member feel appreciated; an authentic thank you for all their hard work and praise for excellence helps continued motivation in the long run.

A lack of motivation can come from a lazy attitude, boring atmosphere and a lack of drive in the company. More often than not, people find a lack of motivation results from their company’s apathy towards making colleagues feel valuable. Unrealistic expectations coupled with a lack of resources and team conflict is often the sole reasons of demotivation at work.

This is a cocktail for low productivity, stress and perhaps depression or anxiety. When we are in a negative state such as this, the feel good neurochemicals in the brain are compromised and hormones such as cortisol in effect enhance a stress response and a negative cycle spirals us into an even lower state which is highly counterproductive for both our health and our work.

The brain often lacks motivation when there is no clear career goal. It is in your interest to identify, what you enjoy and where you would like your future to develop. Speaking to colleagues and senior personnel about your concerns helps company growth, prevents conflict as well as enables motivation. People who coast rarely put their all into any job but a ‘can do’ attitude inspires team motivation.

Top Tips on How to keep your employees or team motivated

1. Speak to your team – Find out what motivates them and what their future career goals are and make a plan to work towards this.

2. Give the team variety – Nothing is more demotivating than doing the same thing day in day out. Convert an undesirable task into a positive challenge. Mix teams and roles up.

3. Reward – Always remember to verbally praise high performing team members. Organise something nice for the team as whole when a big goal is reached.

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The motivated brain

The truth is we have to earn their loyalty and they will not be loyal until we have earned their trust. We need to be the only supplier they think of when they want what we have to offer. It is only then that they truly become a customer with longevity, before this they are still a customer with prospect.

Why is this dangerous? Because we treat prospects and customers differently. If we are too quick to label someone a customer we will create a mismatch with how we treat him or her and what he or she needs. Think about your business strategies to bring in new business. Special offers, certain sales techniques, lots of explanation into how your services are the most suitable for them.

Now think how you handle those who have bought from you once or more. No special offers, different sales techniques and perhaps assumptions that they know all about your services and how you operate. That first time buyer needs nurturing, if they are not this is the time when they may be poached by the competition that will have their own new business strategies.

In order to nurture we must build relationships, listen to their needs and create a strong rapport. Most business people know this, but with the pressures of little time it is often overlooked and we scurry around with fractured attention trying to bring in new business. In today’s competitive world finding new clients is not easy, so it is more important than ever to value repeat business with the obvious rewards of loyalty to our brand.

If we are seeking loyalty and trust it’s worth considering the neuroscience of decision making. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio has worked with patients with head injuries for many years. He noticed that with certain brain lesions people lost the connection that translates physical feelings to emotional response. Things like sweating, rapid heart beat and butterflies in the tummy. So when they felt these sensations there was no emotional link.

What was fascinating is that his patients couldn’t make rational decisions without an emotional response. In fact many couldn’t make decisions at all. As a result Damasio carried out further research in the laboratory and concluded that unconscious feelings are essential when it comes to decision making.

So when people say that emotion doesn’t play a part in their decision making, they are not aware that their decisions were already manipulated by emotion below conscious awareness.

This means that there is no getting away from it, emotion strongly influences customer behaviour. As such, it is essential that when nurturing prospects and trying to earn their trust, we do so by helping them feel good when dealing with our company. We make sure that we are reliable and that whenever they talk to us the whole experience is positive.

It is an interesting fact that when we are trusted we actually become more trustworthy in this delicious feedback loop. This is supported by further neuroscientific evidence. As a consequence when we have earned trust and our prospects become customers, we actually rise to the challenge of being trustworthy and improve our services.

As a progression, once someone is recommending us to others, they will actually become our best advocates, because the psychology of the human mind is such that it doesn’t like to be proved wrong.

After all, word-of-mouth is the strongest and cheapest marketing there is, make sure those words are about your business and not the competition’s.

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Get their trust, return their business

Imagine if you work in IT and are desperately looking for a job when suddenly 50,000 additional job seekers are thrown onto the market. All highly qualified, with years and years of experience and fantastic CVs.

The fact is the work place is not just changing rapidly, it’s changing forever to a new free economy populated with self-employed entrepreneurs. Many of these find themselves forced to work alone with a PC and a mobile phone and online applications to market their skills on an as-needed basis rather than on the payroll of a large company and with a regular salary. For these individuals, success may rely on their ability to master a whole range of new skills in social networking and systematically building their free market social capital as many of the skills and processes learnt in large multinational companies may be found sadly wanting.

These trends have been gaining momentum for a while. Think of famous company names no longer in existence and tens of thousands of their employees no longer working in those companies: Marconi, Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Nortel, Wang Laboratories to name but a few.

And this is just the technology sector without even considering other markets such as retail, where a number of big retail groups have crashed from the influence of online shopping – examples of which are Woolworths and HMV.

Existing Corporations were founded in a very different climate than today. Market forces, technology, communications continue to morph at a rapid rate and become ever more complex. New considerations have to be taken into account like environmental issues and greater emphasis on employee engagement even whilst still operating from old internal structures and central decision-making.

Losing a foothold on market share to smaller more nimble competitors who can respond to change more quickly and efficiently is becoming more apparent.

Whilst markets, technology and information demands change, some things stay the same. In terms of neuroscience and psychology, the human brain and human needs will not evolve so rapidly. This is why relationships and our emotional responses should be addressed and embraced with more vigour than ever before.

We have numerous ways of communicating that are increasingly efficient, but unless we nurture relationships upline, downline, at peer level and with customers and clients, we will lose many opportunities. This is not just at the individual level, this is also for companies and corporations as a whole. Operating in silos is old fashioned and risky and is analogous to sticking one’s head in the sand. We need to open up communication and listen to all members of staff. Every employee will have ideas to move business forward and modernisation should be looked upon as a constant challenge, for what is modern today will not be modern tomorrow.

Human beings are still the same, we need to feel valued and valid and we operate at our best when part of an energetic community. If the large corporations still standing want to remain in the game, these old fashioned truths will need to be discussed and implemented through training for all.

If not, it may be wise for employees in large-scale traditional organisations to think about additional skills they may need should this wave crash over them or indeed to start their preparations for their own entrepreneurial businesses right now whilst still employed.

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The workplace is changing

A large number of parents would prefer to stay at home with their children yet the reality is that due to financial burdens it is simply not an option and there maybe psychological hurdles for the mother to overcome during the returning period. Of course many women also want to go back work but still face criticism for not wanting to be with the children 24/7.

It is no secret that we live in a society that is obsessed with the ‘having it all’ debate. This can cause huge pressure on working mothers yet we must remember to treat ourselves as an individual rather than a statistic; only you know what the right decision for you is. Have confidence in your ability to pick the right path and make the right decisions for your family.

2014 is a breakthrough year for women in the working world, with more career opportunities open to women than ever before, and a lot of women are grabbing all the opportunities they can, especially in our current economic climate.

“Generally speaking women in their thirties and forties increasingly want to return to work after a period at home with the kids, but on a part-time or flexi basis which isn’t always suitable for top management positions. We are also now seeing an influx of women returning to work, but crucially having been circumvented for top executive positions, these women are instead often choosing to set up their own businesses with vigour, energy and determination.
Working vs full time home-making is of course an explosive conversation piece. There is a terrible circle of judgement between mothers who are considered cold if they wish to return to work as soon as possible, and women who are considered weak or lacking ambition because they wish to be with their children as much as possible.

Tips for mothers returning to work:-

1. Perhaps the most dominant concern is the initial fear of being separated from the baby. A close intimate relationship is a vital part of the bonding process between mother and child and yes it can cause separation anxiety when first disrupted, yet it is important to remember that this gradual detachment is a normal and important developmental adaption that will help the child become more independent in later years.

2. Returning to previous work can bring with it challenges to our self-esteem. Having been away for several months or years you may feel like the ‘new kid’ at school again and perhaps that work related things have moved on. Remember that it is natural to feel unnerved in such a situation. Reassure yourself that it is completely normal to feel uncomfortable in the first couple of weeks but we are creatures of adaption and you will soon slot back into a routine that feels familiar.

3. Additionally, you may worry that changes have been made in your absence that you may not be able to cope with. Ensure your family, friends and partner knows that you are worried so that they can reassure you. It should be a positive thing to have some independence and a separate life away from home.

4. In cases where you are looking to start a new job after having a baby I would suggest brainstorming a list beforehand of everything that is unique about you. Asking family and friends what your positive attributes are is a great way of finding out how others view you. Walking into an interview room with a clear idea of your strengths will help you to ‘sell’ yourself to the employer.

5. Remember that becoming a mother has equipped you with fantastic life skills that are transferrable to the workplace such as time management and the ability to juggle a million jobs at once! Having a child is a life changing experience and many say that they feel a different person as a result including more patient and more empathetic.

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Returning to work after having a baby

For many years psychologists have studied negative emotion such as anger, fear and anxiety, because our flight or fight response to negative stimuli is essential for survival.

During the 1980’s and 90’s big companies such as IBM and Microsoft had picked up on the potential of instilling fear, uncertainty and doubt in the minds of potential customers who might be considering their rival’s products. By causing people to question the merit of other companies and products, they were able to persuade them into a sale.

Marketing, sales and HR have all used fear to persuade people for their own success, however focusing on the negative can be limiting. From a neurological point of view, once our brains realise that the fear stimulus is not an immediate threat we are likely to ignore it.

It is true that our attention automatically zaps to negative messages and many think that this is an overriding factor in persuading people to buy however this is in fact a misconception. Just because our attention automatically goes to something, we will not necessarily take action because of it.

Once the brain realises that the stimulus is not an immediate threat, it is likely to ignore it, making the process highly ineffectual if it is reliant on people taking action. So whilst businesses for years have used people’s vulnerabilities to cajole and sell to, there are many prospective clients who are simply not being ‘captured’.

The retail industry tends to understand this more than the financial industry, but there is much room for improvement across the spectrum. Motivation to buy or invest is far more effective when positive stimuli are used because areas of our brain seek out to approach reward.

In recent years, partly due to the advent of modern neuroimaging techniques, research has also embraced studying positive emotion. Finding positive emotional messages helps us feel good, which in turn attracts us and makes us want more. Positivity generates hope, resilience and a sense of control and we are more likely to actually do something when we are attracted to the idea rather than frightened towards it.

A good example is our motivations to write a Will. We all know we should do it, but we avoid it because it makes us think of our own mortality. But if we consider leaving money in trust to help our grandchildren go through university, this positive feeling can help us embrace the idea and action it.

The same phenomenon is seen in business on an individual level. We all choose the more interesting piece of work to do first, or work a bit harder on our favourite clients. We fulfil the jobs that offer us rewards first.

Positivity works and that is why it is more crucial to the success of business than focusing on fear-inducing tactics. We are simply more galvanized when feeling positive rather than negative and businesses need to strive to take this into account if they want to become or remain leaders.

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Does fear or positivity produce the best results

Life was good and sales were easy. Morale was high, sales figures were glowing and egos were running amok. But still the questions were are we maximising opportunities, resources, objectives, systems and priorities? Needless to say these questions were rarely discussed.

Then in the 1990s things took a down turn. A declining market and recession meant a different style of management. Levels of negativity were high, forecasts were ‘dressed up’ and the consequences were severe.

Still the questions were are we maximising opportunities, resources, objectives, systems and priorities? This time they were talked about with urgency and a high dose of stress.

Performance management should be a priority in up times as well as down. It is economically dangerous to wait until crisis level. Monitoring and maximising behaviour and results right from the employee through the department and the organisation as a whole takes planning, reviewing, evaluating and planning again.

Of course, on-going data collection on efficiency of systems and processes needs to be collected and assessed. Increasingly however, data on short and long-term goals, individual and team management to identify and develop talent, and monitoring improvements in all levels of performance needs to be kept up-to-date regardless of the state of the market.

Ask yourself this: do all employees have a clear understanding of what is expected of them? Do managers regularly discuss the individual’s needs as well as the needs of the organisation? Excellent management is an ongoing process and when we get it right performances from all employees improve.

This list can be quite overwhelming, but using a well thought out plan that everyone agrees with will make the process easier, time efficient and effective.

Naturally in the 21st century, we continue to see up times and down times, but when we employ consistently excellent performance management techniques we have a better chance of avoiding a crisis.

3 Tips for effective performance management

1. Good business needs a healthy workforce and this starts with performance management that is consistent and transparent to avoid stress in the workplace. When cortisol one of the stress hormones is over stimulated for an extended period, we experience, memory loss, high blood pressure and possible depression. Expensive and unnecessary.

2. Psychologically, an agreed plan that has considered everyone’s input will promote responsibility and accountability. Both highly necessary for efficiency and well-being.

3. Our motivation and reward systems in the brain galvanise into action with energy and enthusiasm. It’s not always about money. By taking a little bit of time to find out what motivates our people, we can push business up to the next level and beyond.

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Why performance management is important in good times and bad

There is no doubt that loyalty yields increased profits, but we need to start at the beginning to get it right.
Loyalty is concerned with emotions and memory in the brain. Loyalty develops when we build a specific bond to someone or something based upon a feel good factor, such as extra kindness, thoughtfulness or material gain. These activate the reward systems, so that we feel more motivated to seek that reward, thus repeating our ‘good’ behaviour.

So how can we reward loyalty? As business leaders however, consider this, are we an example of the qualities we look for in our employees? Simply put do we demonstrate the loyalty we require from others? If not we will be seen as having neither honesty nor integrity and will not receive loyalty in return.

If however, we are leading a hot bed of fully engaged and loyal staff, how do we acknowledge and show our appreciation?

Our first thoughts often lie with monetary rewards in terms of an increase in salary, bonuses, stock options, merchandise etc. Research in motivation, incentives and inspiring talent shows however that there are more effective ways of rewarding people. Of course, if someone is in a low paid job then money is a real concern, but even those who are only just above this threshold are more motivated by other means of recognition too.

Since childhood we work for praise and this doesn’t change. When our efforts are noticed and mentioned we will exceed expectations. This is normal, but there is more to it than that. How is that praise delivered – in open forum or in a private conversation with our boss or head of the company? In actual fact all three should be used.

An announcement internally is highly effective, but a personal conversation up-line is powerful. Especially if the boss is interested in the well-being of the employee. Does that boss know the name(s) of the employees family? Is that boss interested in their development? When an employee knows that they are heard and someone is interested in their growth they will work that extra mile.

Loyalty is the key to business success. Hear your employees, talk to your employees, command respect from your employees and don’t forget to say thank to your employees for all their hard word.
Here are some tips to rewarding loyalty:-

1. Keep up a routine of weekly or biweekly meetings with your staff. At these meetings you should ensure that staff are fully informed of company plans, new hiring’s, client wins and losses and more. Ask them to be involved in the meetings and to come to them with ideas.

2. Organising a night out at least once a year can help you engage with your employees on a personal level. Let your hair down (carefully) and show your employees that you’re not so serious and can have fun too.

3. Everyone appreciates being appreciated, so make sure you praise your employees when they have worked hard and when they have succeeded. Giving rewards and incentives is a great way to show your appreciation.

4. Never take credit for work that your employees have done, give credit where credit is due.

5. Take time to understand what your employees want to achieve and what their interests are. With this understanding you can help train them in the most suitable areas so that they are able to progress to where they want to be. Try to continually motivate your staff to fulfil their ambitions and help where you can to get them there.

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Rewarding Staff Loyalty

There is no doubt that over optimism can be harmful if too distant from reality. Take for instance physical health warnings. If we ignore them believing everything will be fine, we are in danger of making things worse. The same goes for business. If we consistently fall short of our sales targets resulting in poor cash flow it won’t be long before banks shut us down.

Naivety in business is foolish, but it is also counterproductive to adopt a doom and gloom pessimistic attitude that demotivates both the workforce and customers.

On the other hand, to appropriately acknowledge what is really going on and learning from mistakes is both rational and positive. This is when believing the glass is half full is truly valuable.

Realistic optimism however, needs to begin with employee engagement. When staff benefit from leaders who tell the truth about the business, trust their people to do a good job and give them the support they need all wrapped up in positive, energetic drive from the top, employees will be completely on board with moving the business forward.

Clarity and focus internally clears the way for clarity and focus on customers. This can only come from an optimistic outlook based on solid foundations of cooperation, cohesion and FUN! Full employee engagement leads to happy customers and increased sales.

Once positive momentum begins and business is going well it is important not to allow enthusiasm to morph into over extending or over estimating projections and plans. To maintain realistic optimism regular meetings are needed to monitor if anything is going wrong and nip it in the bud before damage is done and, of course, to celebrate successes.

The glass half full in business is both powerful and effective, but it needs a conscious and persistent reality check to be truly successful.
www.drlyndashaw.com

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Glass half full business thinking

Think of those you know who make good leaders. Are they innovative and creative? Are they analytical and concise? Are they good at juggling shareholders and banks? Most leaders are at least one if not all of these and more. However, these talents are of little use if they cannot be communicated well.

Good communication is the basis of everything. Some are natural communicators, others are not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve on these vital skills.

Recently, whilst working with a newly appointed CEO it became apparent that he preferred to use emails whilst delivering messages and couldn’t understand why people were either not doing as he asked or misunderstood the messages and wasted valuable time going down the wrong path.

After discussion it transpired that he didn’t feel confident in his newly appointed job and was worried that if he met people face to face they may ask questions that he couldn’t answer. By receiving questions via email gave him the time to double check replies to make sure he got it right. He also liked a trail of ‘evidence’ as to what had been said.

Emailing is fine to arrange meetings, clarify, share information, to quickly fulfil a task and to summarise, but to communicate effectively and to build relationships it should really be done face to face, via a conference call or Skype when possible.

The first rule of communicating well is to respect one another and allow each person to express their views. It is important to put yourself in other people’s shoes in order to help understand their frustrations and feelings. It is therefore wise to enter discussions with a clear view of the points to cover, but at the same time an open mind in order to benefit from constructive feedback. Remember that communication is an exchange of information and ideas.

As a business leader it is often the case that the points needing discussion are part of a bigger picture which employees may not be aware of. It is a good idea to paint the picture for others in order for them to fully understand the context of those particular messages. People do not know what they do not know, so never assume. Instead be clear what you want to say and add “which means that’ in several places, even if this is only a silent reminder in your head to help deliver the whole story. This is also a great time to show a bit of enthusiasm. Deliver messages with some energy to help inspire others.

Of course, clarifying understanding and seeking agreement is essential and once established a debate on what actions are needed, who needs to do them and by what time is the next step.

This is when emailing is highly useful in order to summarise the meeting to all involved, so that there are no loose ends.

These steps are logical, but when we are flying around with a million things to do it’s hardly surprising that sometimes we are not effective communicators. That’s why we need reminding.

There is however, one more step to take. Follow up. At the agreed designated times is the work done? If not, what went wrong. Could it be that the original meeting wasn’t as effective as you thought? Rather than become angry, assess if there is still a problem with communication. Perhaps it’s something quite simple, but you won’t know unless you talk about it.

www.drlyndashaw.com

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Effective communication for leaders