Lead In 30 Podcast

Start Communicating Powerfully: Say Less!

• Russ Hill

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Some of you can't help yourselves. Most of us can't. We start talking in meetings and it's this endless wave of points and data and stories and reasons and explanations and side stories and jokes and then everyone is left wondering what in the world we even said. We need to change. In this episode Lead In 30's Russ Hill digs into:

• The significance of effective communication in leadership 
• Practical tips for concise messaging 
• The impact of clarity in key performance metrics 
• Importance of engaging and responsive dialogue 
• Call for self-reflection on personal communication style

In other words.... let's learn how to communicate more powerfully!

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About the podcast:
The Lead In 30 Podcast with Russ Hill is for leaders of teams who want to grow and accelerate their results. In each episode, Russ Hill shares what he's learned consulting executives. Subscribe to get two new episodes every week. To connect with Russ message him on LinkedIn!



Speaker 1:

How do you strengthen your ability to communicate with others?

Speaker 1:

The power of just one word in this episode. This is the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill. You cannot be serious, strengthen your ability to lead in less than 30 minutes. We are back at it in the new year 2025 at the time that we're pushing this episode out. Hopefully you had a fantastic break, the holidays, happy new year, all of that and hopefully Q1 of 2025 is off to a great start. Q1 is so critical in business, right? Some of you are in industries and organizations where the first month of the year is insane it's so busy. Others, it's like this slow rebuild, like this slow recalibration or powering the systems back up and getting people back on their game. If that's the case, wow, that just puts you in such a hole for, uh, for the rest of the year, at least for the first, uh, the first half of it. So hopefully, that's not you. I'm, uh, I'm excited to be back at it doing two episodes of the podcast every week. Again, thanks for your patience as I unplugged over the break to be able to recharge batteries and get off the grid just a little bit. This is the Lead in 30 podcast in less than 30 minutes per episode. We give you a nugget, a framework, a model, a story, an example, something to think about implementing or to consider using in the way that you lead others. Nothing impacts your income, your impact, your ability to scale results to have the lifestyle that you desire more. Nothing impacts all that more than your ability to lead, and it's not a set thing. It's changing. Your ability to lead is either getting weaker or it's getting stronger, based on how much effort and energy and attention you're paying to it. So huge props for listening to this podcast and everything else, anything else that you're doing in order to strengthen your ability to lead.

Speaker 1:

My name is Russ Hill. I make my living coaching, consulting senior executive teams at some of the world's most amazing biggest companies. Lonerockio is our website LoneRockio if you want to find out more about what we do and the 30-day leadership course called Lead in 30. Okay, so I was in the New York area recently, just the last few weeks we were having this conversation with a senior executive team that leads a lot of people, thousands and thousands of team members, down the org chart, across the org chart, and we get in this conversation about communication and how important it is especially when you're leading a team of thousands or thousands of people that are spread out that you're trying to be an executive over to help them deliver the results that you need to, and just the importance of effective communication that came up in the course of our dialogue, and the principle is actually no different for those of you that are leading a team or an organization of five people. I mean it's you know, scale does matter here, or it impacts it or makes it more difficult, but the principle is still the same. I would even argue that effective communication, one-to-one, is critically important, and so I want to give you just a couple of things that are on my mind because of that conversation and share a couple of best practices with you.

Speaker 1:

Get you thinking about it, because some of you are just, you just vomit from your mouth. I mean, I guess that's where you vomit from when you're sick, right, but no, in communication, like in meetings, like you just use so many words, you say so much and yet none of us have any clue what you're talking about. You lose us, you dilute your effectiveness as a leader, as a team member, as somebody working with the customer too, because you just say so much and we have to, like, dig through all of this word salad to try to get to wait. What was your point in that? And there are various reasons why we do this. And if that's you and you're like, oh no, guilty as charged, or you're thinking, no, that's not me and I think I'm pretty good at it, the reality is we all need to get better. This is this is something that we need to continually work on. So let me give you a few things. Not that I'm the master or the expert of it, but obviously I've studied communication throughout my career. So I've got three decades almost four on it now is studying it, let's count, let's call it four and um, and of all the weaknesses and strengths that I have and I got a lot more weaknesses than strengths, but this is one of my strengths and, again, doesn't mean I'm perfect at it, doesn't mean that I have um, have you know that I'm the master of it, but I'm, I'm fairly decent at it. So let me give you some things to think about. The first thing is think before you speak.

Speaker 1:

I was in a virtual meeting this week and with, uh, the CEO of a, of an organization. It's owned by private equity and they're of an organization. It's owned by private equity and they're just starting to use our firm. They're not a very big company and one of our team members asked me if I'd be on the call with the CEO to kind of get the thing started. I'm not going to be involved in it on a frequent basis, but he asked me if I just kind of weigh in and set the tone. And so I did and I'm asking the CEO in this virtual meeting there's some other executives on the call as well.

Speaker 1:

I'm asking him what are the strategic priorities for 2025? Like, what have you defined success? And he said yeah, actually, we, we just rolled it out, we just displayed it or just presented it to the company. I said great, can you tell me what, what you, what you presented, what, what was it? And he said, yeah, actually, can I share a slide? It's right here on my on my computer. I'll just share it with you.

Speaker 1:

I said, awesome, so he puts it up on the screen and it's seven things, right. And actually the slide was incredibly, um, valuable and concise and efficient compared to 90% of what we see out there, and so there were too many words and too many items, but at least he had a slide and at least there were seven and not 70, which is the problem in so many organizations. And so, as he starts sharing it, I said, well, of these seven, um, and they, and they were each one of the seven items was a sentence, right? So it was just this sentence about this and a sentence about that, and I think the title was something like the 2025 pillars or something that was something like the headline of it.

Speaker 1:

And so, as he's showing it to me, sharing his screen, I say to him are there of these seven, are there two or three that are more important than the others? And he said, yeah, actually, these first two are really, really important. I said, okay, well, speak to me about it. Well, like, talk to me about it, tell me the why and explain to me what those things are. Like, cause I'm, I haven't worked in his industry and his industry, and so he's explaining to me well, this is how it works and these contractors and these clients and the reimbursement and this, that. And then I'm like, okay, great, so perfect, thanks, good. And then I said, okay, those two make sense. And I asked a few more questions and then I said okay now, so those are the top two of the remaining five. Is there one that jumps out like it's probably right there with them? He goes oh yeah, it's actually number five on the list and that, that's that's it. So we'll talk to me about that. Why, what does this mean? And explain it to me.

Speaker 1:

While he's speaking, I'm on my computer right, this is a virtual meeting and I'm typing a note and I'm capturing three words hours, engagement margin. That's what he was saying. Now, he talked for 10 minutes, but what he was saying to me was the three most important things that define success in 2025 for us are hours engagement margin. Now, you need some interpretation in order to fully follow what those are. Doesn't matter really. My point in this example is just three words. So while he's talking, I'm trying to capture the essence of what he's saying in the most concise, strong, efficient, effective communication possible.

Speaker 1:

If he goes around his company all year long and he says listen, team, the three most important things we're measuring, we're tracking that matter most are hours engagement margin, and those have specific meaning that everyone in the company knows what they mean. Like hours, there's a specific thing they're talking about and what they're working towards Engagement. It's not what you think, it's something different, but the word they use to describe it is engagement. Everybody knows what that means. And then margin. There's a certain thing that they're working on that everyone's tied to. Everyone can impact that specifically drives margin, margin. So margin was his second or third one. I I suggested he move it to number three because you don't want to lead. That's hard to rally around. Hey, you guys, the most important metrics this year margin deflate the balloon instantly. Right. People understand why margin is important, or profit or whatever else, but you don't want to lead with it, with the masses, and so it's the last thing. And and the other two are more important. So it's just one word.

Speaker 1:

So here's, here's my suggestion to you as you're planning your next meeting, as you're thinking about the conversation you're going to have when you do a one-on-one with that particular team member or you're going to do that market visit. I want you to spend more time thinking about what you're going to say. What are the main messages that you need to get across? What's the objective of this meeting? What is the message that you need this employee or this team to really understand? What is your top priority in this discussion that you just wish you could communicate and what you need to understand a the more diluted the message.

Speaker 1:

And yet you feel the need to keep saying stuff to explain it or justify it, or tell a story around it, or give some context, or, and then you get on this aside because something pops into your brain. You know, I was actually with so-and-so Sally yesterday and she and I were having a conversation about this and I told her about my. I'm like that's how your brain works, it's how all of our brains work. And so these thoughts pop into your mind. You think about Sally, you think about the restaurant you were at, you think about whatever, and you just start sharing what pops in your brain. Stop it. You got to not do that, so you got to allow things to be flowing into your mind for you to visualize and see and think. They need to not come out of your mouth. They stop in your head. You filter that in a casual conversation. Of course you can. That's normal human interaction.

Speaker 1:

But when you're a leader trying to be concise and have effective communication, you got to filter a lot of that out. That takes practice. None of us are great at it, so, um, so you're, you're, you're, you're just trying to get it down to the basic message, and then so I want you to type it into an Apple note, I want you to put it into a word document, I want you to to to have a sheet of paper out in front of you on the airplane or in the hallway getting ready for the meeting, or at your home office, as you're thinking about next week's calendar, as your, whatever it is, I want you to think about it. Well, what's the most important message? What am I trying to convey? Write it out, type it out. Get like five or six bullet points, narrow them down, get it to one or two, shorten that down to four words, three words, one word, if you can get it to be as concise as possible. And then the way to do it, what I've seen work the best, it's most effective, is I'm going to narrow that down to just one or two thoughts, as few words as possible, and I'm going to say okay, team, what I want to get across in this meeting, or what's on my mind, or what I'm what, the point that I need to make, or the top priority that I want us to focus on, is this.

Speaker 1:

Now, before you go to all the context. You might need to provide a little bit right, depending on how familiar they are with it. Might need to provide a little bit right, depending on how familiar they are with it. You might need to provide a little context. But what works really well is state the item. Then, if you need to provide some context, provide that little bit of context, keep it as tight as you possibly can. Then state the item again. You lead with it, then you end with it, right, and then now what you do is so what thoughts does that generate? Team or individual I'm chatting with.

Speaker 1:

What questions do you have? What pops into your mind when I say that now they're going to just give a lot of reaction. This is what. Let them just let them get that out. It's coming regardless. It's coming regardless. So let them talk. Okay, great, good. What other questions do you have? What other thoughts? What other observations would you make? Let them get all that out as they're processing what you said.

Speaker 1:

And then now you really need to craft great questions in response to what they said, because the reason you're having them talk is to see whether or not they heard you, to see what they heard you to see what they heard. So, lisa, based on what you're saying and what I'm hearing you say, is this yeah, mike, what you're saying, if I heard you correctly, is that you're concerned that the priority that I just laid out would interfere with X, y, z. Is that right, mike? Am I capturing that accurately? Yes, perfect, okay, now I'm going to go back in as concise a way as I can. You're really listening and as you're listening, you're thinking what's the most concise way that I can respond to this in a way that validates what they're saying, responds to it, doesn't minimize it at all, doesn't sideline it, but again communicates what I'm trying to get across in the most concise way. Then it's the same process again Okay, so this is what it is.

Speaker 1:

And then you're asking so what questions does that generate? What further insight do you need? What pops in your head when I say that that is how the system works, because what you're trying to do, at the end of the day, what we're trying to do as leaders, is communicate the priority, communicate the ask, communicate the need, and then make sure that they've got it, see if they're aligned to it, see if they heard us, make sure that they've got it, see if they're aligned to it, see if they heard us. And so when I'm asking questions, or I'm giving them a chance to respond or I'm facilitating that dialogue, what I'm really doing, I'm watching them, their facial expressions, their body language. I'm listening and analyzing the words that they're using, the sentences they're using, to see are they aligned? Did they hear me? Did they hear me accurately? Or did they immediately interpret and translate what I said into some other language that works for them and lets them off the hook, or changes it? And so was the message received? Did they get it? Do they understand what I need them to do in relation to what I was just talking about?

Speaker 1:

So you think back to this example that I started with of hours, engagement and margin. So I would say, let's just play this out for just a second. So if I'm going into a meeting with team members inside that particular organization, I'm saying look, our top three priorities are hours, engagement, margin. Mike, when I say hours, what does it mean? I didn't even give any interpretation. I saved all of that. I didn't give stories, I didn't talk about why I picked it or why we think it's a top priority.

Speaker 1:

I'm immediately going, because it's way more efficient to letting Mike respond to that, because Mike's going to say what I would have said Make sense. Or if he doesn't, we got problems. Like, if he responds in a way that's not accurate. That's actually really good data for me to have. Like, mike's got no idea what hours means. Wow, I thought everybody knew. Okay, well, lisa, before I respond and tell them what it is, I say Lisa, mike, mike isn't sure what hours means what? What do you? What are you thinking, or what? What goes through your mind when I say hours as our top priority and then Lisa responds accurately she knows what it means. I'm like, yeah, that's it. She's making the case for it. Mike, do you hear that? What questions does that generate? What Lisa just said? Well, I wonder about this. Okay, great, the second top priority is engagement, bob. What goes through your mind when I say that, linda? Why would we pick engagement as the number two? Why does that matter? Let them make the case. You're just incredibly efficient in what you say. Got it? You understand the point.

Speaker 1:

I just am in so many meetings you all I'm in so many conversations where people just are not effective in their communication. They're saying every thought that comes into their mind. There are, if you were to write out or type out the sentences that come out of their mouth in a meeting, there are 47 commas and the run-on sentence. There are all these additional details and stories and squirrel moments, and so then, and so then I'm listening going. I really have no idea what you're saying, or I'm I'm lost in it, or I kind of caught the first 15 seconds and then I tuned out for the other seven and a half minutes because, and and and you felt the need.

Speaker 1:

We all do, we all do this. We felt the need to add context, a layer of context after a layer of context after a layer of context, story after story after story, example after example after example. It's like we're just massively making this case and and in the end, we dilute what people hear and we come off as incredibly inefficient in our communication. Off, as incredibly inefficient in our communication. So some things to think about in this new year.

Speaker 1:

If you're listening to this at the time we put it out, maybe that's something that we can all focus on. Some of you are better than others at this, so have you been working at it for a while? Others, this is a brand new priority effective, concise communication. It makes you look so much more, so much stronger it it you come across so much more effective. It affects your ability to lead others. Effective communication that's what's on my mind in this episode of the lead in 30 podcast. Share this episode with a colleague, your team or a friend. Tap on the share button and text the link. Thanks for listening to the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.