Are you OVER or UNDER communicating?

As a leader, do you tend to OVER or UNDER communicate?

In our 25+ years of coaching and consulting, we’ve listened to many people who are dissatisfied with their leaders and companies because of the lack of communication.

When we talk to those leaders, they cite various reasons like these, for not communicating:

• I’m too busy.
• I don’t have a specific decision that I can communicate yet.
• I’m unsure of what I want to communicate.
• I don’t want to overwhelm them with too much communication.

All of these reasons are fair, and yet, lack of communication can create an unproductive and tense environment.

For example, when there is silence from leadership, people make up stories about what must be happening behind the scenes, they aren’t able to focus on their work, and they can become resentful.

We were reminded again of a study by Francis Flynn and Chelsea Lide, at The Graduate School of Stanford Business. The study found that while many people see overcommunication as a burden for employees, undercommunication is more detrimental.

The article goes on to say that, “employees judged their undercommunicating leaders as lacking empathy and, in turn, leadership ability.”

Whether you increase the frequency of your 1:1s (a good rule of thumb is 2-4 times per month), start sending weekly updates to the team, or create 10-minute morning huddles with your group, it’s important to make those connections, so that people feel they matter.

When people feel they matter, they’re more motivated, engaged, and successful.

This week, consider whether you’re communicating enough to your employees. If you want to increase your effectiveness, think about what additional communication from you, could look like. And then do that!

Let us know how it goes.