I knew that it had been a long time since my last blog post, I now realise that it has been almost 3 years and 1 month from my last post! I was almost too embarrassed to start again.
So here it is, my new blog post, and my new resolve to blog more frequently.
I have been active on other social media–Facebook and Instagram–where most of my posts are about food… food I cook, food I eat at new or favourite outlets, and food I eat during my travels… you get the picture…
I was inspired to write this post about communication because of my recent thoughts.
Masterchef Australia’s latest season is playing on Singapore TV and I’m always so impressed by the communication skills of one of the judges, Gary Mehigan. He has a way of always choosing the most appropriate words, enabling him to give critique that is constructive, without sounding critical, much like another one of my favourite reality show judges–Tim Gunn of Project Runway.
The other thing that they do, is that they engage in authentic, neutral communication, stating their views purposefully without being harsh or apologetic. They say it like it is, clearly and directly, neither being critical, nor apologising before stating their views for fear that it may hurt the other person’s feelings.
With authentic, neutral communication, they do not undermine their own authority, and are respectful to the person they are addressing.
In fact, being authentic is key to good communication, and it is especially important for leaders. My post today was also inspired by my PR client, Jean-François Cousin of Greatness Leadership Coaching, a global executive coach and trainer who wrote the book “Game Changers at the Circus: How Leaders Can Unleash Greatness in Their Organisations”, a business fable, complete with a leadership workbook. Jean-François advocates that in today’s VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) that we work in, we cannot ignore collaboration. Collaboration throughout the organisation can lead to high performance. This means, collaboration within our own teams, as well as with other teams from other departments.
In order for collaboration to happen and to become a culture within an organisation, the leader of the organisation would need to be authentic and create a culture of authenticity.
Therefore, authenticity is the key to strong communication skills in today’s VUCA world.
