THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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The new communication of leadership

The new communication of leadership

LANGUAGE is the reason that we’re all able to communicate with one another. Whether it’s through speech, written words or body language, we understand them because of common language.

As young as infancy, non-verbal communication was how we got the attention of mother. As we grew, we learn a common language and develop speech. Then as adults, we take it further and specialise the language in our field of work.
Leadership itself is also a language. You lead your people through the language of leadership. However, leadership is like every other language – there are contexts to consider and different styles of communicating. There’s just no way there’s one-size-fits-all with language.
Unfortunately, many business leaders tend to use a one-size-fits-all approach. It may be the most convenient way of leading, however, it is not exactly the most effective.
Michael Ventura, entrepreneur, author, designer and CEO of award-winning strategy and design practice, Sub Rosa, shares in his book Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership that business leaders need to speak the new language of leadership to gain better self-awareness and a deeper understanding of others in order to solve the problems of our world.
But the reality is, the new language of leadership is time-consuming and emotionally draining. It is not an end goal you try to achieve, but a skill you must practise every day. Although it can be tiring, it can bring you and your organisation a new level of success. Here’s what you can benefit from learning the new language of leadership and applying it in your organisation.
First, you’ll become more self-aware and open up new perspectives. With self-awareness, you’ll better understand your own biases and assumptions towards all the things around you. You’ll understand when you’re being biased and how to keep it in mind when you’re leading your people.
The new language of leadership calls for you to open your mind and eyes, see what others see, and truly understand them. The reason this is important is because we all have different perspectives as to how we view the world. When you take into account the different perspectives of others around you, you begin to understand better. 
This brings us to the second point - increased ability to solve complex problems in new ways. With new perspectives in mind, you’ll better understand how others would solve the problem. This opens up your mind to a new way of doing things. 
To solve problems in the most effective way, taking into account the different angles of the problem is necessary. As a result, you might even come up with a hybrid of different solutions that can solve even the most complex problems in your organisation. But this can only happen if you’re willing to open your mind.
Third, you’ll be able to sense urgency better and adapt accordingly. Our world moves faster than ever before and the old way of doing things can no longer sustain business. The new language of leadership allows you to adapt to different people and situations.
Additionally, organisations usually have annual plans to follow through to achieve business goals. The truth is, things around us change suddenly and quickly. Sometimes we’re unprepared for the sudden changes and the plan can become redundant. 
In order to keep up, the new language of leadership gives us the right mindset and understanding in order to adapt to the world as fast as it changes.
Fourth, you’ll have a better and wholesome understanding of yourself, your people in the organisation and your customers. When you’re able to see and understand the perspective of others, you also need to understand its importance towards solving problems in your organisation. 
Michael Ventura has shared his experience with using the new language of leadership to solve the problem with General Electric’s (GE) on why women weren’t keen on their mammography appointments or avoid them completely. Through the new language of leadership, they understood that the women needed to be in a comfortable space to even begin sharing their experiences. Through that they eventually understood what those women were going through.
Fifth, you’ll continuously become a better leader as you learn to speak the new language of leadership. As mentioned, the new language of leadership is time-consuming. Practising it and consistently doing so, allows you to be able to create a habit out of trying to understand others better.
It is important to keep in mind that with anything valuable and sustainable, it takes a lot of time, effort and patience. The new language of leadership is a powerful way to move your business forward to greater success. As Michael Ventura writes in his book, the new language of leadership “lets us better understand the people we are trying to serve and gives us perspective and insight that can drive greater, more effective actions”.

Contributed by ARINYA TALERNGSRI, Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup), Southeast Asia’s leading Executive, Leadership and Innovation Capability Development Centre. 
She can be reached by email at [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa 
For daily updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/seasiacenter 
 

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