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By Navisha Bechan-Sewkuran, Corporate & Government Affairs Lead: Sub-Saharan Africa at Mondelēz International

Effective leadership communication requires a flexible, intentional, and transparent approach. While many efforts are made to market products and services well externally, where many businesses fall short in connecting all the dots to reach that external audience is in communicating internally in an effective way, writes Navisha Bechan-Sewkuran, Corporate & Government Affairs Lead: Sub Sahara Africa at Mondelēz International.

A business with a clear internal communication strategy will have a more engaged workforce, which ultimately leads to greater productivity and the achievement of business goals. If the messages coming from leadership are clear and are reaching people in the right ways on the right platforms, then people will better understand their roles in the company and why certain things are moving in a particular direction. They feel more in control of their deliverables; know more about how they are being enabled to deliver; and how their role contributes to the overall success of the organisation.

 Communicating for engagement

In an organisation without clear communication, colleagues can become disengaged because they’re performing tasks without a clear picture of how that task contributes to the bigger picture. If they didn’t know that they had to complete the task in the first place, that can result in failures within the business. What looks like a lack of vision is often just a lack of understanding. That leads to poor productivity and, often, chaos.

The vision, mission, and purpose statements of companies are often drawn up by leaders, but if those aren’t shared with or fully understood by the people in the rest of the organisation, across multiple levels, then people will remain unclear about what it is they’re working towards, while management can get frustrated because they’ll feel that it’s all been outlined. Making sure messages are not just created but understood can help organisations function better and drive everyone towards a common goal.

When those messages are universally understood, people are brought together, and that helps create connections. Creating connections between team members and managers is essential to minimising frustrations and misunderstandings. I mean genuine, human connections here. If I know what makes you tick, how you react to certain situations makes more sense to me. As a manager, if I explain why I’m pushing hard for a certain deliverable, you’ll understand why I need it and when I need it. As a manager, I must also understand you, so I know what your pain points are and how I can help you deliver.

Read the 13th edition of Top 500 and learn about South Africa’s best-managed companies for 2023 here:

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New is the norm.

The ‘new way of working’ that arose during and just after COVID-19 is no longer new; it’s the norm, but many organisations are still struggling to find ways to manage connections in a hybrid work environment. A lot of this is down to how communication flows within the organisation.

If you have clear processes in place within the organisation and your teams are aware of and on board with them, you remove so much potential for misunderstandings and miscommunication. The hybrid world demands more structure: regular weekly catch-ups that are adhered to, how to manage the virtual equivalent of bumping into someone in the corridor of the office and remembering something you needed to ask them, and having intentional social interactions that help foster that connection.

There may also not be one method of communication that works for everyone, but then that needs to be negotiated and understood within each team. Nobody should feel pressured to be in the office just because that’s what their manager prefers, nor should they be forced into digital interactions in a way or at a time that isn’t agreed upon. This is certainly easier in smaller teams than in larger ones, but both teams and leaders should be adaptable to be able to meet each other on platforms that are suitable for both sides.

 Sharing leaders

It’s fine to say that leaders have to make concessions to manage different team members, but they also need to share things about themselves so that their people understand them better too. This is the basic foundation of a successful two-way communication process. If you, as a leader, share your personality with your teams, they’ll have a better insight into how, what, and why you communicate like you do, which can only foster more open lines of communication. That also means creating a space where team members can ask about leaders’ ways of thinking so that they better understand them.

 Generational mix

The modern workforce incorporates people across the age spectrum, largely Gen X, Gen Z, and Millennials. Younger people are more emboldened and don’t accept hierarchies as easily as older workforce members might, which can lead to friction. More established members of the workforce may have a stronger appreciation for tradition than newer ones or want to communicate in different ways on different platforms.

There’s plenty of work to be done here by teams in communicating their expectations and feelings – and being open enough to question why certain things are done in particular ways – to ensure their effective operation. Having everyone listen to each other broadens our understanding within the team and can help us understand our diverse customer bases better too, all leading to more effective communication. Again, this has to be a two-way street to be effective for all parties, and older team members should embrace the opportunity to learn something new from their younger counterparts.

Tips for effective leadership communication

Firstly, I’d say that developing connections between people—from leaders to teams, teams to leaders, and intra-teams—is essential. By developing connections, you realise commonalities and find more points of engagement, translating into easier and more effective communication.

Secondly, active listening is important. That’s a combination of listening, hearing, and questioning in an effort to actively understand what someone is saying – what their overall message is – and be able to translate that across the team.

Lastly, being adaptable when communicating is a must. The world is changing rapidly all the time, so leaders need to understand the context within which communication is taking place and how that needs to influence the message, platform, and timing.

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