Communication and talking...

Communication is very important aspect in our professional lives. More so for a leader. As a leader, you will need to communicate your plans, goals, vision etc to your teams.

I always used to think highly of myself when it came to communication, the reason being that I was educated in English all along, reasonably well read, had interacted with clients who were non-indians both native english speakers and others, pretty early in my career with success. So when I became a lead, I thought it was but natural for me to be a good communicator with my team.

As they say pride goes before a fall, I did fall but thankfully the fall was not from a good height to get hurt badly nor was visible to many people.

As a lead, during my early days, I always thought that being a good communicator means that I need to talk well, fluently, convey my idea. That's it. During these days, I would talk a lot in my team meetings, talk about small and big things, talk about my ideas etc. I always loved to hear my voice.

But what I failed to realise is that communication is not just "talking" but more than that. As a good communicator, a leader needs not only to convey his ideas fluently but also needs to ensure that the team understands this. The important aspect in communication is the ability of the leader to make the team understand what he / she says. Translation of the message to the team is very important. Later on, comes the buy-in or the subscription of your views by the team.

More on communication next week as well. Until then, take care.

ps: I love to meet freshers coming out of college when they join my project. But as always I talk a lot in these meetings and these poor folks, do not have a choice but to hear me out. But I always give a warning. Several months after meeting once such group, after a bit of familiarity was built, one person came to me and said "raghu, the warning that you gave on you talking is true. You really did talk a lot the day we met you".

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