Leadership comes with a microphone.  The ability to effectively communicate your message is critical to your success.  More specifically, effective vision casting creates organizational alignment and gives clear direction to your entire team.

Without vision, your leadership will never gain traction and your team will then wander aimlessly.

In the November 18th edition of USA Today, columnist Darrell Delamaide discussed the struggles Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is having with her presidential campaign messaging.

First, let me say this is not a political post.  I will not get into the details of Delamaide’s analysis or Secretary Clinton’s campaign.  However, the lessons gleaned from his article are applicable to anyone leading a church, business, non-profit or athletic organization.

The following are 11 Results Of Leaders Who Poorly Convey Their Message:  Notice the downward trend of what happens when messages are poorly conveyed.

  1. You Will Make Mistakes Conveying Your Message – No communicator is perfect and mistakes will be made.
  2. You Can Recover From Your Mistakes – People are generally forgiving of their leaders.  They want you to win.  You just need to avoid the following nine mistakes.
  3. You Cannot Overcome A Continually Poorly Conveyed Message – It will become your leadership Achilles’ heel.  You will not be able to connect with those you are trying to serve.
  4. A Poorly Conveyed Message Will Not Make Sense – There will be a lack of clarity.  Your thought process and reasoning are viewed as illogical.
  5. A Poorly Conveyed Message Is Not Accurate – The facts of your message simply do not line up.
  6. A Poorly Conveyed Message Lack Self-Awareness – People buy into you before they buy into your message.  You do not know how you are personally and your message in general are being perceived.
  7. A Poorly Conveyed Message Makes You Defensive – You become angry when the details of your message are questioned.
  8. A Poorly Conveyed Message Causes You To Lose Credibility – The stories get larger.  Because you are not connecting with your audience, you over-compensate by exaggerating which causes you to lose credibility.
  9. A Poorly Conveyed Message Causes You To Become Angry – You have moved beyond just being defensive.  You now lose composure and show your temper because of a lack of buy-in.
  10. A Poorly Conveyed Message Avoids The Real Issues – You do not address hard facts or core issues.  Your message has now completely been lost.
  11. A Poorly Conveyed Results In You Losing The Support Of Your Most Loyal Followers – You are now the issue.  People know longer buy-in to you.

Do you see yourself anywhere on this continuum?  If so, now is the time to make corrections before you lose the support of your most loyal followers.

Screen Shot 2015-06-24 at 8.35.12 PM

Please click the link on the left to subscribe to this site and receive my latest FREE Ebook 969 Leadership Quotes: Timeless Truths From The 2015 Passion, Velocity, Orange and Leadercast Conferences.  The lessons contained will inspire, equip, stretch and grow you as a leader.  Enjoy!!!

, , ,

Designed by Rolla Creative