4 ways PRINT can help leaders improve their communication skills
Did you know 44% of employees don’t feel senior leaders are providing clear direction about where their organisation is heading? Here are four proven, powerful ways that PRINT® will supercharge the way your leaders communicate and connect.
Imagine your senior leaders were consciously mindful of the drivers behind their behaviour. If they could understand how to connect with every employee to achieve the best outcomes – and keep productivity and engagement on a high. What possibilities might that unleash?
Whether your organisation is a multi-division corporate giant or a small fledgling start-up, leadership is hugely important to your success.
And like us, you’ll know that to be the kind of powerful leader that communicates effectively with your team, first you need to know how to lead yourself.
Great leaders provide the guidance and insight your people need to succeed in their roles.
Leaders play a significant role in your organisation’s culture. And their communication skills can make or break a critical engagement project.
Effective leaders know how to get results by inspiring and engaging employees. Yet around 70% of employees lack confidence in senior leaders who are disengaged.
To increase trust in your senior managers’ ability to lead, you need to improve communication between the C-Suite and the front line. Sound simple? Yes. But we’ve found many leaders struggle with this on a day-to-day basis – resulting in poor productivity and performance from employees.
As internal communicators, we dedicated loads of our time to helping leaders improve and enhance their communication skills.
Adding PRINT® into the mix unlocks a whole new level of insight – insight that reveals how leaders behave, act and respond to certain situations.
And insight that shines a light on how leaders can adapt their behaviour to communicate in a way that grabs everyone’s attention and motivates them to succeed.
So, what is this magic tool called PRINT®?
Perhaps you’ve uncovered which colour you are with insights. Or mapped out a behaviour profile with MTBI.
These tools are useful. But they only describe ‘Above the Waterline’ behaviours – as in, they describe the stuff we can already see in ourselves and others, if we took the time to notice.
PRINT® goes one step further. It identifies the deep-rooted motivators that influence how we act on the surface. So, we’re not just aware of what we do, but understand why we do it. And this unique knowledge gives us the power to change what we do – for the better.
Perhaps you can think of a time where you’ve felt like you could take on the world – and achieve anything you put your mind to? This is your Best Self. And PRINT® gives you everything you need to unlock it.
At H&H, PRINT® is part of our everyday language. We know our own unique PRINT®. And we understand each others’ PRINT® profiles. This makes sure we connect and communicate with each other brilliantly, achieve our ambitious goals and work seamlessly as a team.
PRINT® also means we’re consciously aware of when we’re firing on all cylinders versus our unproductive behaviours. So, we can identify – and take action – when something is grinding our gears.
But how can you help your leaders to become more aware of their personal Triggers, so they can communicate, connect and collaborate more productively and positively with the people around them?
Combining research we’ve gathered from our clients and the scientific facts behind this tool, we’ve picked out four ways PRINT® will instantly transform how your leaders communicate.
1. It dramatically hikes up self-awareness
Self-awareness is one of the key elements of emotional intelligence (EI). And EI has proven particularly valuable in leadership.
Yet while most people believe themselves to be self-aware, research by prominent organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich suggests only 10-15% of people actually fit the bill.
Leaders who are highly self-aware are universally considered more effective than those who have lower self-awareness.
Even more powerful are leaders who have exceptional insight into what motivates others – especially those on their teams. Enabling them to modify and adapt their behaviour to suit.
But with true self-awareness being such a rare quality, your leaders will likely need a helping hand to develop it. And this is where PRINT® will make the difference.
2. It empowers leaders and teams to embrace change
There’s this idea that people are resistant to change. That they don’t like it. They’ll dig their heels in and stick to ‘the way we’ve always done things’.
But our proprietary research shows people on the whole aren’t resistant to change. Humans have been evolving for millennia. And we’re blimming good at it.
It’s the way change is communicated that throws a spanner in the works.
PRINT® enables leader to understand why change may thrust their teams into shadow behaviour. It gives them the language to communicate change more effectively.
And it provides leaders with simple yet powerful strategies to keep themselves and others at the top of their game – even through times of significant uncertainty.
3. It gives leaders the tools to inspire and motivate
PRINT® can help leaders understand what motivates their employees, to create awareness of the strategies needed to bring high productivity and engagement across the organisation.
Having invaluable knowledge and insights into every employees PRINT® profile allows leaders to notice and eliminate potential Triggers before they can cause real damage and send people into Shadow.
Leaders can then put steps in place to maximise Best Self behaviours from employees – so they’re always firing on all cylinders.
4. It makes giving and receiving feedback a joy
For some people, giving and receiving feedback sparks a feeling of dread. For others it’s a treasured gift. Effective feedback can take both a positive or constructive angle, but it’s always incredibly helpful to receive.
In fact, 65% of employees say they want more feedback – and 69% say they’d work harder if their efforts were recognised through feedback.
Yet 40% of people say they currently receive nada, or very little, feedback – and as a result they’re disengaged.
As internal communicators, we need to encourage leaders to offer constructive, motivational and honest feedback.
And thanks to PRINT®, there doesn’t need to be any feeling of dread about it. PRINT® supports leaders to explore strategies that’ll mean they’re confident pros in giving productive feedback.
It also reveals how to receive feedback in a way that reflects the giver’s intentions – in other words, not taking offence where it isn’t due!
Like us, you know the most effective leaders are those who actively seek feedback on their own performance, to create a level playing field and help them improve their leadership style.
And it’s also essential for keeping people out of the dark, so they know how effectively they’re progressing towards their individual and shared goals, and how they could potentially change their approach.
With PRINT®, you’ll transform your culture into one where everyone is supported to be happy, be themselves and achieve success.
Interested in uncovering your PRINT® profile? Get in touch and revolutionise the way you communicate and connect.
Meet Kay
I advise on the psychology and strategy behind H&H’s client projects. I’m known as the model queen (scientific models – not catwalks). Because everything I do is underpinned with robust theory, translated into action and behavioural shift. My question du jour is always ‘so what’? It makes sure our creative approaches have real substance, are meaningful and super engaging.
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