My book review this week is on Dianna Booher’s book – Communicate Like a Leader: Connecting Strategically to Coach, Inspire, and Get Things Done. The title says it all. Several takeaways include:
- Some of her suggestions on how to ask questions that will encourage dialogue – rather than shutting people down, include:
- Use open-ended questions.
- Ask questions that will help differentiate opinions from facts.
- Ask for disagreement or collaboration.
- Use questions wisely to get people to think.
- Don’t be afraid of silence. Listen for what is not being said.
- Tell people when you hire them that you will be providing frequent and regular feedback. Then do that and show people that you are interested in their career growth.
- The LEAD FormatTM is a helpful framework for those who want to learn how to think effectively on their feet.
- L – Lead off with a short summary statement of what you think or feel about a particular situation.
- E – Elaborate on your opening statement using a few reasons or an explanation
- A – Anecdotes are a great way to make your point.
- D – Digest – close with a Reader’s Digest condensed summary of your point. (p. 133)
- When meeting attendance is a problem, try setting up a process so that EVERYONE has to confirm attendance or regret by a certain date. And then, cancel the meeting if you haven’t gotten the response you are looking for. The objective is to put some peer pressure on slow or no responders – in order to encourage a respect for people’s time.
