Leaders communicate to different type of audiences. They speak to a wide range of concerns and in a variety of contexts. They should be able to adapt their message as per the audience and the context.
Different constituencies have different understanding, priorities, challenges and interests.
Your leadership team may have a higher level of perspective and access to a lot of high level information. Their awareness and understanding of the enterprise level situation and challenges would be higher. Communicating with them should be adapted to the high level context.
Department managers may not be aware about all the issues about the company. While talking to them, discussion needs to be focused on their respective department’s priorities, teams and their interactions with other departments.
All-hands town hall meetings involve different levels of employees together. Their awareness and understanding levels vary largely. While talking in such meetings, general topics can be discussed which can be relevant and familiar to all the employees.
One-to-one meetings must focus on the very specific issues on hand. Communicating to the investors and shareholders should address their specific concerns. On the other hand, customers need assurance and confidence.
Being mindful of the context and the concerns of the receivers is a hallmark of effective leadership communication. Leaders must exercise this wisdom. Mixing up of contexts generates confusion and avoidable drama.
Great leaders know the importance of contextual adaptation and calibrate their communication as per the receiver’s concerns.
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