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Read Between the Lines

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: The majority of feedback on your leadership performance, especially if it’s negative, will come between the lines, not explicitly or literally. You need to develop a sixth sense for sniffing out signals and decoding them. Reading body language well is a good way to accomplish this. This article highlights some tips for reading between the lines.

Read Between the Lines

Look for changes in conditions that may relate back to you. If a normal behavior pattern has shifted recently, it is worth checking. To illustrate, here are a few examples of changes you could encounter:

• You might become aware of a strategy meeting at a level you would normally attend. This time you were left off the invitation list without explanation. You checked with the administration person, who acted a little flustered and said that's what "they" wanted.

• Suppose you typically get a complementary note from your boss after your monthly "town meeting" but haven't received one for the past three events. There doesn't seem to be a specific issue, but the support level has shifted. It could be an overload condition with your boss or a mild signal that you are out of favor.

• You might catch a couple managers chatting in the lunchroom. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice they were looking at you but looked away quickly when you saw them.

• You notice a group of people huddled in the work area and, as you get closer to the group, they quickly disperse back to their work. As you talk to each one, they appear friendly and have no specific complaints, but they also seem a bit cool and somber.

• You notice that a close peer has started sitting farther away from you during staff meetings. You and he have previously enjoyed some interesting sidebar conversations that are no longer possible. It could be you need a new deodorant, or it could be an indication of a subtle rift caused by something you said or did. Another explanation is the boss might have gotten to your friend, asking that you two knock off the sidebar discussions. Check into it.

• You have a topic important to you that has been placed last on the agenda for the past several staff meetings. Time ran out and your agenda item has been rescheduled for a future date.

• You find out from your financial analyst that the boss wants to do an extra review of your year-to-date numbers. You didn't get a call directly from the boss on this.

Don't become consumed with this kind of detective work and get paranoid. Just keep alert to things that don't seem to fit and do some investigating when you spot them. Often the reason is just some random issue that will blow over. If a pattern emerges, bring it up delicately, find out what you are doing wrong, and deal with it.

Excellent communication is never more important than during any kind of transition. Helping people deal with change is a critical leadership function. A good rule of thumb is to at least double your communication efforts when you are in transition. One of the most challenging transitions is when an incumbent leader moves out of a position and a new leader takes over. Special care is required to keep the organization focused during this time.

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Article Tags: Between the lines, communication, leadership trust assessmant



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