For those who have never worked from home before now, you’ll want to prepare by doing the following:

Take inventory (literally) of what you need to effectively do your job

At first, it’s easy to think that if you’ve got your laptop, you’re all set. Before making this assumption, take a moment to really think about how you work and the important tasks you need to get done. What files do you need to access? Do you need to print physical copies or ship things overnight? What else do you use to perform your job well and independently?

If your job requires you to collaborate with others often, figure out how you might replicate those work channels. Will you use Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Zoom, or other platforms? And, keep in mind that this isn’t your decision alone. You may need to decide as a team which platform works best for everyone.

Ensure you have a strong virtual presence

Just like you wouldn’t show up to work disheveled, make sure your virtual presence is equally put together. Does your home workspace reflect how you want people to see you? What, exactly, do people experience when they watch you “through the lens”? Here are some questions to consider: Are you dressed appropriately? Is your sound quality strong? Is your camera lighting and set up effective? Is there a risk of annoying or unexpected background noise?

If you are working in your personal space, control the frame that people see. Perhaps you’ll want to move your laundry basket out of the frame. How about that wine bottle you keep on the counter behind you? Remove anything you’d rather others not see. Since it’s a best practice to turn on your camera, the excuse that your webcam is not working will only last for so long.

Create an environment that is easy to work in

Most of us separate our work lives from our home lives and our environment reflects that. If you’re not used to working from home, your home may be filled with distractions. To ensure your own effectiveness, find ways to create a workspace that blocks out those distractions.

Since NYC just closed schools, I have two young kids running around the house. If you can get help from a relative or a babysitter to watch them during key work hours, great! If you and your spouse are both working from home, consider staggering work call times with your spouse in case you need to take turns keeping the kids busy. If you are alone, manage the expectations of your clients and colleagues as you figure out a longer-term solution.

Another practical tip from my colleagues who work 100% remote is to structure your day so you can settle into a regular routine. Decide specific times when your workday starts and ends. Schedule breaks throughout the day since it’ll be unlikely your colleagues will drop by your desk to give you a “natural” break. For some of you with chatty colleagues, this might be a perk.

Stay close and connected

When you work from home, you are increasing the distance on three dimensions – physical, operational, relational. Your goal is to understand how those distances impact you and how you can best minimize them. My colleague, Neha Ratnakar, shares 6 ways to reduce these distances in this article.

If you manage people, proactively connect with your team regularly. Schedule 1-on-1s and periodic check-ins. This is especially important if you typically check in with your team by just dropping by their offices. You may find yourself less able to catch physical cues when someone is not feeling their best. When we’re in the same office and we see someone feeling down, we ask, “Is everything ok?” This is so much harder to pick up on when we’re virtual. Remember to include small talk in your virtual meetings so you stay connected at all levels with your teammates.

Be clear about expectations

Although technology has come a long way to help us effectively engage in remote settings, our productivity is still dependent on the nature of our work and our own comfort level using these technologies. Since it’s easy to assume that we can quickly convert our in-person productivity to virtual, you’ll want to take a step back and ask yourself whether that’s true.

Have a conversation about what is the expected output now that you’re working from home. If you manage others, discuss your expectations and make sure they are realistic. You might also want to leverage email more to make things clear. Consider following up after meetings with a quick email summary of the conversation and confirm your understanding of Who does What by When. For right now, you may also want to add How, at least until we all have a better sense of how to work effectively in this new normal.

There is a lot to think about and this transition can be stress-inducing. You may find that you are less active working from home than you were in the office. Keep up your exercise routine and if you can’t go to the gym because of social distancing, then take a walk or go for a run. On the positive side, if you have a tiring commute or hectic morning routine, you may find that working from home gives you more flexibility and time with family. If you become adept at working remotely, you may also be broadening your career opportunities.

Photo by Bench Accounting

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Below is a list of useful resources I often review and send to high performers who want to continually improve themselves:

Leading People and Organizations

• Mindsets and practices of the best CEOs (McKinsey – pdf version)

• What makes an effective executive (Harvard Business Review)

• Google’s new manager training (facilitator guide, slides, and workbook)

• An atlas of strategy traps (Boston Consulting Group)

• What makes a leader (Harvard Business Review – pdf version)

Communicating Effectively

• Think fast, talk smart (video – Stanford Graduate School of Business)

• Three strategies for introverts to speak up in meetings (Fast Company)

• How to have difficult conversations and stay true to yourself (Lean In – guide)

• A plain English handbook (pdf – Securities and Exchange Commission)

Managing Your Career

• How to pick a career (that actually fits you) (Wait but Why)

• Top 10 practical tips for managing up (LinkedIn)

• The brand called You (Fast Company)

• Why you hate work (NY Times)

Mastering Yourself

• Managing oneself (Harvard Business Review – summary)

• How to get strong (NY Times)

• Why procrastinators procrastinate (Wait but Why)

• How to find a hobby (NY Times)

If you want to go beyond articles and dive deeper into any one of these topics, check out Robert’s book recommendations. If you know of other highly practical resources that you reference frequently, feel free to send them to us or share them in the comments section.

Photo by Syd Wachs

The post Timeless resources to help you be more effective at work (updated Jan 2020) appeared first on Robert Chen.

If you’re aspiring to join the C-suite and beyond, the tips below may help:

Speak effectively about your work

All candidates considered for senior-level roles are qualified. The biggest differentiator is your ability to effectively communicate the work you’re doing. You want to educate others about your accomplishments in a memorable and likable way.  Learn to be a spokesperson for the amazing work you’ve done and share the lessons learned that can help others in the organization. Avoid the trap of focusing only on the pursuit and execution of your goals without communicating the results you’re achieving.

Executive recruiters can’t extract the complexity of what you’ve done from your resume without your narration. Recruiters for senior-level positions expect a healthy list of impactful accomplishments. On-time and on-budget are no longer enough. What grabs their attention is the candidate who can go beyond WHAT they accomplished and articulate HOW they accomplished it.

• Can you clearly demonstrate your ability to bring people along with you?
• Did your relationships deepen after the assignment or did people want to lean away from you?
• How did you drive transformation and what was the specific business impact?

Get personal

One of the board directors at the session mentioned that she was passed up for a C-suite level role because her board didn’t “know her”. She recognized that she only talked about business with the board and skipped the relational stuff, worrying that the board directors were too senior for small talk. Since then, she’s made the time to connect more personally with these important decision-makers and not only did she make it to the top job at her firm, she’s now an independent director on several public and private boards.

Stay connected and be helpful

If you are shooting for a C-suite role, what are you doing to get relevant face time with individuals who are exposed to high-level opportunities? To get in front of key decision-makers, find time to reconnect with senior-level contacts in your industry, grab lunch with executive recruiters, or join a non-profit board. Once you do connect, deepen your impression by finding ways to authentically help the people around you. Sponsors and mentors are also critical. If you don’t have any, that’s a warning sign. According to one executive, if you want others to advocate for you, first, they must like you. Then they must believe you generate good ideas. And lastly, they must believe you can execute.

Take the high-visibility assignments

To get noticed in your organization, work on projects and initiatives that matter. This will probably mean taking a risk that’s outside your comfort zone. Figure out what is keeping your executives up at night and volunteer to help solve their problem. Remember that for senior-level projects, you can’t win by yourself since the scope of your projects will likely be enterprise-wide. You’ll need to work with others to succeed and build a track record of delivering results. What are you doing now to build up your influence structure to succeed across your organization?

Understand and assimilate key trends

In the past, recruiters were looking for leaders who were decisive and could make tough calls. Now, they are also looking for softer skills – the ability to relate to the workforce and think about diversity, to name a few. As an aspiring leader, you should focus on the business impact of prevailing trends. How will artificial intelligence change the profit and loss equation? How do you think through your investments around cybersecurity? How do you leverage international assignments to add value to your company? How does diversity impact your organization?

Focus on Employability as opposed to Employment

When you’re assessing professional opportunities, think about the skills you need to enhance your employability. Don’t get hung up on a particular function, job track, or title. Leverage your current role to improve how you add value and leave the role better than when you found it. Find ways to build core business skills, connect with key stakeholders, and raise your public profile. You want your boss to know that you’re agile and an asset to any employer. Summed up memorably by one of our senior speakers,

“I love you and the organization. But please don’t confuse that with needing you and the organization.” 

Play politics well

In most companies, politics exist because you have limited resources and competing motivations. At the most senior levels, this dynamic is supercharged because ambitions are bigger, and all the players are good at getting what they want. If you’re not willing to play politics, you’ll be a victim of politics. Learn to read the people around you. Are they looking out for themselves or looking out for the organization? What makes them tick?

One board director recalled the importance of asserting yourself without making others look bad. She recounted a time when someone was claiming credit for her work and instead of calling it out, she found it very effective to play dumb. Instead of, “Why are you taking credit for my work?“, she said, “I heard this was represented in this way. Is there anything I can clarify to help you move forward with your goals?” The other person got the message.

Rising to the pinnacle of your organization is not easy but if you can speak effectively about your work, build authentic relationships, and help others achieve their goals, you’ll have a good shot.

Photo by Benjamin Child

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I was catching up with one of my fellow partners after a heated meeting and I found myself apologizing for pushing the team harder than they want to be pushed.

He responded, “Robert, next time, think about this apology before you do what you do. Either don’t push people hard or don’t apologize for it if you feel justified to do so. It’s not effective leadership to keep doing the same thing and apologizing for it.”

This brief comment has been effective in reminding me to think before I act. It has helped me be more purposeful to avoid actions that would require an apology in the future. It has also given me the courage to not apologize for behaviors I don’t feel are wrong.

If you find yourself apologizing frequently for being late, not responding, or being unprepared, think about your apology before you decide to leave your house 15 minutes later, put off an email request, or decide to wing it.

What do you find yourself typically apologizing for?

Photo by Matthew Henry

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Indra mentioned that as a minority (woman and Indian) employee, her work is often discounted. She was able to get to parity by showcasing her competence and being more prepared than anyone else. This need to perform above and beyond just to be considered was echoed by Sol Trujillo, former CEO of Telstra, US West, and Orange.

In addition to being competent, Dr. Nooyi offers the following career advice:

“Invest in communication skills”

As she reflects on the success factors for her career, she emphasized that “packaging is important”. Being able to navigate a difficult problem and meeting and to influence stakeholders to be on board with your ideas are core leadership skills. Confidence is perceived as competence and if you want to be taken seriously, you need to communicate impactfully.

How are you honing your communication skills? What does your packaging say about you?

“Put your hand up for the most difficult assignments …”

“… and deliver on it.“ You’re not going to get the right visibility by fixing easy situations. If you want to get noticed, make positive things happen in challenging areas. Just make sure you’re ready to tackle these tough assignments (see Indra’s point about being competent). Failing to turnaround a bad situation will not help you establish a strong reputation.

What is the most difficult task facing your firm right now? How can you ready yourself to be a part of the solution?

“Embrace life-long learning”

In the past, firms trained the front lines and briefed senior management. With major shifts in technology and business, senior management must stay ahead of their competitors by constantly learning and using that knowledge to develop better strategies. Firms are now training their executives so they can brief their teams. Change management is becoming the norm and it’s forcing all leaders to “read more and question more”.

What was the last thing you learned? How are you staying informed of new technologies in your industry?

During this talk, Indra emphasized how her Asian values and support system contributed to her success.  She recounted how her mother would help her at home and on occasion, her mother would give feedback to her during a business call about how she’s handling the call. Despite having every right to ignore her, Indra would acquiesce and follow her mother’s guidance as a sign of respect. She recognized that if she wanted her parents’ support, she needed to play her role as well.

This story taught me two important lessons: Leverage your heritage as a strength and be kind to your parents (especially when it’s not easy to do so).

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I wish I could say no to everything that didn’t move me closer to my goals but it’s just not easy for me. I have a hard time saying no. I fear missing out on a life-changing opportunity or disappointing the people who come to me for help.

As I balance work, two young kids at home, and an Executive MBA, I find that I’m forced to prioritize and make trade-offs. One mindset shift that has helped me better manage requests is to view my time as a valuable currency that can be invested in activities.

Every request is a pitch for my time and as with all investment decisions, it’s important to do my due diligence. A few questions I find helpful to:

• Ask the person making the request:
  • Why did you come to me with this request?
  • What exactly do you need from me? By when?
  • Who else have you asked?
  • If the other person is my boss, I might ask:
    • How would you like me to prioritize this task?
    • What other projects should I delay or stop doing? 

• Ask myself:
  • Will this activity give me the most return towards one of my key goals or enhance a relationship I want to build?
  • What will I give up if I take this on? What are the opportunity costs? 
  • How else can I help this person without investing too much of my time?

Running through this checklist of questions allows me to slow down the decision process and hear the other person’s reasons for his or her request. If it’s a thoughtless request, it’ll be much easier to say no. If it’s an interesting or worthwhile ask, then I won’t feel guilty taking it on.

Managing my time as investable currency has helped me say no more easily and live life by design and not by default. Hopefully, if you have a hard time saying no, these questions can help you better manage the countless requests that come your way.

Inspired by Bill Jensen and The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier

Photo by XoMEoX

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At some point in your career, you will encounter uncivil situations at work.

Your colleague knowingly takes credit for your work. Your boss berates you and actively blocks your next career move. Your colleague interrupts you in a meeting or checks their email during your presentation.

No matter how others disrespect you, your response to these uncivil situations is what counts.

To preserve the peace, most people let it go and respond with silence. This may work in the short-term but if the issue persists, silence often shifts to violence in the form of passive-aggressive behavior, disengagement or in some cases, real violence.

To be take back control of a situation that seems out of your control, consider the 5 C’s:

Clarity

Get a clear and accurate picture of what is actually happening. What assumptions are you making about the situation and the other person’s behavior?

What you might perceive as being unreasonable or unfair may be legitimate and justified from the other person’s point of view.

For example, if your co-worker jumps in during your presentation at work. You may perceive that action as taking credit for your work while your colleague thought she was jumping in to help you out because you seemed to be struggling.

The best way to challenge your assumptions is to ask the other person why they did what they did. It’s important to keep a neutral tone when you ask as opposed to using an accusatory one. To help you stay neutral, give the other person the benefit of the doubt first.

Contribution

Many times, other people’s actions are a response to your actions.

Look closely at your actions and see if they might be misperceived. A good question to ask yourself,

“Why would a rational, good person do

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When you are great at something, you’ll find yourself with more opportunities than you have time. Now the previously successful, say-yes-to-everything approach begins to hurt you. Not only will you be overwhelmed, but the more serious consequence is that you’ll end up confusing others about your brand.

To continue your success, you need to build and more importantly, maintain a strong brand.

Brands are the shortcuts people use to make decisions. When you buy Coca-Cola or a BMW, you know exactly what you’re getting. When people “buy” you, how sure are they about the quality they’ll get from you? The more uncertain they are, the more likely they’ll invest their time, money and energy with someone else.

To build your brand, take control of how others experience you:

• How you look and make others feel
• What you say and do (and how you say and do it)
• Where you are and are not

Before we look at how you can manage other people’s perceptions in these three areas, you must first be clear on your brand. If you’re not sure, a quick and easy way to get started is to ask yourself:

What adjectives do I want

[my target audience or ideal client] 

to think about when they think about me and my work? 

Take a few minutes and write down 3-4 adjectives you want your target audience to use to describe you. If you don’t have a target audience yet, think about the individuals you enjoy working and interacting with most often. For me, I want high-performing leaders to describe me as practical, focused on excellence, caring and thoughtful.

To build a strong recognizable brand, consistency is key. It’s not enough that you see yourself as the adjectives you’ve chosen, you need others to see you that way as well.

So how do you ensure others will use the same adjectives you chose to describe you?

Below are practical tips based on my work with leaders at Fortune 500 companies and top academic universities:

How you look and make others feel

Think back to an event where you took notice of someone you didn’t know.

The first thing you probably did was to size them up based on what you saw – their dress, their body language and the response they received from others. Processing this visual information, you guessed at their seniority, level of success, job function, etc. This judgement helped you decide whether you approached them to engage and learn more about them.

If you decided not to engage, then your impression is solely based on what you’ve seen. If you do approach them, you further fine-tuned or corrected your assumptions based on what you heard and saw during your interaction.

This automatic tendency to judge based on what we see is natural and a survival instinct. You judge others and people judge you constantly. You want to keep in mind that as you become more successful, the amount of time people have to get to know you at a deeper level drops dramatically. They will judge you based on what they see and the little they know. Unfortunately, in most cases, you won’t be able to correct any faulty assumptions.

Think of your senior executives or the President of your country (if you’re already a senior executive). How much do you really know about them? Probably not too much yet you may already have a strong judgment about the type of person they are.

This is why you need to manage how people see you and look the part you want to play. When people see you, will they automatically assume the adjectives you’ve chosen? How do you match up to what they are expecting? If you show up to Facebook with a dark suit and tie and talk about the work you do with Silicon Valley tech companies, don’t be surprised if people suspect your credibility.

Disney does a great job tightly controlling your experience with them. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Disney, uses very similar adjectives: over-the-top service, awesome experience, and not cheap. For those who haven’t experienced Disney firsthand, there is a high probability that you’ll have a great time when you do go.

When others interact with you, what do you want them to walk away remembering and feeling? How do you want to emotionally connect with them? What would you like them to say to their network about you? Is it consistent with the adjectives you’ve chosen?

To practically influence how others experience you, be thoughtful about:

What you say and do (and how you say and do it)

Your physical appearance, words, and actions make up the experience others will have of you.

We’ve covered what people see, now let’s focus on your words and actions. Do they align with how you want others to see you? Are you using words that resonate with your target audience and does your vocabulary match what they are expecting from you?

How do you say what you say? What does your tone, speaking rhythm, accent, and energy say to others? Powerful people tend to speak more deliberately. British accents tend to sound more sophisticated. Passionate people tend to speak with more energy. These are all ways people can interpret how you talk.

Now for your actions. What activities are you engaged in and do they help others see you the way you want to be seen?

For example, if you take copious notes during a meeting, people will likely see you as being a junior employee (unless you’re Richard Branson).

Other questions to consider:

• When speaking at conferences, what topics are you speaking on?
• What books are you reading?
• Do you take on projects that are consistent with your brand?

Which leads me to the last area of focus.

Where you are and are not

When you’re successful, people want to enlist you to help them. This means countless partnership or speaking requests, special project proposals, and event or board invitations. As a high performer, you’ll be tempted to help especially with requests from those close to you in your network.

Before you say “yes” to any opportunity, ask yourself:

How consistent is this activity with the reputation I want?

When managing your brand, knowing where you shouldn’t be is just as important as knowing where you should be. If you’re building a reputation as an expert on disruptive technologies in manufacturing, it’ll be confusing if others see you frequently speak on investing and personal finance, even if you can give quality advice on those topics.

Again, to build a brand that people recognize, you must be consistent. People have to have a similar experience every time for an extended period before they begin to automatically associate you with your brand.

This means better allocating your limited time by saying “no” to opportunities that won’t allow you to exude the adjectives you’ve chosen. When you attend an event that is either neutral or negative in building your brand, you’re essentially saying “no” to an event or activity that can positively enhance your reputation.

The same idea extends to the people you associate with and your environment. You will be judged by the company you keep and where you spend your time. If you spend a lot of time with innovative people, others will assume you’re innovative. Some people assume Googlers, Google employees, are smart and quirky despite never working at Google or meeting a Googler. Others assume those in labor-intensive roles are less-educated.

Look closely at where you’re spending your time and who you’re spending it with. Would your surroundings make a strong case for your desired image or is it something you need to hide?

Take time to architect your brand.

One tip is to study characters on TV or film. Great actors believably take on different character roles. The way they do it is by understanding what people expect from a certain character and matching their look, feel, actions and environment to the mainstream expectation. Professors wear tweed, sport beards and drive Toyotas. High-powered businessmen wear custom suits, gel back their hair and have chauffeurs. Bankers wear ties. Consultants don’t. The list goes on.

Decide on the brand you want and find an actor or actress that believably exudes those qualities. How does he or she look, act and make others feel? How is their environment portrayed? Get specific on the behaviors and mimic them.

It’s not easy to build a brand. That’s why the good ones are worth so much.

Photo by Vadim Timoshkin

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“You have to be more visible.”

If you’re an introvert, you might have heard these two pieces of feedback before. And if you’re a high performer, they can be especially irksome. Speaking up just isn’t something you do. But be that as it may, failing to make your voice heard at pivotal moments might be hurting your career.

Most high-performing introverts tend to have good reasons for staying quiet during meetings and other situations where sharing their views would be helpful. In those cases, it first helps to figure out which of your assumptions are preventing you from contributing to the discussion.

Here are three of the most common reasons, and how to overcome them:

“I want to be respectful.”

Good intention: When you’re invited to a senior-level meeting, chances are you’re one of the more junior employees in the room. Your natural tendency might be to defer to those more senior to you and soak in the conversation since it’s not your place to talk. This deferential inclination is especially strong for individuals raised in cultures that respect and value hierarchy.

Unintended impact: Your deference causes you to become invisible in the meeting. When no one knows you, they don’t know what you can do and will not think of you come promotion time. After you reach a certain level, the number of senior executives who know you and have a good impression of you will directly correlate with your career success.

Practical Fix: Prepare to say something at the meeting. One senior executive shared with me that for every meeting he goes to, he’ll ask the person who invited him the following questions: who is going to be there, why has he been invited and what will we be discussing? He then takes time to prepare how he’ll add value to the conversation.

Understand that you can share your viewpoints and still be respectful. As long as you can contribute something substantive without overstepping your bounds or reaching beyond your knowledge base, you’ll be fine. For every meeting, strive to say at least one thing – you can ask a question, play back what you’ve heard or comment on what’s being said.

“I have nothing else to add.”

Good intention: Everything that needs to be said has already been shared. You hate it when others waste time saying nothing in meetings, so you refrain from talking for the sake of talking. If you’re a good listener and have a tendency to let others speak first, or if you’re on a team with a few dominant personalities, you’ll most likely fall into this category.

Unintended impact: Imagine seeing yourself from another attendee’s perspective. Even if you have the best ideas, someone who doesn’t know you will reasonably assume you don’t have any ideas as long as you don’t share them. Worse, you might be perceived as someone who doesn’t care. Neither one of these misperceptions will help you in your career, and it’s up to you to set them straight.

Practical Fix: Speak up earlier. If you wait until the end of the meeting, chances are someone else will already have shared your idea. Make it your goal to be one of the first two people to speak in the meeting. You might also want to observe those who speak up first, and note what they say and how they say it.

“I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”

Good intention: You don’t want to appear incompetent in front of people who will judge you and have a say in your career. If you’re with a client, you may not want to say anything to jeopardize the deal or damage the relationship. Why not let your more senior and experienced colleagues handle it? Isn’t that why they are there in the first place?

Unintended impact: Your client sees you as the scribe or assistant and you never build the working relationship you need to get to the next level. For internal meetings, your boss thinks you don’t have a mind of your own and sees you more as an order-taker than an influencer.

Practical Fix: Before the meeting, ask your more senior colleagues what they want you to cover and how they want you to participate. This will help you decide when you can jump in during the meeting. You might also ask your senior colleagues to help pull you into the conversation for certain topics.

During the meeting, for every question that’s asked, come up with you answer silently and compare it to what your more senior colleagues are saying. As your answers begin to consistently align with what you hear, you’ll gain the confidence to speak up knowing that your responses will be on the right track.

Being invited to a senior-level meeting or a high stakes pitch are rare windows of opportunity showcase yourself. Don’t waste it. Prepare diligently for the meeting and be clear on the value you can add to the conversation. When you do share your views, make sure it’s concise, articulate and focused on the topic at hand. There is nothing more annoying than to hear someone trying to impress others or prove how smart or how hard-working they are.

Speaking up effectively is a delicate balance. If you don’t talk, no one knows you. If you talk too much, people begin to wonder, “Who do you think you are?”

To fine tune this balance, get feedback after a meeting wraps up. If your manager or mentor will be there, share with them beforehand that you’re working on speaking up and ask them to give you specific feedback and feedforward (suggestions for improvement) after. They’ll let you know if you need to speak up even more, or if you’re going overboard.

When it’s between speaking up or staying quiet, your habit will be to let others talk. Consciously take the risk to speak up whenever you can – the upside is tremendous and the downside is fairly limited.

Original version first published by Fast Company.

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Being a technical contributor, he thought soft skills were for those who didn’t have the smarts to be technical and needed to compensate with “manipulation” tactics. I knew exactly where he was coming from because I used to feel the same way. As a chemistry and economics major, I always thought of communication skills as optional and easy to pick up along the way.

Needless to say, my views have changed.

After further discussion, we agreed that, in general, technical leaders (lead engineers, head scientists, senior analysts, top programmers, etc.) have a tendency to be poor communicators especially when interacting with non-technical people.

So why are smart, technical people so weak at communicating?

They don’t take it seriously

Those who’ve honed their technical skills tend to categorize communication skills under nice-to-have instead of must-have. They view “soft” skills as decoration and without substance. I’ve even heard some express it as a cover up for weak technical ability.

This thinking occurs because many technical people are smart. They find communication skills intellectually simple. This may be the same reason why they hold art history and philosophy with less regard than computer science or chemical engineering.

Again, I can relate and to be fair, communication skills, intellectually, are straightforward. It is not difficult to understand that looking at your audience when you speak is more effective than looking at your notes. What changed my mind about these “soft and simple” skills was when I realized that:

Successful leaders use communication skills much more often than their technical skills.

Take a minute and think of a leader you admire. What do you think their day looks like?

Are they crunching numbers in Excel or writing lines of code? Are they combing through market analytics or designing new product features?

Most likely not.

That’s what they hire people under them to do. They spend their time inspiring others to adopt their vision, motivating and delegating their staff to execute and building strong relationships with their key clients and stakeholders to get more business. They are constantly using “soft” skills to manage themselves, their message and their interaction with others.

Being able to communicate effectively is the reason why Steve Jobs is the face of Apple and Steve Wozniak is not.

They are not expected to be strong communicators

Technical individuals are usually not required to interact with external clients so they are not expected to have polished communication skills. These expectations provide a false sense of security and reinforce the idea that communication skills are not important. This turns into a self-fulfilling prophesy where technical people are not offered and even denied quality communication skills training because it is not a part of their jobs. Back- and mid-office employees face similar biases.

There is a reason why front-office employees are usually the ones that become CEO. Not only did they bring in revenue, they are also best positioned to be the face of the company because of a strong executive presence and their ability to build deep relationships. It’s easy to think that those who make it to the executive suite do so because they are natural communicators. What most people don’t see is the disproportionate amount of communication skills training and coaching client-facing employees are offered along the way when compared to their internally facing counterparts.

As more of our clients work to break down the silos in their companies, we see major efforts to provide communication skills training to a broader employee population. Management teams are beginning to recognize the value of strong communication skills at all levels.

Even for employees with no aspirations for senior management or the C-suite, to be more effective in their role, they need to get their point across both concisely and persuasively.

It’s not their personality

The final reason why technical people communicate poorly is because they hold themselves back. The pervasive view is that strong communicators are extroverts and that can’t be taught.

There are two flaws to this view:

1. Strong communication has nothing to do with being outgoing or shy. There are many talkative people with poor communication skills; they are usually the worst listeners. At the same time, there are many introverts who are very strong communicators. Being good at communicating is a function of deliberate practice.
2. Communication skills are not innate. They can be taught. Like any skill, it takes proper training and continuous practice to move from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

So what now?

Acknowledge that communication skills are crucial to your professional and personal development and make it a priority to improve those skills.

Here are some suggestions:

• Read the Exec-Comm blog filled with useful articles and industry news on communicating more effectively
• Find opportunities to practice your communication skills
  • Join Toastmasters
  • Volunteer to give presentations and facilitate meetings
• Request communication skills training from your manager, the HR department or the department in charge of employee learning and development

With any useful skill, the best time to start was last year.

The second best time to start is now.

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