Being a good business leader involves a certain amount of diplomacy. ‘Command and control’ and top-down leadership may carry your business some distance, but motivating people to drive productivity requires the skills of a diplomat.
Samantha Madhosingh, a leadership consultant who trains entrepreneurs, described the importance of diplomacy skills for business leaders to encourage better teamwork, engagement, and productivity in a recent article for www.entrepreneur.com. Diplomacy is a fundamental set of skills for your workplace, she noted.
Those skills will help you handle sensitive issues, navigate conflicts and objectively ass the facts without bias. And they will help you create a culture where people work well together, even in stressful situations.
Diplomacy is the art of tactfully engaging people to achieve a desired outcome or goal. Think of a diplomat stationed in a foreign country. This person is there to engage people in that country in a way that advances U.S. interests. He can’t do that by ordering them around because he doesn’t have that power and authority. Armed with a diplomat’s skill set, managers can approach challenges and conflicts with empathy, fairness and solid analytical skills.
Diplomatic leaders are aware of the power of their words and behavior; they intentionally communicate with empathy and transparency. They listen carefully and consider multiple sides of a situation before making a decision. This kind of communication and listening encourages transparency, creativity and collaboration.
People at work often communicate in their own natural style without considering the communication styles of colleagues. This is often the key to a lot of misunderstandings, said Madhosingh. If you want people to work together better, listen actively and carefully to what is being said. Appreciate where the other person is coming from, and ask questions for clarification. In a Harvard Business Review study, nearly 70% of leaders reported being uncomfortable communicating with employees, demonstrating the need for ongoing training and coaching. A study of nearly 1,000 employees by Catalyst found that leaders who show empathy benefit workplaces through increased innovation, employee engagement and employee retention.
Finding fair outcomes to complex problems is not always easy, but it’s a manager’s job. A diplomatic leader finds outcomes that work for all, by gathering information from multiple sources and then meeting with their team. Members of the team benefit from providing their perspectives and contributions to solving the issue as well as have some buy-in to the result.
How do you improve diplomatic skills?
Number one, Madhosingh suggested focusing on listening to understand, not listening to respond. Listen to the person without interrupting with your point of view. Pay attention to both their verbal and nonverbal communication. The goal is to correctly understand the meaning and intention of the speaker. Another way to improve listening skills is to meet with staff members individually; you will be able to listen with fewer distractions and better understand what drives them. Be curious. Ask open-ended, exploratory questions. For example, how is their workload? What are they hoping to do more or less of? You will be better able to support them and manage expectations.
Support creative solutions. Be open to innovative ideas and solutions from staff. Focus on the various options for resolving the issues at hand. Allow for ideas that might be outside the box. There are multiple ways to look at a situation. Your team’s insights might expand your viewpoint to consider something you’d never thought of before. Diverse input helps solve problems and makes for a stronger team.
Lastly, practice clear, effective communication. Build an environment of trust so your team knows they can converse freely with leaders without fearing retribution. Implement an “open door” policy; it will spread the message that people can come to you with new ideas or to share their concerns.
Ultimately, being a diplomatic leader is about empowering your staff to do their best work and encouraging people to work well together to increase engagement and productivity.
