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Ask the Pro: How Important is Communication to Leadership?
With Camille Mirshokrai, Global Director of Leadership Development for Accenture
Camille Mirshokrai has spent 16 years at Accenture, the giant consulting firm with 190,000 employees all over the world. For the past 9 years, her focus has been on developing the firm's leaders and emerging leaders to prepare them to meet today's complicated business challenges. As Global Director of Leadership Development, she is responsible for LD strategy and execution, and oversees programs for all of Accenture's businesses. Accenture has made a major commitment to leadership development. Their programs are robust and have the full support and active involvement of Accenture's C-Suite and Board of Directors.
How important are communication skills to leadership at Accenture? Camille says leaders don't get to be leaders there until they've mastered them.
She shared her thoughts with Bates Senior Consultant Paula Lyons.
Q. In this economic environment, what special challenges do leaders face in communicating with their organizations?
A. The biggest challenge, in uncertain times like these, is that leaders are often unsure of what they should say. Yet in times of ambiguity, our people want to hear the most from us. They don't want promises or certainties. They just want to know what their leaders think, what they're going to do, what actions they are taking to secure their collective futures.
Q. What is the biggest gap in communication skills that you note when people move into senior positions?
A. They tend to talk more in vague terms and generalities. And, as you and I both know, people don't remember the vague and the general. What people remember are specifics, specific stories and examples. So I try to encourage leaders to incorporate stories from their own lives and experiences, stories of success and failure, because that's what people remember. They also remember examples that help them "see" what a leader is trying to convey. So instead of…"We see this as a very tough economic environment", tell them what makes it different, what are the 4 factors that set this tough environment apart from others? That's what people need to hear, that's what they will remember.
Q. How effective are most leaders at motivating and inspiring their teams?
A. Our leaders? I'd have to say we're pretty good at that. That's one of our criteria to be a partner. You have to be a people developer as well as a value creator and business operator. All of our leaders have to be motivators of people. Is every one A plus? No. But do they have strong base line? Yes.
Q. Are executives as open as they need to be to getting coaching to take their communication skills to the leadership level?
A. Yes, because we focus on ensuring that all our (leaders and emerging leaders) acquire baseline communication skills. We focus on it at every step in their development. That's how important we think it is.
Q. What's the one piece of advice you would give an emerging leader about communication and leadership?
A. Practice is very important. First, you have to have something to say. So research is key. But then, in order to deliver your content in a way that says you are truly confident, and "own your own space" you have to have practiced…more than once. A lot of our young leaders fear making speeches or giving presentations, so they often avoid it. I tell them they have to work to overcome that fear, practice, and be prepared. (To be thought of as a leader) you have to be able to communicate ideas, in different ways, get comfortable with how you are going to speak about them, and then "own your space" around what you're communicating.
Q. Because yours is a matrixed organization where individuals shift from team to team as they work on different projects, does that present particular communication challenges?
A. Well, yes. Our leaders have to reorient people constantly as teams shift. So leaders can almost become tired of their own voice. When they think they've over-communicated, they may be tempted to just stop. But they have to keep in mind that they may have just scratched the surface of what a new team needs to know. Old news to the leader might be brand new news to their latest team. So leaders have to become comfortable with repetition.
Read and subscribe to Suzanne Bates’ blog, for her latest tips on how to become a powerful speaker and communicator!
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