Gulf leaders must beware muddling the message

The Life: Chief executives need to be cautious about creating "communication confusion" with senior managers. Here is how to avoid being unclear when conveying a message.

Some Gulf managers are blind to the fact they work in a multicultural environment, where there is complexity in communication. istockphoto.com

A group of senior executives met with the regional boss of a multinational company for what they thought was going to be a brief encounter to obtain final approval about a critical initiative. But those few minutes turned into an hour and a half, as the chief executive reneged on his previous commitment to the approach - and carried on the meeting while ripping ideas apart, then offering new solutions, one after another.

Finally, at the end of this agonising and heated meeting, a manager who was trying to make sense of the five or six ideas on the table asked: "So what is it that we are going to do?"

The regional chief executive responded by declaring to the attendees: "It is clear - because I said it is!"

Yet what was very clear to this leader was confusing to others in the room. In fact, a couple of lower-level executives and a senior manager who walked into the hallway asked each other: "What does he want to do?"

I must admit that when I heard this story I burst into laughter. I thought it was a joke. But it was not. The team at that meeting had been left utterly confused.

What did transpire from this "muddy" clarity was that the chief executive ended the meeting by creating fear of his explosive attitude, and uncertainty about what his team should do next.

His team spent unnecessary hours over the coming days trying to figure out what the chief executive thought he had clearly stated, so that they could give him what he wanted.

That a leader says something does not mean his directions are clear.

In a homogeneous working culture, the primary factor in communicating a direction is to remember that the audience is not you. What is clear to you may not be clear to others.

But we all work in a multicultural environment, meaning the complexity in communication is even higher here in the Gulf.

This creates even more confusion, and many leaders are blind to this. They experience the repercussions only when their directions are not followed as they intended.

At this point, many tend to blame the follower, not giving credence to the fact that the problem may have actually been the nature of the communication from the leadership end.

While communication is technically the interaction and transfer between the speaker and listener, I am pointing out the clear breakdown that happens in executive communication because the leader thinks he is being clear when he is not.

In addition to the basics of executive communication, leaders communicating in this region need to be aware of a recipient's family upbringing; educational background, not just the educational level; national culture; experience; and exposure to workplace dynamics.

These factors will help to inform what is meant to be told to employees.

The key to being clear is never to assume that others are hearing what you are saying exactly as you are hearing it in your mind - because they are not in your mind.

Tommy Weir is an authority on fast-growth and emerging-market leadership, the author of The CEO Shift and the managing director of the Emerging Market Leadership Center

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