The Manager’s Megaphone: The Power of a Leader’s Communication

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The moment people begin reporting to you, and you take on a leadership title, you earn a Manager’s Megaphone.  It becomes attached to your hand and mouth, whether you requested it or not.

Leaders may not fully realize the influence they have on others.  Direct reports and other team members are watching and listening far more intently than one might expect, meaning leaders must hold themselves to an incredibly high standard.  As leaders, we have the power to impact the dinner table conversations of the people we work with.  The information we choose to share, or even the way we react to organizational news or someone’s performance, stays with our peers and direct reports far after they leave the office for the day.  Managers may make the mistake of venting to their team on a bad day.  While it may simply be a way to blow off steam, team members are listening closely, reflecting on that information and wondering what impact it may ultimately have for them.

Managers have the opportunity to use this megaphone with great power as well.  Seemingly simple comments of praise to a direct report can mean far more than one might anticipate.  Opportunities to inform others, especially senior leaders at the organization, of the strong work your direct reports are doing can help continue to motivate and engage your team members to do their best work.

When thinking through the use of your Manager’s Megaphone, keep the following in mind:

1.     Use Your Megaphone to Spread a Culture of Praise & Recognition.  Reflect on the performance of one or two of your direct reports.  When was the last time you highlighted their strong work with the rest of the team?  Senior leadership?  With them directly?  Find ways regularly to praise specific, positive that you want to see repeated.  Simply saying “The report was great!” is a good start, though challenge yourself to compliment the elements that made it shine.  Praising the specific components you liked the most will ensure that those are the behaviors that will be repeated in the future.

2.     Use Your Megaphone to Spread Truth.   In the absence of information, people naturally fill in the holes themselves.  That’s how rumors get started.  As leaders, when we make assumptions or inferences, our direct reports may take them as truth.  Before making an assertion that isn’t completely based on fact, think twice before sharing it with the team.  Being honest is important, and if you don’t yet have the complete picture, let them know.  Share with them that you’ll give them information directly to ensure they shut down any other rumors they might hear.  Check out a previous post about the importance of busting assumptions.

3.     Use Your Megaphone to Enhance Collaboration.  Teams often report feeling siloed or isolated, either from other departments or even within their own division.  As a leader, encouraging collaboration supports others to think even more creatively about how we can solve problems and make decisions.  When using your megaphone to share updates with the rest of the team, or even highlighting recent wins for your department with other leaders, ask others how your team can spread these successes and learnings to other departments.  Fostering a culture of collaboration has the power to create an even stronger final product all around.