Are You A Visible Leader In Your Organization?
So many leaders out there struggle with visibility within their organization. This might also be the case with you if you read these lines. It is always difficult to be present at all times in all the places where you have to. Because of this, it is normal to feel frustrated. Fortunately, there are always different things that can be done in order to increase visibility inside your organization.
Use Different Communication Channels
You can always use different communication channels that are available or simply create some brand new ones. This offers leaders presence inside organizations. The communication program of a leader has to be balanced. You need to share your perspective with your employees. The voice of the leader needs to be present in communication since this makes everything a lot less corporate and much more human.
German Trujillo Manrique highlights the fact that it is possible to create a brand new communication channel, like a webcast or a blog. Leaders can easily share personal experiences and perspectives in this way.
Town Hall Meetings
A town hall meeting is quite a rare opportunity that allows employees to interact with leaders. They build confidence and trust. It is really important that you design these meetings in a way that can encourage a truly meaningful dialogue.
Start by creating your agenda, one that does include the participation of the audience. This allows you to share the information that is important but you can also plan other activities. Make sure employees have active roles since this makes them much more engaged.
Informal Group Meetings
The less formal meetings, like lunches or coffee breaks, are wonderful opportunities for the leaders to interact with the employees. In most cases, these meetings are not structured. However, they can still focus on a specific issue or topic. Senior leaders usually travel to various sites when they have meetings. Whenever in town or in the office, make it a habit to have a meeting with the employees. The leader thus sends messages to employees, showing value.
Using Social Media
Although you might be time-pressed, you can still have a strong social media presence. Participating just requires some minutes. You can easily take advantage of social media through:
- Micro-blogging
- Podcasts
- Internal social media platforms
Think about what works and what does not work in your case. Be sure that you focus on using pictures too since they are so much more effective than just writing messages.
Create Short Videos
Last but not least, videos can be extremely effective. They allow you to engage with the audience in a way that is much more personal than everything else. While employees do not always want to see the face of the leader, it is a wonderful way to showcase personality. Employees end up being much more engaged in a conversation, which is definitely what you want.
Employees rarely expect to see senior leaders recording videos so this surprise might be exactly what is needed as an ice-breaker, to show that you care.