Just talk

I have found myself in certain situations wherein I would say, “Could you please speak up? I cannot read your mind.” Sometimes I would say, “Tell me about it, I cannot understand unless you explain it to me.”

I am a communicator. I write in this column, I have my radio program, I have written 18 books, do keynotes and provide training. That is what I do but what I am in essence is that I am a communicator.

I know the power of words. One of the basic skills for professional or even business success is to develop the ability to communicate effectively and he or she who can effectively express ideas would be in a better position to achieve career or business success. That’s a given.

I was invited to speak to a group of multi-talented high potential leaders in a leading technology company. The topic they assigned me was on leadership. I gave a one and a half hour talk. Engaged the audience. The question and answer portion consumed half an hour but because the venue will be charging extra if the session exceeded time, they had to end the session.

And that was when I learned something amazing. The HR people were so excited they said, “Francis, this has never happened before.” I said, “What has never happened before?” They said every single participant just closed their laptop put aside their phones and were listening to you with great intensity and focus.”

I feel flattered with the compliment but what surprised me was when the HR person said, “Every time we have a speaker, they will open their laptops or phones, do their thing while occasionally listen to the speaker but in your case, all laptops and phones were closed.”

Frankly, I was surprised at their being “surprised” and then it hit me. The young people of today are so accustomed to living in a “PARTIAL ATTENTION ECONOMY” and it is akin to a miracle that they would put down their digital stuff and focus on listening to someone speaking.

Focus today is becoming a rare skill and this is why I see a problem looming.

Young people entering the workplace find it hard to articulate their thoughts. They struggle with words. My friends from the HR world constantly complain: “These young people are so good with tweeting and posting but when it comes to face-to-face conversation they do not have communications skills.”

This is not a good thing.

What is worst is “Generation Z.” Yes, this is now the official term and category for those born after year 2000 and in just a few more years, they will be joining the work force. This generation finds it even more difficult to have conversations. And one of these days I will correlate this situation with the way parenting has taken place. But this will not be our topic for today.

What concerns me is that the number one problem with business corporations is disengagement. This costs the business a fortune. How do you deal with this? It is actually easy but so difficult to do.

The way to deal with disengagement is to have people converse with each other. The problem is that many young executives today do not know how to carry meaningful conversations.

With clients they use PowerPoint slides, Prezy and other fancy software to present their memorized script as their conversation piece but with their own people they do not converse. They don’t know how.

Engagement begins with talk. And one of the reasons why there is a great degree of disengagement in the workplace is because the Millennials are now occupying managerial positions and many of them do not have the ability to converse with their people, as they would prefer to communicate with them through emails, text, tweets or Facebook posts.

This may also explain the reason why there are immature and emotional leaders. Instead of conversing with people about their issues, post stinging remarks and comments in their Facebook page is because they either lack the courage or the ability to converse.

Leaders should converse with their people and teach them to converse with each other.

There are now business corporations that would have a basket outside the meeting or conference rooms and every participant is required to put their phones or devices in the basket so they can be engaged in real “human conversations.”

Certain companies require their leaders to have talk time (without gadgets) and just discuss stuff even if the topic is outside business in order to build camaraderie and friendship. Conversations should be deep and engaging not fragmented.

Train your people to converse. Teach them to develop their communication skills. Not able to, will limit potential and business opportunities.

And here is a command for those who would want to learn the art of meaningful conversations: “Use your eyes not your phone.”

(Bring your leaders to the brand new Shangri-La Hotel at the Fort and experience two inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong in his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership this July 18-19. For further inquiries contact April at +639285591798 or Success Options at 7270291 / 7275692 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)