We as managers are expected to lead our teams, customer relationships and other key stakeholders from the front. In fact, we are measured directly and indirectly against this ability by the organization.
A key factor that plays a role in our ability to lead from the front is communication. Communication has three dimensions - Message, Messenger and Medium. Medium (e.g. face to face; email; newsletter, posters etc.) is relevant to only to some extent. More critical are the message and the messenger.
I do still remember days when people used to wait for the postman (messenger who gives us important messages). He was so important figure in people's lives. Of course now the postman is replaced by many other technology gadgets (alternatives). The messenger role is critical (we can compare ourselves as postman/carrriers of organization messages) and leading from the front is important to ensure that effectiveness of the message remains.Have you ever noticed that some of the most important messages are lost because the messenger is someone who lacked credibility. One of my ex-seniors always talked about punctuality and time management to me. He always came late and made people wait for hours to meet him. Here, no one will disagree the message he wanted to communicate is a good one, however the messenger was unfit to communicate this message because he did not lead from the front on punctuality and time management
The other day I was listening to an audio clip on Modern India by Amitabh Bachchan on the 60th anniversary of independence, 2007. The message is very powerful and talks about two distinct halves of India - one India that leads and the other India that wants to be lead. This message gains more significance because of the messenger. The messenger was a carefully chosen one - one who connects with both the halves of India and recognized by both of them. This highlights the significance of both the messenger and the message.
We often go to a restaurant based on the review by one of our friends who had visited the restaurant. More often than not, we seek opinion from certain set of friends than others about restaurants. The message of good restaurants from a few friends has more value because of their ability to make credible judgements.
We listen to Mr. Narayan Murthy’s ideas on organizational practices and values. These practices and values exist in the philosophy of every management and business text book and probably practiced in a few other organizations as well. However Mr. Narayan Murthy’s words carry more value because of his earned credibility on organization values.
In all these examples, we see that the great message alone is not sufficient. The messenger plays a significant role with their credibility. Unfortunately credibility is not endowed by a role or a position you hold in your organization, but earned through sustained performance. One person who made a turnaround as a Messenger in recent Indian political history is Lalu Prasad Yadav. Many of us would not have listened to a message from him when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar. He made a turnaround as Railway Minister through sustained performance. Later on he was invited to premier institutes of India as a messenger for Indian Railways turnaround. This could happen only because he earned credibility as a messenger. We as Managers may believe that our positions are good enough for us to be messengers. Unfortunately it is not true. This has to be earned through sustained performance and actions. Once we earn credibility, our communications are heard and acted upon by people (employees; customers and stakeholders) who matter. Here, history does not help. We should never walk in with our history when we meet a new set of people. I have seen senior people committing this mistake and paying heavily. We need to prove yourself and rebuild our credibility every time we are in a new situation. Our experiences will help us on methods to get there, but for this new situation we need to earn our credibility.
An article I read on this topic says that.. if the message is good and have all facts correctly articulated.... attack the messenger. More often messengers are more vulnerable... than the message. Beware of this!
