LEADERSHIP IS A

CONVERSATION

PRESENTED BY
RABBANI

THE CASE

By Boris Groysberg & Michael Slind.

Traditional Command-and-Control Mechanisms are redundant.

Globalization , New Technologies have reduced the efficacy of top-down

Leadership.
Traditional corporate communications unable to manage the change .

The solution : A new model of Leadership Communication known as

Organizational Conversation.

CONVERSATION
A conversation is frank exchange of
ideas and information with an
implicit or explicit agenda.

WHY FOCUS ON CONVERSATION ?

Dialogue (conversation ) is the core of
culture and the basic unit of work. How
people talk to each other absolutely
determines how well the organization will
function. Is the dialogue stilted , politicized
and fragmented? Or, is it reality-based,
raising the right questions , debating them,
and finding realistic solution?

The New Realities Of Leadership

Communication
Five long term business trends are forcing the shift from Corporate
communication to Organizational communication

Economic Change: Transition from service-based industries to knowledgebased industries require newer ways to process & share information.

Organizational Change: Flatter & Less hierarchical companies have made

top-down leadership redundant.

Global Change: Diverse and Culturally differentiated workforces have

necessitated conversations that are smooth & fluid.

Generational change : As millennials and other younger workers have
gained a foot hold in organizations, they have expected peers and authority
figures alike to communicate with them in a dynamic, two -way fashion.
Technological change: Older, less conversational channels of communication
has ceased to be tenable due to growth of powerful and more ubiquitous
(omnipresent) social media platforms and digital network

ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CONVERSATION

Four Essential Attributes of Organizational

Communication :

1. Intimacy

2.Interactivity

3. Inclusion

4.Intentionality

INTIMACY: GETTING CLOSE

Intimacy is closing gaps between employees and their leader.

Organizational Communication requires Leaders to minimize the distances

-institutional , attitudinal and spatial that typically separate them from
employees.

It is about trust, being authentic, communicating the vision, and at the

same time listening to what employees have to say.

Physical proximity between leaders and employees isnt always possible.

But mental or emotional proximity is essential.
Methods:
- vision workshops
- listening sessions
- getting feedback on leadership performance
- quality policy

Three ways to achieve

Conversational Intimacy

Gaining Trust : No trust , No Intimacy.

Listening Well : Know when to stop speaking and

start listening.

Getting Personal : Absorbing criticism when it is

direct and personal.

Interactivity :
Promoting Dialogue
Once some intimacy is established, it's important to keep the
conversation flowing.

Exchange : Exchange of Comments & Questions between

participants.

Interactivity : This makes conversation more open & fluid.

Dialogue : Replacing Monologue with Dialogue.

Technology : Use of latest technology to supplement

Corporate Communication challenges. Interactivity isn't
just about technology. It's equally important to build
an interactive culture

Inclusion :
Expanding Employees roles
Allow employees having voice to engage them. And engagement will
drive more effort. And effort will drive individual performance, and
subsequently that will drive organizational performance.

Equal Opportunity Endeavour: Sharing of Ownership between

the participants of the outcome.
Conversation Partners: Leaders turn Employees into contributing
equally towards New ideas and initiatives.
Emotional Engagement: Emotional Engagement Level is higher .
Criticality: Leaders better able to convey the criticality of their
messages
Methods:
Employees might create content like
- internal / public blogs, wikis, podcasts
- creating guidelines, best practices, success stories

Intentionality: Pursuing an
Agenda

Even if you can't control everything anymore you still are the leader.
You still have responsibility for setting the tone and the direction.

Closure of Conversation : Intentionality brings a measure of

closure to the process of opening up the flow of information and
ideas within a company.
Intent : Open-minded conversations are not aimless. The key is
having a clear agenda / goals. The exercise should lead to
generation of consent rather than commanding assent
Strategical Relevance : It should be in alignment with
company's strategic goals and enable leaders and employees
to derive strategically relevant actions from the push and pull of
discussion.
Big Picture View : Employees at every level become conversant in
matter of organizational strategy. The goals should be to
ensure that all the employees understand the company's
strategy

Critical Appreciation.
Benefits

Drawbacks

Minimizes distance (borders) that Intimacy efforts might be very

separate leaders from
time-intensive
Interactivity events can cause
employees
Speaking to employees more
privacy concerns
If there is no some kind of
directly and authentically
More transparency
common accepted regulations,
Engaging employees and sharing
Inclusion actions might drive out
of Control
the trend toward flat organizations
time-intensive
consequences ,one of them is an
Shifting a top-down distribution
emerging leadership gap.
to a bottom-up exchange of
ideas

The role of a creative leader is not command

and control, its more like climate control.
You create a culture. Ken Robinson
The mission is the boss Gary Hamel.
Good leadership, after all, is defined by its
absence.

Why Flat Organizations Don't Create Great

Leaders (& What To Do About It)?