Communicative Leadership

Communicative Leadership is the leadership of the future

Netsurvey's Communicative Leadership Index, CLI, measures the manager's communicative ability and therefore makes clear to all managers that communication is a central part of their job. As the managers are the organisation's most important channel for communication, the CLI improves internal communication. Good Communicative Leadership, CLI, is a precondition for allowing the senior management's strategic information to reach where it needs to.  Therefore, the CLI report also shows where, in the organisation, there are preconditions for internal information getting through, and where this is not working.

The reason why Communicative Leadership is important today is that the manager's role has changed as a result of a massive increase in information flow the last 10 years. The job of the manager today, apart from the usual manager's duties, is to screen all information and to discuss the relevant information so that the whole group gets a common picture and understands the background. This prevents the group's goals from disappearing in the fog of information.

Can everyone really communicate, isn't this a skill one is born with?

All people can learn to communicate. Interviews of good and less good communicators show that the critical factor is whether manager and leaders make communication a priority. The measurement of communicative leadership in itself becomes a signal to all managers that communication is a high priority. Measurement, on its own, increases communication within the organisation. We can see that communication in the organisation has been improved, whether or not the managers have been trained in communication, after the organisation has started to use the Communicative Leadership Index (CLI).

Communicative Leadership Index - how you can support the managers in your organisation 

The Communicative Leadership Index, CLI, gives the managers in your organisation a clear and measurable value on how communication is functioning at the moment, advice on maintaining good values and advice on improvements. 
    
When the managers receive their Communicative Leadership Index, they also receive a report showing what is working well and what needs to be improved in terms of communication. The reports contain summary advice on how the managers can maintain the better aspects of their skills, and advice on how they can improve their Communicative Leadership Index. 
    
The index itself is expressed as a figure from 1 to 100, showing how well the individual manager's communicative leadership skills are functioning. In order to show which league the manager is in, the index is expressed in terms of colour: Green: working well, Amber: warning, Red: action should be taken.

Overview of how internal information spreads through the organisation 

For those of you working on an overarching plan, the Communicative Leadership Index, CLI, gives you an overview of where internal information is getting through in your organisation and where it can get held up, due to deficiencies in the managers' communicative abilities.

You also get an overview of the state of communicative leadership in your organisation - which departments' communications are working and where support and development is needed.    The Communicative Leadership Index sends a clear signal that communication is important in your organisation, which, in itself, increases communication in the organisation. 

Communicative Leadership - an index which is coupled with profitability 

Netsurvey's Communicative Leadership Index consists of a number of questions which not only measure communicative leadership but which are also coupled with the organisation's overarching profitability. 

Communicative Leadership can be measured independently in your organisation as part of the employee survey.

In organisations where Netsurvey is not carrying out the employee survey, Netsurvey can still draw up a communicative leadership index and report. This is done, either with the help of a separate survey, or with the help of quantitative analysis of data from the employee survey. Netsurvey can then deliver reports. If no employee survey is being carried out, a separate CLI survey can be conducted.

Summary:

The Communicative Leadership Index gives the managers in your organisation:

• Clear and simple goals for communicative leadership to strive towards.
• Individually adapted advice which helps each manager to develop their communicative ability. 
• A clear picture of strengths and areas for improvement in Communicative Leadership. 
• A signal that communication is a priority in the organisation.  

The Communicative Leadership Index is overarching for the organisation:

• A quick overview of where information is getting through and where it is hitting a snag.
• Increased communication between managers and employees.   
• A clear picture of where you need to put in resources in order to support the managers in improvement work.
• A simple target value for the whole organisation to work towards and monitor. 
• A signal to the organisation that communication is important.  

Communicative Leadership in a downturn  

An analysis of 10,000 replies from 6 major companies shows that fewer and fewer employees are involved in how the company is performing when times are hard.  The reason why it is more difficult for many managers to communicate in a downturn is that it is often a question of bad news. At the same time, it is more important than ever to ensure that all employees feel they are part of the picture and are engaged in order to take one's own company through the difficult times. Research also shows that information on how the company is performing financially reduced considerably when the organisation began to go into a downturn.

Communicative Leadership - CLI - Information Grand Prix 2009

AB Volvo won the Information Grand Prix for 2009 for its work on the Communicative Leadership Index, a product that Netsurvey has drawn up and quality tested at Volvo. Read more on Charlie Nordblom, Strategic Communications, AB Volvo.