Hey – Walker and Davis here.
Happy Saturday morning to the Laying Foundations community!
Over the past two weeks, Walker and I have spent time talking about Leading Yourself First and Leading Others. This week we are going to take time to talk about communicating up.
Today’s issue takes about 5 minutes to read and was written for you by Davis Hambrick
Enjoy!
Communication can be one of the biggest tools in your arsenal as a leader.
It can be a tool that is managed greatly and allows you to flourish in your relationships. Or it can be a weapon that diminishes relationships.
Communicating up is not possible without first learning how to lead yourself and others, so if you missed the last two weeks’ newsletters, make sure to read those before you continue to read on.
Communicating up is often described as someone who is reporting up the chain of command. I am not a big proponent of titles, but in the real world, we all have people we report to. I think it is important to note don’t ever be the leader who flashes their title around to try and “get things done.”
Back to communicating up – there are a lot of people who are fearful of reporting to their direct report. What I believe to be true is that the more times you do anything, the better you are going to get at it.
If you have a new boss and are worried about how they are going to react because you have heard others’ opinions on them, then you are letting other people’s motives influence you before you have even brought up an issue.
What you should do is approach it as a learning curve and give yourself grace because you have never interfaced with your new boss. The more times you interact with them, the quicker you will understand their personality and leadership style and the quicker you will understand how to communicate.
Wally Adamchik says that roughly 70% of the construction workforce are task-based people – I believe if we learn how to get out of our own heads and just be authentic with the people we interact with, then the fear of analyzing how to communicate will diminish.
Step #1 – Understand Your Audience
To communicate up, you have to know how your message is going to be perceived by your audience. If your direct report is someone you don’t know, then you have to do the obvious.. get to know them.
Jesse Hernandez & Walker Lott have been talking about it in our Mental Health conversations; how many times on the job site do we choose to just walk right by someone without saying hey?
We are scared to be vulnerable and authentic. We overanalyze and retreat back to numbing ourselves with information overload.
This step takes time, some people are very guarded and will share little information about their life, and others are open books. Regardless, press into that relationship and learn more about the person. Learn what makes them tick, what keeps them up at night, who their family is, and where they have lived since working in construction.
As you begin to learn about this person, pay attention to the way they communicate. Are they always on their phone when they are talking to you? Are they engaged and giving you full eye contact? Do they cut you off in the middle of your sentences? Do they let you finish your complete thought before butting in?
Once I figure out someone’s likes and dislikes and know their communication style, it is game over. I know exactly how to tailor my message to them; we just have to be willing to do the work.
Step #2 – Lead The Conversation
A huge part of communicating up is leading the conversation. I am not talking about talking the entire time. I am talking about leading in a way that you are an example for your leader. This is an approach that takes tremendous time and patience. You have to exemplify the behaviors you want to see in other people. It is not fair to ask someone else to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself.
So in every conversation and interaction with your direct report, be engaged. Make sure you are using active listening skills. Give them eye contact. Don’t answer the phone in the middle of their sentence and walk out. Be in the room and show them how you want them to interact with you.
This is the long-term approach, you are going to need patience and understanding in this step because it is a huge commitment.
Step #3 – Be Authentic
The first few years in construction are crucial to how you are going to lead your career – of course, you can always change later in life but we all know how messy and hard change is. You learn good and bad habits with every new task you take on.
You spend the first few years drinking water through a fire hydrant, just trying to hang on. During this time, be true to who you are. You are going to have times when you doubt that you are making an impact or doubts about not know enough to lead others.
Don’t let those doubts and insecurities affect who you are or how you lead. Be the same person you are with your spouse, that you are with your friends, that you are on the job site.
What do I mean by that?
I received this poem from my in-laws on a leather sign that was fastened to a stained wooden board that now hangs in my bedroom. I read it in my times of doubt because there are people who love how I am authentic.
“Authenticity is rarely found in grand gestures. Not in lighting strikes or fireworks in the sky. It is a deep-rooted, gentle stirring: an invitation to be the only you there was ever meant to be.
It’s the clearing away of all that is not true, peeling back the layer until you discover what was there in the beginning. It’s allowing yourself to be truly known and loved, as well as really knowing and loving someone else. It’s the willingness to stand alone in doing what is right, even when what’s right isn’t a popular choice. Authenticity can’t be copied. It can’t be false. It withstands shifting sand. It resists comparison. It defies seeing yourself as who you are less than or who you’re not. It’s acknowledging the difference between what is fake and what is real. Because when we are real, shabbiness won’t matter. Lack will disappear. Falling short will lose its foothold.
So your time is now. To welcome in the light that is all your own. To dive deep into the glorious reality of who you are meant to be. Let’s not tarry, let’s not hesitate in finding the one life we were born to claim.” – Magnolia Network
That poem is what I mean by being authentic. Being authentic is hard because you want to fit in, but you will realize over time that if you are the real you when all eyes are on you and when no eyes are on you, you will be able to sleep very well at night.
Quality of the Week: Patience – the ability to delay and wait on the right timing.
20-Year-Old Self Advice: There is a huge difference in adapting your communication style and changing who you are. Never change who you are, be the real you at all times.
Communicating up can be messy and not fun, but I believe it is a necessary skill to being a well-rounded leader.
If you know your audience and can adapt your communication style to their likes and dislikes, you will be strides above most people. If you lead the conversation by being active and engaged with your direct report, you will be winning the race. And if you are authentic to who you are and not worried about what they think of you, you will have won the race before you show up at the starting line.
Check out episode 113 on The Laying Foundations Podcast!
Join us for a conversation with the Women Talk Construction Podcast co-hosts Christi Powell & Angela Gardner. Christi manages WBE for 84 Lumber all over the United States, and Angela is the Director of Business Development and Marketing for Hill Electric. At the heart of the ladies are people who genuinely care for each person they come into contact with; they share their stories on how they joined our industry and how we can encourage others to be their very best.
