For our first post we will be looking at the behaviour of Inspiring Communication, part of the Inspiring Cluster.
Inspiring Communication
One of the most important (and visible) leadership behaviours we have all experienced this year has been communication. The Inspiring Communicator behaviour is about engaging communication to ensure messages are clear, understood and trusted. Some of the best examples of excellent communication, and also some very poor communication, have been seen on the daily Downing Street Coronavirus press conferences over the course of the last year.
Van-Tamm versus Boris – the Downing Street Coronavirus press Briefings.
Great leaders operating at the higher levels of Schroder make their message compelling and memorable by adding metaphors and analogies. Boris Johnson certainly likes a metaphor and delivers them in abundance, but not all metaphors work and it’s only part of the art of inspiring communication. In the clip below he announces the launch of the Covid19 vaccine. He talks about “the searchlights of science”, the “invisible enemy” and “biological jujitsu”. In fact, he uses so many dramatic metaphors that his key message starts to get lost. It doesn’t appeal to the wider audience that is watching. He does add variety in pace and tone to add emphasis however he does it so frequently that his message doesn’t come across clearly.
