leader has the potential to impact share
prices either positively or negatively.
Effective communication also requires two
important skills. The ability to ask the right
questions and the ability to listen. Both of
these skills impact building trust between
a leader and his various stakeholders. A
leader needs to develop these skills as they
aren’t automatic.
But another skill that a leader needs is
the skill of problem solving. Of course
one could argue that depending on
one’s leadership style, it may be useful
to allow people within the team to solve
the challenges they face, by themselves
thus encouraging self-learning and
development. And so you hear the buzz
words - brainstorming, logical thinking
and analysis that are meant to help in these
situations. One particularly fascinating
tool is referred to as Bono’s Hats.
Edward de Bono designed an approach to
problem solving called the Six Thinking
Hats. He proposed that in order to
effectively solve a problem, one needs to
put aside ego and focus on the solution
itself.
Participants who are called upon to
help solve a problem would need to put
on the “mythical hat” that comes in
different colors. Red symbolizes intuition,
the white hat is about facts and data.
Yellow symbolizes benefits or positivity
whereas green is the creative hat. The
blue hat emphasizes process control and
organization and finally the black hat is
the devil’s advocate approach. high performing teams. This means a
leader needs to think about building trust
with his team. He also needs to consider
cultural differences so as to drive an all-
inclusive environment. This means that
leadership communication cannot exist in
a vacuum but rather must work with trust
and diversity in order to be effective and
impactful.
The team is able to make their decisions
to the problem or challenge at hand by
looking at all the different facets of the
situation and each colored hat compels
team members to review the context
differently. In the words of Lee J Colan, “Successful
leaders,
successful
communicators
engage both the minds and the hearts of
people.” The marketer of the future must
be both skilled at communication and at
leadership.
Imagine a scenario where the leader has
to decide on cost cutting measures for the
organization to remain profitable. Instead
of making a single decision to lay off staff,
he could work with his team, present
the problem and they all review the
possibilities through the different angles
presented by the colored hats. A 360
degree view means a leader can take all
scenarios into consideration. The outcome
will be easier to communicate and get buy
in from the broader team.
Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia is a
Marketing and Leadership Coach.
She is also a PhD student of
management and leadership. You
can engage her on this or related
matters via email at: Mycoach@
thrityengineer.org.
If a leader is to be effective, he also needs
to use his communication skills to drive
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