In May 2024 I attended Voices 24, an internal communications conference hosted by Staffbase. Adam Grant (organizational psychologist and bestselling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential) gave a keynote speech that was chockful of golden nuggets about communication that were inspiring, data-driven, and actionable. Here are a few takeaways that stuck with me.
⭐ All of your opinions are just hypotheses waiting to be tested.
How freeing! I love the idea that an opinion is a test, meaning it doesn't have a conclusion yet. It's not fully formed. I thought of a similar metaphor: An opinion is an open-ended question. Thinking this way can help you think of your opinions as experiments that you (and others) can test and explore. They aren't conclusive yet, so you shouldn't tie yourself to them or insist that others adopt your unproven ideology. Thinking like a scientist -- recognizing that you might be wrong, embracing curiosity, and reframing ideas as experiments -- can empower better results than anyone imagined previously, and can also help you detach emotionally from your opinion, allowing you to focus on the data rather than what you hope might be true.
⭐ What evidence would change your mind?
When people disagree with you, or are so tied to their preconceived notions that they don't budge when you present new information to them, even if that information is backed by scientific evidence, it can be deflating. Difficult. Seemingly impossible to break through. But stay curious. Wonder how other people think. And prompt them to consider that they might be wrong -- that their opinions may just be hypotheses that should be tested. Ask them to consider a counterargument themselves. Ask: "What evidence would change your mind?" Put the assumption-challenging activity in their hands -- make them responsible for consideration alternatives. It'll make them less defensive and more open to new possibilities.
⭐ Leaders are 9x more likely to be criticized for undercommunicating than for overcommunicating.
I'm so glad there's such staggering data to back this up. If you overcommunicate, people may tune out, or they'll tell you they have that information already. Either way, you are doing your part to support them and teach them, and their response is a) proof that your message has gotten across and b) their responsibility. But if you undercommunicate, people think you don't know or you don't care, neither of which is helpful from a trust- or culture-building standpoint. Repetition can help drive home important points, structure can help ensure communication always has a place, and open dialogue can help you monitor how much you are communicating based on how your team members feel (and how their knowledge has grown) as a result.
I took a thousand notes, but those were three (of many) highlights from Adam Grant's keynote that struck me most deeply. Do these points resonate with you? Can you see yourself implementing these ideas or techniques? Explore the below questions for reflection to consider how you might start improving your communication right away.
Questions for reflection:
When you have an opinion about something at work, what do you do with it? Do you feel self-conscious about it and hold it in, or do you voice it blindly? Do you do research on it first, or do you put it in action immediately to gather data? Think about the way you treat your own opinions--and the opinions of those around you.
How do you deal with disagreement? When someone disagrees with you, what is your default reaction? What is your preferred reaction? How can you work to exhibit your preferred reaction more readily? How can you incorporate curiosity into your response to disagreement more effectively?
Do you think you are more likely to overcommunicate or undercommunicate? Have you ever done either of these (we all have, haven't we?) and what was the outcome? What did you learn? How do you know when your message has gotten across? How can you improve your communication so your team members and those around you have the appropriate information? How can you build trust with better communication?
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