Quote-A-Day: Day 338

The best leaders recognize effective communication can only begin when others know they have been heard. #QuoteADay #Day338 #NYedchat #edchat

Today is my second day of #QuoteADay posts tied to the Honda #Skeletakeover, Honda’s recent social media ad campaign that in my humble opinion, was a success.

One of the best steps that Honda took (along with the whole Skeletor mascot thing) was their approach to tweeting during the #skeletakeover.

Often, as I’ve noticed, large organizations (often those with a large number of followers) find it difficult to hear all who tweet to them.  Honda seemed to make an effort to respond to all the tweeters who joined in the takeover, and while that takes time, it builds a lot of capacity and respect for the brand.

Why?

Because people feel listened to.  After all, if people are going to take the time to tweet something to someone, they hope for some kind of response (whether it be a retweet or response via mention, or something else entirely), and that certainly seems fair.

This same idea carries over to leadership in general.  The first step towards effective communication isn’t necessarily about what you yourself say, but rather about letting others know that you hear them, and the best way to let others know you hear them is to make some sort of response.

This doesn’t have to mean that you have to engage in deep conversation, or write a lengthy response, or something to that effect.  Instead, it can be a simple “hello,” or “I’m checking into ‘X’ for you,” or just making eye contact and smiling.

Once people know they’ve been heard, they’ll be more likely to listen when we have something to say.  And, by doing their best to respond to all who mentioned the #Skeletakeover, Honda built capacity for users to listen to the brand in the future when it does have big things to say.