People are looking to you for clues and signals, not just facts. The human species is highly evolved to pick up on subtleties and implicit information as we communicate Therefore, how you relay information can dwarf the message you intend to deliver.
When the good folks at Manager Tools say “Communication is what the listener does” they mean that the bulk of the information received is on the listener – their mental frameworks, worldviews, attention/distraction ratio, and specific effort to comprehend. You can’t control all this but should be mindful of the reality.
Focus on what you can control.
Leaders need to strive for consistency as they communicate. Pair up frank statements about uncertainty and change with confident statements that are true for you and your team. Clearly distinguish hypothesis and speculation from facts, and hard trends which aren’t going to change from soft trends which could be adjusted. State “I’m thinking out loud here” to make sure people know your position might change with additional information.
Inconsistent signaling is quickly interpreted as waffling and weakness. It’s difficult to recover from that situation. Therefore stay out of that ditch rather than drift into it.
