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Communicating is more than just thinking with your lips moving. Successful leaders know how to inspire with words, how to direct debate, and how to elicit constructive input. They essentially know when to talk, what to say, and when to shut up. Many natural leaders possess these skills intuitively and couldn't explain how they learned them, but they can be learned.

Walkie-talkies are great tools for communicating directly and expeditiously. They're immediate, mobile, and uncomplicated. They let you do three things: listen and talk while you walk.

"Walkie-talkie management" is a great tool for communicating directly and expeditiously. It's not structured or formal. In short, it's just walking around listening and talking. It's one of the most effective things you can do, and it's simple and inexpensive. Be seen. Be heard. Be spoken to.

It's more than just walking and talking

In walkie-talkie management, you have to be not just a communicator but also a clear communicator. You have to compensate for other communicators whose walkie-talkies are faulty and staticky.

Most people think they're good communicators. You don't generally meet people who introduce themselves and say, "Oh yes, and by the way, I'm terribly thick-headed and make lots of wrong assumptions, so please remember to communicate clearly with me." Part of your job as a manager is to read the minds of less-than-stellar communicators, but Vulcan mind-meld abilities aren't standard issue. You have to figure it out. You have to help people communicate through their own static. You have to communicate well on your own behalf and communicate even better on theirs.

When we think of communication skills, we tend to think in terms of how well we talk. But in fact, listening is really what determines good walkie-talkie skills. People are more interested in being heard than in hearing. Fight this tendency in yourself as you capitalize on it in others.

Use listening to:

• Gather important information.
• Make sure that the person talking to you feels heard.

When people feel heard, they feel good about themselves. Quite conveniently, they'll feel good about you, too. People who feel heard will consider the conversation constructive even if they don't get what they want, because it was somehow a positive experience. That's the effect of good listening.

Many people fall into the trap of spending their listening time either impatiently planning their next turn at talking or trying to second-guess the speaker and leap ahead of them to the point. That's not good listening. Good listening is hearing the spoken message and using it to draw out the unspoken message until you understand what the speaker is conveying, not just saying.

Cut through the walkie-talkie interference

Three kinds of interference commonly create walkie-talkie static:

Communication tango

Message bombardment

Context of hierarchy

Put good communication into action

To practice effective walkie-talkie management, do the following:

1. Get up and walk around.
2. Listen receptively, reflectively, and objectively.
3. Avoid inflammatory statements.
4. Speak promptly, positively, and repeatedly.

Never underestimate the power of good one-to-one communication or the effect of everything you say as a manager. One-to-one communication is more than just talking on steroids. The biggest job of management is communicating — a lot. Listen first. And when you speak, speak well.

About the author   Anne Milkovich, founder and principal of Management Bytes Inc., gives technical managers the knowledge and support they need to run their teams productively and improve workplace quality of life. As a speaker, author, trainer, and coach, she draws on MBA education and on her experience as a former technical manager for Microsoft to facilitate workplace improvement throughout the world.