Leadership communication. It is one of the most important roles we have as leaders – and one of the hardest to do well across a team. If you want to become more effective in creating that needed clarity with others, consider looking to the stars. I’m not talking about astrology; I’m suggesting you become a constellation creator.

According to the website Interesting Engineering, constellations are groups of stars in the night sky that can be said to form an outline, pattern, or particular shape to which human beings assign significance. This might be simply a name to remember them by or it might be how our ancestors determined the time of year. While there is some debate about how long humans have been looking for patterns in the stars, it could be as long ago as 17,000 years ago.

I’m not an astronomer, and other than the Big Dipper I’m not very good at finding constellations, but I “see” constellations as a metaphor for our role as a leader.

Leaders Need Look Further Out

As a leader you must be looking ahead and looking up. Knowing where they are headed and what direction to travel, leaders can lead people in that desired direction.  More than just seeing the destination and direction, looking up provides perspective. Seeing further out helps the leader and team see the bumps and obstacles ahead, so they can navigate around them or understand their severity. What gives you more perspective than looking to the sky?

Leaders Need to See Patterns

Think of the stars as data points.  Until someone sees a pattern and makes meaning from the data, it is hard to use that information in a useful or valuable ways. Depending on where and when you look, it is estimated that the human eye can see between 5,000 and 10,000 stars. That’s a lot of stars! On the other hand, The International Astronomical Union has codified just 88 constellations. Stars, like the data points exist, but constellations only exist as patterns seen by someone.

Leaders need help make sense of all the data in connection with the direction they are leading. With that clearer sense they have a much better chance to use the patterns in the date to successfully communicate the direction and destination to the team.

Leaders Need to Connect the Dots

In a world full of information for leadership communication to be successful, leaders must choose the most relevant information to share and then connect the dots between that information and the vision and mission of the team. Like a giant dot-to-dot puzzle, constellations only exist because people can connect the stars together to form the desired image.

When we look at the future it can look as confusing as the random stars in the sky.  It is our job as leaders to help people see what we see, and to follow the chosen path.  We do that by connecting the dots between the information available to create a pattern or picture that we can see, get excited about, and move towards.  In that way, leaders are most certainly constellation creators.

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Do you realize the value and power of learning with others? Does your organization create ways for people to learn together? Do you do that for yourself? Join me this week (Sept. 28 or 29th) for a new webinar titled – How Peer Learning Can Transform Your Results. If you are looking for ways to jumpstart the learning for your team, organization, and yourself, join us for this free webinar! <- https://www.kevineikenberry.com/how-peer-learning-can-transform-your-results-webinar/

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