Connecting Leadership

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a powerful concept. Its effects in organisations are remarkable:

• teams function better;
• employees are motivated for their job and willing to learn;
• the quality of internal and external services increases;
• the talents, experiences and competencies of employees translate into collective intelligence;
• leaders convey their messages in a clear, powerful way while staying connected to what their team members need in order to perform well.

What inspiration does Nonviolent Communication offer leaders?

The power of being yourself

NVC is a handy tool for looking at your own functioning within a complex context. Feelings give meaning to what’s happening inside the organisation. Are targets being met? Is the climate okay? Are colleagues in their element? Being able to consciously reflect on what’s going on allows a leader to act and communicate in a purposeful way. Through NVC, they can convey the essence powerfully with few words, while staying involved and warm in their contact. Thanks to the simplicity and clarity, team members can hear the message and see how they can contribute to the bigger picture.

The power of feedback

NVC provides inspiration to give feedback in a powerful, effective way. It helps employees align their work with their personal goals and those of the organisation. Both reinforcing and corrective feedback have their value. NVC ensures that messages come across clearly and can be heard.

The power of empathy

NVC inspires leaders to be in empathic contact with their team members. By listening consciously to employees, a bond of mutual respect develops where what matters to both the person and the organisation is taken into account. Empathic listening also makes the other person more willing to hear what’s important from the leader’s and the organisation’s perspective.

The power of lasting solutions

NVC ensures that conflicts are resolved thoroughly. By including all needs, interests and values in an opinion-forming phase, the quality of agreements in the decision-making phase improves. Here too, the essential skills of NVC are the building blocks for working out a lasting solution through mutual dialogue.

The power of Connecting Decision-Making

Building on NVC, we developed a concept we call Connecting Decision-Making. This concept provides inspiration for making decisions that take into account the resistance of those involved. By searching for solutions with little resistance, and therefore high acceptance, decisions are made that optimally integrate the expertise of everyone involved. To practise connecting decision-making, it’s important to be able to distinguish between interests, values and how they translate into concrete solutions. Listening empathically to the interests and insights of the people who influence the decision is crucial in this process.