By developing good communication skills, you are building a career asset that will set you apart.
Studies show that the very best leaders are great communicators. Leadership through communication is a skill many need to learn. It’s a good bet if you want to lead your company to success that you need to learn how to communicate with your employees. Leaders who move organizations in powerful directions connect with people and build a shared vision for the future. By developing good communication skills, you are building a career asset that will set you apart. Here are a few tips to help improve your communication and leadership skills.
1. Honesty and Transparency: We all grew up with the phrase, “Honesty is the best policy.” It doesn’t ring more true than when you’re talking about being in a leadership position. Telling people the truth in a way they can understand will not only improve your communication skills, but it will also gain you points with your employees. Telling them the information in a timely manner so they can plan accordingly will also make you a better leader. Your employees will respect you for it.
2. Active Listening: The most powerful form of listening is empathic listening, where you identify the emotion and state its underlying causes without trying to solve the problem. This is the type of listening people most strongly react too. Active listening makes people feel that they are both heard and understood. For example, your employee is upset because you haven’t appreciated the efforts they have made within the department. Just acknowledge why they are upset and you will be surprised at how powerful that acknowledgment is for the other person. For example:
“What I hear you saying is that you’re angry with me because I haven’t fully appreciated the lengths you’ve gone to in trying to win over our South American customers.”
The key elements are the correct identification of the emotion; the reasons for it, including your own personal responsibility, if any; and a full statement of the facts of the situation if those haven’t been brought up openly before. Active listening is a powerful first step toward solving any serious problem in a communication and it makes for better leadership skills.
3. Feedback: This is one area some people ignore because of ego, but feedback is one of the most important ways to find out if what you’re saying is coming across the way you meant it to. This is very important when you’re in a leadership position. Make sure to ask for others for feedback. Find out how people are hearing your message. Ask for advice on how to communicate better. Also, expect your teams to communicate proactively, and identify how they can improve.
4. Planning: When trying to tackle any great project, planning is key. In communications, planning is also a great asset. Take some time to plan when you’re going to have all-staff meetings, when you’re going to do town hall meetings, when you’re going to take questions live and even when you’re going to leave your desk. Planning all these things can impact your effectiveness as a leader. Planning is a way to organize actions that will lead to the fulfillment of a goal.
Leadership communication always needs to be a two-way street and good listening is profoundly active. When you combine the two as a communicator you will become a force to be reckoned with and a better leader.
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