3 minutes
These five steps will help you effectively get your message across.
Good interpersonal skills are the hallmark of all great leaders. There is no leadership without effective communication, and those possessing the art of delivering thoughts and ideas in meaningful ways are those who are most successful.
No academic discourse or any business degree can teach you how to become a skillful communicator. It is self-taught and learned by exposing oneself to situations where interpersonal skills are tested the most.
Regardless of which leadership style CEOs and managers adopt or have, delivering the right communication is a different matter altogether.
The best communicators are not only those who show the intent to listen to others, but also those who have incredible situational awareness and problem-solving skills. Without being able to critically analyze, process the finer details and evaluate holistically, leaders will not be able to communicate the big picture to their staff, and the business will not grow as it should.
The following are a few ways leaders can uphold effective leadership communication.
1. Get personal
The positive value of any relationship intensifies the more emotions are involved. While it is important to have disciplined and professional relationships with your staff, it is also essential that leaders communicate with their staff using personalized tones and messages. Cultivating meaningful relationships is critical for leaders to communicate effectively.
2. Be specific
Leaders also need to practice ways of keeping their messages concise and to the point. There is nothing remarkable about making long speeches if your staff cannot understand and remember half of the things you say. Business leaders are more pressed for time, and it can be very damaging if they do not deliver messages in a summarized and concise manner. The more summarized your messages are, the more clarity your staff will have.
3. Show empathy
It is only natural that those vested with authority will exploit their position to show ego. That, however, is not the mark of a strong leader. A strong leader is one who can show empathy for his or her staff. Empathy contains the human elements of compassion and care that can patch up emotional or psychological issues faced by employees in their work routines. Showing empathy means that you value human emotions and doing it enough can be a precursor for influencing great motivation levels in your staff.
4. Demonstrate analytical reasoning
How well you analyze information and events is an important quality for a leader to have. What is more important is getting your employees to think like you and perceive things from your point of view. This does not necessarily mean that they have to agree with you; rather, it is about exercising one’s rational faculties to become a better, data-driven staff that can achieve extraordinary results.
Leaders should ask employees to make research, analysis and solutions relevant to a problem as well as company or department objectives and conclusion. You can then ask a series of questions regarding how the business should quantify the solutions and how it can translate into long-term business growth.
This is an important exercise to train your employees to think on their feet, appreciate their rational thinking and arrive at conclusions that can relate to worthwhile business strategies.
5. Listen and be silent
Listening with an open mind and out of genuine interest is one of the easiest ways to gain the trust of your employees. By listening with a sincere heart, your employees feel valued and become encouraged to participate more closely with the activities of the organization. It sparks interest in your staff and allows them to be more at ease with their company culture.
Simon T. Bailey teaches influencers how to change the world. He is the creator of The Shift System, which shows you how to increase your personal and business results. This is based on his book, "Shift Your Brilliance—Harness the Power of You, Inc."
