The secret to great leadership: communication skills
Communication skills are essential to the success of any boss whether CEO, department manager or humble team supervisor. Can you name a great leader that wasn’t a superior communicator?
It’s certainly much easier to reel of a list of those with excellent leadership communication skills. Think Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Churchill, Elizabeth I or Sheryl Sandberg to name just a few. For some leaders, communicating comes naturally. Their sociability trait is sufficiently strong that it’s easy to connect with an audience (looking at you here Richard). Yet for others (Sheryl) with a less extrovert personality, it’s a skill to be acquired and worked on.
But key to effective communication is also having the ability to put use those learnt skills into practice. You must be able to read the needs of an audience and seamlessly adapt if the atmosphere changes.
Be real – To capture your audience, you must have their trust. Reputation and integrity can only be earned. Remember this in every interaction with your team.
Be personal – Nobody likes to be talked at. Make your communications engaging and personal. Every individual in the room needs to feel that you are communicating with them. Be specific – The one thing we rarely have enough of is time. Don’t irritate your audience by wasting theirs. Communicate with clarity at all times. Understand the value of brevity. Deliver with impact.Be informed – Have a good technical grasp of the subject matter. Style over substance rarely results in success.
Be insightful – Sometimes you need to be silent to communicate effectively. Listen to what your team is saying, remembering that you might need to read between the lines. Acknowledge their input and learn from it.
Our business communication skills workshops will give you the tools and confidence to strengthen your leadership communication skills. It will leave you able to:
- Get to the core of your message.
- Structure your message.
- Communicate your message with impact.
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