Leadership Communication Skills
Great leaders are excellent communicators. According to Haiilo, 3 in 4 employees see effective communication as the number one leadership attribute. Even if you aren’t in a leadership position, you need to learn how to communicate like a leader. When you consistently showcase leadership communications skills, everyone around you, including your superiors, will begin to think of you as a leader. This will help advance your career.
Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed Chairman at Citibank South Asia, Lung-Nien Lee. They shared tips and personal stories about leadership communication skills.
1. Effective Communication
Whether you are hoping to get into a management position or currently lead a team, it is crucial to practice effective communication.
The only way to capture people’s attention is to make what you are saying understandable.
During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Lung emphasized that you must get your point across as simply and clearly as possible. This will help you become a more effective communicator.
Consider the following:
- Tempo – Your tempo, or the speed at which you speak, can make a big difference in whether people can understand what you are saying. You don’t want to speak too slowly or too quickly. For example, if you are meeting with your superior and you speak very slowly, they may lose interest and not be able to wait for you to finish before they need to move on. On the flip side, if you instruct your team on what needs to be done and speak too quickly, they may not fully understand what you’ve said and miss the necessary steps.
- Clarity – What you say needs to be easily understandable. For example, if you use uncommon words, your audience may not easily understand what you mean. Or, if you go on and on about something off-topic, your audience will lose the point of your message. One way to ensure you are clear is to speak to your audience in a conversational tone. This will help you avoid unnecessary words and keep your message clear.
- Concise – During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Lung said he appreciates when people are straightforward. He said, most people don’t have time to listen to every detail; they need the facts. For example, avoid beating around the bush or using lengthy examples to make your point. Simply say what you need to say and get to the point quickly.
You don’t need to use big words or overcomplicate your message. When your message is clear and concise, everyone can easily understand it.
2. Quantifiable Communication
As a leader, you want to ensure your team understands what you need from them. You have to use quantifiable communication. This means making sure there are specifics in your communications.
Consider the following:
- Deadlines – One way to make your communications quantifiable is to give deadlines to your team. For example, you can say, “Please have the draft done by 5 pm on Friday.” If you were to say, “Please get the draft done.” Your team doesn’t know when to get it done. But when you quantify your communications, they know exactly when you want the draft to be completed.
- Be Specific – As a leader, you want to ensure you are giving good guidance to your team. This includes avoiding generalities. For example, saying something like, “Please review the document” is too broad and general. You may think your team knows what you mean, but reviewing the document can mean many different things. Instead, give specifics. You can say something like, “Please review the document and give me five comments back.” This is much more specific, and your team will better understand what you want.
- Next Steps – Another piece of quantitative communications is to provide the next steps for your team. For example, you can say, “Once you’ve finished drafting the proposal, please email me.” In this way, your team knows exactly what to do when they are done. This takes the guesswork out of what they need to do next.
When you use quantitative communications, you ensure everyone on your team knows exactly what is expected of them. This gives them the freedom to work at their highest abilities.
3. Listen Before You Speak
During the Soulcast Media | LIVE event, Lung shared that new leaders must listen before speaking. He said when you listen to your team, you will be able to understand what is happening within and around the team. This will help you make better-informed decisions when speaking with your team.
Consider the following:
- Temperature Check – When you first become a manager, you will want to get a temperature check of the team. For example, assess processes and procedures. See what is working well and what can be improved upon. This will help you determine what you’d like to do moving forward.
- Ask Questions – It is so essential for you to ask your team questions so you can better understand all of the dynamics. For example, you may want to speak to each team member individually. Ask them what they are working on, what they need to do their job, and what they would like to see improved. Listen to everything your team tells you and take note. Their answers will help you make better decisions.
- Give Yourself Time – During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Jessica said it is important as a new manager not to change everything everyone is doing immediately. She said this could make people stressed and not trust you as their manager. Instead, she said to give yourself time. For example, focus on one thing you’d like to improve instead of changing everything all at once. Be sure you understand how this will impact your team before deciding to move forward with the change.
When you take the time to really hear each of your team members, you can effectively communicate with them. Listening will help you understand how to be a better leader.
In the end, everyone needs leadership communication skills. Practicing effective and quantifiable communications, and actively listening will help improve your leadership communications skills.
If you want to see the full LIVE version of Jessica and Lung’s conversation, check out Jessica’s Youtube Channel.
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