John Eades* says the art of effective communication is one of the most important, yet most frequently overlooked, qualities of a superior leader.
While having an aspirational vision or a well-thought-out strategy are keys for becoming a successful leader, this won’t translate to reality if you can’t communicate effectively.
Take Gerard, a regional manager at a medium-sized business.
During a coaching session, he raved about how he communicated the team’s new strategy coming out of COVID-19.
While I typically take leaders at their word, I was a bit stunned because my interviews with his team members told me a different story.
These are just a few of the things they said.
“He said so much; I don’t even know where to start”; “He was so focused on his role he forgot the challenges I face in mine”; “he rambled a lot making him hard to understand”.
From all our work studying and helping leaders, I know Gerald isn’t alone.
Often, communication is a skill leaders believe they excel in, but in actuality is one of their most significant weaknesses.
To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, here are some of my favourite daily habits we have gathered from leaders who are great communicators.
They seek stories and tell them
In a world of data-driven business that some call management, it can be easy to only focus on numbers and results.
Sure these things matter, but by themselves they can bore and be uninspiring.
Great communicators know this, and they are constantly looking for stories and telling them all the time.
Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel.
They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bar graphs never can.
They ask themselves what the key takeaway is
Effective communication is at the heart of effective leadership.
The art of communication is the language of leadership.
Bad leaders not only struggle with the proper amount of communication, they often leave their team members confused instead of clear.
Great communicators overcome this by asking themselves a simple but difficult question before delivering their message.
What is the key takeaway I want the audience to have?
If you mimic this habit daily, you will be amazed at how you will use the 3C’s of successful communication. Your words will be clear, concise, and conclusive.
They say ‘you’ and ‘we’ more than ‘i’ and ‘me’
While this habit seems small and inconsequential, our brains are always evaluating the potential ‘pain’ or ‘gain’ to ourselves.
Hearing ‘you’ or ‘we’ locks us into the message being delivered versus the other way around.
They constantly repeat standards and expectations
Early on, I found myself frustrated with my team.
In a conversation with a very wise mentor, he gave me some great advice: “Expectations are the seeds of resentment.”
What made it even worse is that I had expectations, but never told my team.
I just expected them to know what I was thinking.
Great leaders not only set and maintain high standards for themselves and their team members, they also communicate them all the time.
They think of themselves as the Chief Repetition Officer.
Go ahead and raise the bar around what’s expected from your team and communicate it until you feel like a broken record.
They are always aware of body language.
Communication doesn’t just happen through verbal or written words — a major part is through body language.
Bad leaders either don’t realise this or they don’t care.
A study of teachers and students in the 1990s found students needed to only watch the body language of a teacher to make judgments that accurately predicted teacher evaluations of them.
It noted: “Body language is by far the most important factor; the teacher’s words barely mattered.”
When an employee sees you and recognises positive and powerful body language, they immediately are more interested in the words you might say.
They will be able to conclude what you are communicating by your body language alone.
They listen intently to things most don’t
You can start to separate yourself as a communicator, not just by being a good listener but listening intently to the things most people don’t.
Try locking into the conversations colleagues have, what clients are saying, or even the body language that sheds light on what people are thinking and feeling.
It will drastically improve the way you communicate with others.
No matter if you have these habits yet or not, communication is one of those skills that’s worth your constant effort and attention to improve.
As you put in the effort, you will be better equipped to guide your team in the right direction and execute its strategy.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared on John’s LearnLoft blog.
