The ability to communicate is important in every job position, but as you climb the corporate ladder, and your responsibilities grow, your communication skills can drive your success or hold you back.
Communication is a dynamic process, which can be summed up as the passing of information and understanding from one person to another. Sounds easy enough, right?
The reality is that communicating and sharing information may be harder than it seems. In a recent Interact/Harris Poll, communicating well is the one critical skill that 91% of 1,000 employees said that their leaders lack.
If communication is a core function for leaders at all levels, why is it so difficult?
Communication is often described as a two-way street, where leaders must effectively deliver a message and check in to make sure it is fully understood. Yet true communication goes deeper than this and can be much more complicated.
In today’s multi-generational work environment, leaders must not only be competent at connecting in meaningful and inclusive ways, but also at how to communicate with various groups and adapt to different communication styles.
Several key communication tools are important for leaders to implement: listening, coaching, teaching, directing, advising and motivating. Knowing when to use each of these tools allows leaders to better resonate with their team and drive performance. In addition, a leader’s awareness and understanding of different communication styles is also important, and is a first step in becoming more effective.
Behavioral instruments can be useful to help gain these greater insights. An instrument I administer to clients is the Everything DiSC Workplace. Learning and applying this tool helps leaders and teams better understand the people they work with, yielding strengthened interactions, unlocked engagement and effective collaboration.
Let’s consider an example: Mary is a CEO of a large organization. She is smart and knows the business backward and forward. But she is continually experiencing communication breakdowns with her team. Mary is frustrated by the inability of her team to get tasks done after clear articulation and guidance. Team members feel confused on what action to take, and are becoming critical and judgmental. Differences in communication styles are hindering the team’s ability to work together.
These communication breakdowns are all too common and can be detrimental to success. Have you ever experienced this or witnessed this kind of breakdown in communication?
With effort and knowledge, Mary was able to change the way she and her team communicated. She learned some key skills that allowed her to understand her own communication priorities and then, the priorities of each team member. She was able to tailor the conversation to each person, yielding improved dialogue, reduced conflict and misunderstanding, and greater productivity.
Pause for a minute and think about your own ability to communicate, and how effectively and clearly you get your message across. Are you mostly focused on what’s important to you? Or do you put a greater focus on actively listening to what others have to say?
The Center for Creative Leadership shares the following ideas to help leaders communicate more effectively:
- Communicate relentlessly – Openly communicate information, thoughts and ideas clearly and frequently – in many different ways – to strengthen understanding.
- Simplify and be direct – Say what you mean. Break down complex ideas into concepts employees can relate to. Simple communication can be smart communication.
- Listen and encourage input – Encourage others to offer ideas and solutions before you respond. The less you talk, the more you can learn.
- Illustrate through stories – Use stories to build trust, capture hearts and reinforce the vision.
- Affirm with actions – Your behavior and actions communicate a lot.
Communication is a complex skill that takes time to develop and sharpen. Your job as a leader is to inspire people to do great things with your words.
Great leaders are great communicators.
Beilsmith is an executive coach and professional development expert recognized for helping high-achieving professionals, teams and leaders reach their true potential through coaching, training and assessments. Visit jennybeilsmith.com for more information.
