05th December 2023
Enhancing Leadership Communication: Five Strategies for Skill Improvement
Effective leadership communication skills are essential, with 75% of employees valuing them most, yet only one in three employees believe their bosses communicate effectively. Poor communication affects motivation, well-being, and productivity, contributing to employee disengagement. To address this crisis, leaders should utilize visuals, provide constructive feedback, master storytelling, communicate transparently, and use appropriate communication channels. This will empower leaders to build highly engaged and efficient teams while enhancing well-being and productivity in the workplace.
From the original article written by Rachel Wells and published in Forbes:
Approximately 75% of employees view communication skills as the number one essential leadership attribute, research from Haiilo found. But surprisingly, only one in three employees agreed that their boss communicated effectively. Leaders and managers have a direct bearing on overall employee motivation, wellbeing, and performance, and are one of the main contributing factors behind employee disengagement trends that have rocked the workforce since the pandemic, with a Gallup report noting that disengaged employees were the most likely to leave the employer in 2021. Clearly, there is a major communication crisis, and without addressing this concern, productivity and business profits suffer.
Below are five ways to improve your communication skills so you can lead a highly engaged and efficient team:
Use Visuals
Whenever announcing a new initiative, launching a project or strategy, providing an update, or even giving directives, use visual aids. Visuals reinforce and complement messaging, and work especially well for those of your employees who are more visual learners and prefer to see things in action rather than hearing or reading words. Some examples of visuals that you can incorporate into your communication with your teams include graphs, charts, screencasts, screenshots, and slides.
One way to incorporate visual aids into your communication with your teams would be to use a screencast to demonstrate a new process you want your team to adopt after you’ve integrated a new software into their workflow. They can then revisit the screencast video or look through the screenshots again and again without needing much further assistance from you.
Deliver Constructive Feedback
Develop the art of relaying constructive feedback in a way that is action-oriented solutions focused and is positive. Ensure the feedback you relay is factual, based on evidence, and use these facts in your meeting, addressing specific behaviors that you’ve observed have had a negative impact on the team or project. Frame your feedback in a way that highlights our colleges your team member’s strengths and positives before delving into the areas of improvement, and ensure they are involved in the process of creating a positive action plan.
Additionally, be open to receiving constructive feedback from your team members, as this will help you grow in your leadership journey.
Master The Art Of Storytelling
Storytelling, like visual aids, brings greater force to your words and is a fantastic tool for motivating and inspiring your teams to action and driving change through persuasion. You can even use storytelling in your meetings with senior-level stakeholders to obtain buy-in. Engaging narratives can help your team understand your key points and make your words more memorable.
For example, you could use customer testimonials, poke fun at yourself, share a story of a team member who did something exceptionally well or not so well—and the lessons learned, or observations of project impact.
Download eBook: How to create Inspiring Communications within your organization
