December 30, 2014
To become a great leader you need to be a good communicator. Managers and team leaders should be able to communicate effectively with clients and colleagues. One of the attributes that differentiates between a good leader and their counterparts is ability to develop keen external awareness when talking to various groups of people in workplaces.
Here are some effective communication tips that you can use to hone your leadership skills :
Be Specific
This basically refers to learning how to communicate with clarity. Use of complex and sophisticated words will just end up confusing your audience. Time being one of the most precious commodities in the world today; leaders must be able to hit the high points without going around the bush. One of the best ways of becoming specific in your conversations is by weeding out superfluous statements and making your words count.
Have an Open Mindset
Having a rigid mindset will limit you from becoming an expert leader as you will not be able to embrace new opportunities that come your way. You should be able to embrace those who oppose your opinions as they might have viable ideas that you can use to enhance your service delivery. More importantly, remember that it is not your opinion that matters but the willingness to discuss it at a fair platform with an open mind. To do this, you should try and open dialogs with people who confront, challenge and stretch you to acquire new skills and nurture the existing ones.
Be Empathetic
This basically refers to being able to communicate with empathy and caring tone that is devoid of arrogance and an inflated ego. Managers and business executives who are empathetic communicators display and maintain high levels of transparency and authenticity. By joining this group of elite leaders, you will be able to successfully turn anger into respect and doubt into trust especially when reaching out to prospective clients.
Speak to Groups and Individuals
Any manager can attest to the fact that it’s almost impossible to have a personal conversation with each and every employee. Hence, they have unique ability to customize a particular message in such a way that when speaking to a group, each person feels that they are speaking directly to them. Learn how to establish credibility, trust and rapport to hold successful interactions.
Ability to Change Message
There is no guarantee that you message will result in positive outcome. So, what should one do to prevent a message from going bad? The most plausible answer to this question is preparing or developing a contingency plan to help you change the plan if need arises. Incorporating stories, humor, relevant data, bold statements and analogies will help you connect and engender trust and confidence of the audience.
Know What You’re Talking About
This entails developing a technical command over your subject matter. Even if you are the manager, some staff members will have little or no interest in listening to what you have to say if you are not adding any value to a topic or situation. Hence, choose your words right and think before joining or starting a conversation.
Last but not least effective communication tip addresses the need to know when to be quiet and listen to what other people have to say.
Here are some related articles about effective communication:
https://www.icre.pitt.edu/mentoring/effective.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/11/29/5-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators/