Is your communication as a leader helping or hurting the bottom line?

When you consider the demands of leadership, one of the greatest requirements is the ability to communicate effectively. To communicate effectively means you are able to share your vision, create understanding, gain buy-in, and rally support – to communicate effectively means you are able to consistently deliver a message that moves the organization forward in a strategic manner.

Five Fundamentals of Leadership Communication

Source: © 2007, Speechworks/Asher Communications, Inc.

1. Deliver a Point of View: Leaders must share their ideas, and be ready to support and defend them. Share your plan for improving how merchants display their goods, or how to get a larger market share in Asia. But whatever you do, don’t just give your audience all the facts and hope that they’ll figure it out on their own.
2. Speak Simply and Use Stories: No one will follow what they don’t understand. Remain accessible by keeping your message to a few key points and by bringing those points to life with stories. To keep messages simple, come up with three “bumper stickers” that represent the core of your message.
3. Show Conviction in Your Voice and Face: Thousands of “George Foreman Grills” and ”Abdominal Exercisers” have been sold by virtue of a pitchman’s enthusiasm. The same is true for leaders. You can’t expect people to buy into your ideas based on logic alone – you must show passion and conviction in your voice, and face.
4. Make Programs Interactive: Leaders need to be accountable to the people they lead. And in the context of a presentation, they should be willing and eager to defend their ideas. That means taking questions during the presentation. Tell the audience that you’re happy to be interrupted at any time.
5. Rehearse like Crazy: Communicating and influencing are among leaders’ most important jobs. So when you have a chance to present, you need to inspire confidence and come across with polish.

The Bottom Line on Best Practices in Communication

Watson Wyatt (a global consulting firm ) in their 2009/2010 Communication ROI Study identified these best practices of companies that are highly effective communicators:

• Communicate how business changes will affect employees.
  Sixty-two percent of highly effective communicators have clearly defined employee value propositions (EVP), or employment deals, survey data show. The EVP tells employees what to expect from the company and what the company expects from them.
• Trust and train leaders to talk about change.
  Some 73% of highly effective communicators say managers are effective at supporting the executive management vision through their actions. Still, give managers time to take in and understand organizational changes before asking them to communicate and endorse such changes. Additionally, face-to-face communications, such as town hall meetings or staff meetings, are preferred over social media or printed material when the conversation is about business change.
• Use measures and metrics.
  Effective communicators are twice to three times more likely to have a documented communications strategy. A little more than half of the highly effective communicators are including more communication outcome metrics in their strategies. Still, 43% of all respondents said they had no formal measures or assessments.

At the heart of great communication is understanding. Whether you are leading a meeting with the board, or addressing long-time employees about challenging economic situations – every word matters. Beyond the ability to connect, you message must lead and inspire confidence. If you are unsure of your abilities, practice your deliver in front of a mirror. It’s a great way to very clear on whether or not the image you are presenting matches the message you want to send. Combining a few best practices with five fundamental skills is a great way to add an edge to your next meeting or presentation. After all, leadership is not always an easy role to inhabit, which is probably why you were chosen. Make the most of every message and you’ll see the results across the organization.

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DARE TO BE GREAT!
Your LQ Team