6 Leadership Communication Tips for New Entrepreneurs

The following is adapted from Create and Orchestrate.

They say experience is the best teacher, but as a new entrepreneur, experience is exactly what you’re lacking. This is especially true in the area of leadership.

But here’s the good news: if you don’t have experience in leadership yet, that doesn’t mean you cannot become a great leader. Every great leader has to start somewhere, and to set yourself up for success early in your career, start by focusing on communication. 

Many problems in business can be prevented or solved through good communication. As such, an entrepreneur’s first job is as chief communication officer, then the chief executive officer. 

Communication is your number one tool for leveling up your ability as a leader, so here are six tips for upgrading your communication skills that you can begin implementing today.

#1: Give Attention

Everyone values when people pay attention to them. It’s a fundamental desire that humans have. As a leader, you can communicate more effectively with your team by showing them they are worthy of your attention. 

A practical way to do this is to schedule one-on-one time with those who most need your input and your ear. The committed amount of time and frequency is always relative to how much you need to invest in the person. Scheduling time with someone gives them a sense that communicating with them is a priority.

#2: Listen

The best leaders ask thoughtful questions and listen. You learn more that way, and listening conveys to your team that gathering insight is important to you. 

All the people in your organization will both respect you more and be more honest with you if they know you for your ability to listen. You will learn so much about your organization by being a good, attentive listener.

#3: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

As a young leader, I was often upset with my team over how many times I needed to say something in order for it to “sink in.” Over time, I became more attuned to my role as a communicator, and I realized if someone didn’t get what I was saying, that was my fault. 

Remember, the leader has to be accountable for the outcome—always. Good leaders understand the need to say the same thing, many times to the same group of people, making sure everyone understands what they are communicating.

As a general rule, one time is never enough.

#4: Practice Empathy

In the 21st century, leaders are required to communicate across three generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. The ability to communicate with this multi-generational audience effectively is challenging. It requires empathy.

Empathy is the state of understanding and sharing another person’s experiences and emotions. Using empathy can help you understand your audience and be more effective as a communicator. 

The more in-tune you are with your team’s feelings, the more you will interpret their nonverbal communication. Things like body language, digital communication, and patterns in performance are all much easier to decipher if you have developed empathy for your people.

Tapping into and understanding the emotions of your team is a critical part of your ability to communicate with them.

#5: Stick with Vision

As the leader, it’s your job to look out over the horizon and see what is coming and guide your organization into the future. 

This is a critical job for the leader, anchoring to the vision and using it to guide people through change. If a leader doesn’t continue to work at this strategic level, it will limit the level of leadership they can achieve.

A mistake many leaders make is they will define the vision but then never communicate it properly to their team. For your vision to be effective, it must be communicated.

#6: Manage Emotions

As a leader with the primary job of communicating effectively to your team, you must manage your emotions. 

This means you shouldn’t overreact to others’ emotions, and you cannot allow your own emotions to get out of control. The hard work of being a leader is absorbing others’ emotional reactions, while maintaining an example of what leadership looks like in your response.

Sometimes it’s appropriate to remind people you are human and show them how you feel to create a deeper connection with you. But these situations lose their impact if they happen too often. Be thoughtful about when you show your emotions with your team.

Good leaders know their people are always watching them, looking for cues on how the organization is doing through verbal and nonverbal communication. Therefore, all emotions that the leader expresses must be managed to respect that fact and keep the organization stable and moving forward through positive communications.

Start with Communication and Gain the Experience 

One of the biggest hurdles new entrepreneurs face is a lack of confidence in their leadership skills due to their lack of experience.

It’s important to remember that experience shapes perspective in both good and bad ways. As a new leader, you get to work with a clean slate. This is a wonderful opportunity. Yes, you have lessons to learn, but you also don’t have any bad habits or harmful beliefs you need to undo.

So have confidence in yourself. Start from a foundation of strong communication, and you will quickly grow into the leader you wish to be. The only way to gain experience is to start leading, so get out there, communicate, and lead!

For more advice on leadership, you can find Create and Orchestrate on Amazon.

Marcus Whitney is CEO and founder of Health:Further, a strategic advisory firm working with leading healthcare organizations, as well as founding partner of Jumpstart Health Investors, the most active venture capital firm in America focused on innovative healthcare companies. He is an in-demand speaker who hosts a podcast called Marcus Whitney’s Audio Universe, and sends out a weekly newsletter called Two Worlds. Marcus has been listed in the Upstart 100 by Upstart Business Journal, Power 100 by Nashville Business Journal, and has been featured in Inc., Fast Company, and The Atlantic. To connect with Marcus or receive his weekly newsletter, visit MarcusWhitney.com.