Leadership Communication Skills

Great leaders are excellent communicators. According to Haiilo, 3 in 4 employees see effective communication as the number one leadership attribute. Even if you aren’t in a leadership position, you need to learn how to communicate like a leader. When you consistently showcase leadership communications skills, everyone around you, including your superiors, will begin to think of you as a leader. This will help advance your career.

Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed Chairmain at Citibank South Asia, Lung-Nien Lee. They shared tips and personal stories about leadership communication skills.

1. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Whether you are hoping to get into a management position or currently lead a team, it is crucial to practice effective communication.

The only way to capture people’s attention is to make what you are saying understandable.

During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Lung emphasized that you must get your point across as simply and clearly as possible. This will help you become a more effective communicator.

Consider the following:

• Tempo – Your tempo, or the speed at which you speak, can make a big difference in whether people can understand what you are saying. You don’t want to speak too slowly or too quickly.
• Clarity – What you say needs to be easily understandable.
• Concise – During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Lung said he appreciates when people are straightforward. He said, most people don’t have time to listen to every detail; they need the facts.

You don’t need to use big words or overcomplicate your message. When your message is clear and concise, everyone can easily understand it.

2. QUANTIFIABLE COMMUNICATION

As a leader, you want to ensure your team understands what you need from them. You have to use quantifiable communication. This means making sure there are specifics in your communications.

Consider the following:

• Deadlines – One way to make your communications quantifiable is to give deadlines to your team.
• Be Specific – As a leader, you want to ensure you are giving good guidance to your team. This includes avoiding generalities.
• Next Steps – Another piece of quantitative communications is to provide the next steps for your team.

💡We recommend the e-course, “Improving Your Leadership Communication” to help you effectively communicate as a leader.

When you use quantitative communications, you ensure everyone on your team knows exactly what is expected of them. This gives them the freedom to work at their highest abilities.

3. LISTEN BEFORE YOU SPEAK

During the Soulcast Media | LIVE event, Lung shared that new leaders must listen before speaking. He said when you listen to your team, you will be able to understand what is happening within and around the team. This will help you make better-informed decisions when speaking with your team.

Consider the following:

• Temperature Check – When you first become a manager, you will want to get a temperature check of the team.
• Ask Questions – It is so essential for you to ask your team questions so you can better understand all of the dynamics.
• Give Yourself Time – During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Jessica said it is important as a new manager not to change everything everyone is doing immediately. She said this could make people stressed and not trust you as their manager. Instead, she said to give yourself time.

When you take the time to really hear each of your team members, you can effectively communicate with them. Listening will help you understand how to be a better leader.

In the end, everyone needs leadership communication skills. Practicing effective and quantifiable communications, and actively listening will help improve your leadership communications skills.

Click here to read the full article.

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If you want to see the full LIVE version of Jessica and Lung’s conversation, check out Jessica’s Youtube Channel.

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Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways we can help you:

1. Discover your communications style so you know where to start. Over 4,000 people have found theirs here.
2. Attend our monthly communication workshop to build communications confidence (new topics: public speaking, advocating for yourself, building credibility, etc) here.
3. Get your brand in front of 43k+ people by sponsoring our newsletter or Soulcast Media | LIVE LinkedIn events [contact: hello@soulcastmedia.com]

Join us for an exciting Soulcast Media | LIVE event on March 30th! This event is free to attend! RSVP for your spot here!

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This article is part of the Soulcast Media Newsletter, which has over 10,000+ subscribers. If you like this article, feel free to subscribe.

Be sure to follow Jessica Chen on LinkedIn and Instagram for regular communications tips you can use at work immediately! Her videos can also be seen on YouTube.

If you'd like to learn more about our communications services and how we work with individuals and companies, check out our website: www.soulcastmedia.com.