Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
The Leader’s Guide to Effective Communication: Connecting and Engaging Your Team
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Effective communication is arguably one of the most crucial, yet often overlooked, skills of a leader. Every aspect of leadership hinges on your ability to convey messages clearly and persuasively.
No matter the brilliance of your vision or the ambition of your plans, they won’t materialise unless you can articulate them in a way that is easily understood and compelling enough to rally people to your cause.
Effective communication not only keeps team members aligned with the company's goals but also ensures they are fully aware of their roles in priority projects.
Whether it's through email, Teams, meetings, presentations, or Slack, leaders implement their strategies by how they communicate. It's through these channels that you share ideas, inspire, motivate, and foster the energy needed for others to execute your vision. As a leader, this is how your work happens.
Unfortunately, communication skills are often underestimated and dismissed as a mere ‘soft skill’ or something that is ‘nice to have’. This perception couldn’t be further from the truth.
Throughout my career, it’s an area I’ve consistently seen leaders let down by.
And it’s also a common issue highlighted in engagement survey - almost invariably, leadership communication is cited as a key area for improvement. If you check your own surveys, you're likely to find similar feedback.
This isn't a new challenge. Research by the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted five years ago - which remains relevant today - revealed that poor communication leads to unmet performance goals, low morale, and even lost sales. A different study by SHRM found that poor communication can cost large companies an average of $64.2 million per year, and smaller organisations around $420,000 annually.
According to the Economist, the primary cause of poor or miscommunication in the workplace is the mismatch between communication styles.
While it's important to retain your individual voice and style, successful communication requires adapting your message to suit your audience’s needs, not just your own.
Think of it as being an authentic chameleon - leaders need to adjust their messaging to different team members and contexts to ensure they are effectively heard. When it comes to communication authenticity is definitely a paradox.
The most adept leaders also recognise that communication is a two-way street. It’s as much about listening and adapting to the feedback and sentiments of others as it is about conveying your own messages.
Because, just like leadership, communication is not about you - it is about the person you are communicating with.
Getting it right is worth it.
In their study, the Economist found that 71% of respondents said they spent a few hours each week on work as a result of poor communication. Some stating as much as a day.
So if you want your team to be more focused and productive - communicating well, in a way that works for your team is essential.
And when it comes to critical messages, repetition is key. Team members often need to hear a message up to seven times before they truly believe it and are convinced that leaders are committed to taking it forward.
That’s a lot of communication and a lot of reinforcing the same message. But the biggest incorrect assumption that leaders make with communication is that it has happened.
So the first thing to do is communicate. Then you do it some more.
To help you focus on your communication skills just that, read on.
Audit: First take stock and reflect on your own personal communication strengths and weaknesses. If you have received 360 feedback or any working styles assessments such as Everything DiSC they will give you clues. Alternatively, ask for feedback.
What are the three strongest aspects of your communication style?
What are three areas that you find come less easy to you?
How do these strengths and weaknesses impact your team’s performance and morale?
Identify: We can learn a lot by observing those around us and learning from those who do well the things that we want master. Take a moment and think about a leader whose communication style you admire.
What specific aspects of their communication make them effective?
Are there techniques or habits this leader uses that could address your identified weaknesses?
What is one small communication goal you can set for yourself this week?
Scale: Communication isn’t just a skill for individuals. Many organisations struggle with poor communication, and it starts at the top. Reflect on your leadership team - or the senior team that you are part of.
On a scale of 1-10 how effectively would you say you communicate, as a group, with one voice?
What would those around you say? If you’re not sure - ask them?
What two changes to the way you communicate as a collective, could you easily agree this week and put in place this week?
Empathise: Engaging with others through communication demands empathy. But natural empathy doesn’t come naturally to all of us. And whilst we can all be empathetic, it may take more intentional effort for some.
Read this to find out how:
How To Be More Empathetic
Listen: Matt Abrahams of Stanford University’s podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart centres on communication, and the back catalogue is broad. It’s worth diving into for more on how to communicate well.
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