Communication is a vital skill for any team leader, especially in a remote or hybrid work environment. Effective communication can boost team motivation, collaboration, performance, and satisfaction. But what are the best communication skills for team leaders? Here are six key skills that can help you communicate better with your team and achieve your goals.
Active listening is the ability to pay attention, understand, and respond to what others are saying. It shows that you care about your team members, respect their opinions, and value their contributions. Active listening also helps you identify and address any issues, concerns, or feedback that your team may have. To practice active listening, you should avoid distractions, ask open-ended questions, paraphrase or summarize what you heard, and express empathy or appreciation.
If you are planning what you will say, you are not listening. If you are thinking about what you will do, you are not listening. If you are not listening, you will not hear what your team truly needs from you. Stay focused. You have the answer but you must listen to the question.
Here's an Acronym I have used as a framework for active listening: H.U.G. Hear - Focus on what the other person is saying and pay attention to how they say it. "Let the silence do the work." - Cal Fussman Understand - More than affirming to the person you understand them, repeat back to them what you heard. After listening, "So what I'm hearing you say is..." Get - Relate to them. Is there an experience that you could share from your life or work that shares common threads between what you heard and what you've experienced? "I get it, it reminds me of the time..."
Clarity and conciseness are the qualities of delivering your message in a clear, simple, and direct way. They help you avoid confusion, misunderstanding, or ambiguity that can affect your team's motivation and performance. Clarity and conciseness also save time and energy for both you and your team. To communicate with clarity and conciseness, you should use plain language, avoid jargon or acronyms, organize your thoughts, and focus on the main points.
Adaptability and flexibility are the abilities to adjust your communication style, tone, and channel according to the situation, audience, and purpose. They help you communicate effectively with different types of team members, such as introverts, extroverts, millennials, or boomers. Adaptability and flexibility also help you cope with changes, challenges, or uncertainties that may arise in your team or project. To communicate with adaptability and flexibility, you should be aware of your own and others' preferences, use multiple modes of communication, and be open to feedback and suggestions.
Empathy and emotional intelligence are the skills of understanding and managing your own and others' emotions. They help you build trust, rapport, and loyalty with your team members, as well as motivate, inspire, and support them. Empathy and emotional intelligence also help you handle conflicts, stress, or crises that may affect your team's morale or well-being. To communicate with empathy and emotional intelligence, you should be attentive to verbal and non-verbal cues, acknowledge and validate others' feelings, and express your own emotions appropriately.
Feedback and recognition are the practices of giving and receiving constructive, specific, and timely information and praise. They help you improve your team's performance, quality, and efficiency, as well as celebrate their achievements and strengths. Feedback and recognition also help you create a culture of learning, growth, and appreciation in your team. To communicate with feedback and recognition, you should use the sandwich method (positive-negative-positive), focus on behaviors rather than traits, and use positive reinforcement and rewards.
Ex-military and the best advice I ever got was from a company commander who told me that you always reward in public and reprimand in private. How you speak to a team member will affect how everyone else on your team does as well. Do not save compliments for behind closed doors.
Collaboration and delegation are the skills of working with others and sharing responsibilities and tasks. They help you leverage your team's diverse skills, talents, and perspectives, as well as empower them to take ownership and initiative. Collaboration and delegation also help you optimize your team's productivity, creativity, and innovation. To communicate with collaboration and delegation, you should set clear goals, expectations, and deadlines, use tools and platforms that facilitate teamwork, and provide guidance and support when needed.
Effective communication is best achieved when team leader communicate matters that align with their team members' highest values. When the message is aligned, the outcome is greater inspiration, greater attentiveness, and higher retention. Rather than sharing every detail of knowledge, focus on what resonates with the team's values; otherwise, they may lose interest and not retain the information. To achieve this alignment as a team leader, first identify your own values, steering clear of "shoulds" or social idealisms, and then discern the values of our team members. This approach fosters a more engaging and impactful communication style, ultimately leading to better collaboration and team success.