[New Free Quick Guide] 6 Must-Have Communication Skills for Managers

Most managers today want to be better communicators but just don’t know how to get there. We’ve narrowed it down to six essential skills that have been game-changers for thousands of leaders we’ve worked with. While there are many nuances to the skills we explore here, they are all underpinned by a leadership philosophy we refer to as “Heart First.” In a nutshell, this is simply about being more human as a leader, understanding that nothing important gets done without genuine relationships, buy-in, trust, and support from your full team.

Why do managers need good communication skills?

The most compelling argument for getting better at communication is that great communication leads to great leadership. Leaders who can’t authentically connect or inspire their teams won’t take their organizations far. Consider the following as evidence of how important better communication is:

Employees are extremely disengaged

60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable1. Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup, wrote in the report’s introduction that employee burnout can be attributed to several key factors: unfair treatment, unmanageable workload, unclear communication from managers, lack of manager support, and unreasonable time pressure.

“Those five causes have one thing in common,” Clifton wrote. “Your boss.” Better trained and skilled managers have been shown to make a major impact. In the Gallup Global Workplace report, Clifton also noted that building the capabilities of managers is one of the key ways to build better workplaces.

A growing number of managers report that they need more support to do their jobs better, and communication-related skills are often looked to as a top need.

In a 2022 Harvard Business Review article entitled “Managers Can’t Do It All,” Diane Gherson, the recently retired chief human resources officer for IBM, and Lynda Gratton, a London Business School professor, reported that most managers are struggling to keep up. The challenges they confront are wide-ranging, including digitization, agile initiatives, and the move to remote work, just to name a few.

6 Must-Have Communication Skills for Managers

1.???? Listen and check for understanding. This gets to the core of Heart First Leadership. To make communication effective, leaders need to learn what’s working well, what’s not, and most importantly, how things can be better. That involves listening—and listening some more. Here’s how to do it:

• Ask broad, probing, open-ended questions, which allow the listener to take the conversation in a direction they choose, such as: “Help me understand…” “How do you envision…?” “What other strategic alternative did you consider?”
• Consistently ask employees for feedback. Follow up on employee ideas so team members know their voice matters. What leaders do with feedback speaks volumes to employees.

2.???? Create a shared vision and make information relevant. Every employee comes into the workplace with his or her own context, a mixture of culture, memories, upbringing, and experiences. Part of the role of a manager is to create a shared vision for the entire team. Managers can do that by ensuring employees understand the big picture and how they fit in.

Leaders should constantly communicate the “why” behind the business plan: Why the plan is important, the role the team plays, and the critical contribution that each employee can make to the team’s success.

3.???? Repeat important messages. One common communication mistake managers make is the “check-off-the-box” mentality. People see communication as a one-time event. Research shows that many of us need to hear a message multiple times before we get it. Communication isn’t something you can check off a to-do list.

4.???? Create dialogue and check for understanding. Every time managers communicate, there’s an opportunity to find out if their employees get what they’re saying. Some key questions for leaders to ask include:

• “What challenges and opportunities do you see with what I’ve just explained?”
• “What are your key takeaways from the information I just shared?”
• “What other questions or concerns do you have about this direction?”

5.???? Create regular opportunities for personal connections. With teams spread out across regions and countries, and so many people working remotely or on a hybrid home/office schedule, managers find it even harder to build critical connections and moments of dialogue.

This is one of the biggest pain points we hear from our clients in their work to build better communication skills in management. It’s also a big reason why many employees report feeling disconnected from their leaders. And when people feel disconnected, it’s hard for them to trust and want to follow their leaders.

To help address this, set time aside to connect personally with employees—ideally with a brief meeting once or twice a month whenever possible. In fact, Gallup finds the best new habit for managers is having one meaningful conversation per week with each team member, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes in length.

6.???? Use calls to action. As leaders communicate, it’s important to think about what actions they’re trying to drive. Communications should help move the audience to action. What do leaders want employees to do as a result of the communication?

Leaders should clearly communicate the actions wanted and be specific and give examples. Without a call to action, the leader’s message is just information.

Download the complete guide to access additional insights, including top questions on employees’ minds and effective key actions to take to be an even better colleague.

About David Grossman:

I’m Founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, an award-winning Chicago-based communications consultancy focusing on organizational consulting, strategic leadership development, and internal communications.

For more than 30 years, I've counseled leaders on the importance of effective leadership communication to drive employee engagement and business results and served as a thoughtpartner? to top organizations including Abbott Laboratories, Amazon, Amsted Industries, Hillrom (now part of Baxter), Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and SC Johnson, among others.

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