The Power of Clear Communications

Clear and effective communication is the backbone of leadership. With proper communication, you convey your vision, goals, and objectives to your team members. Without it, your team is lost, demoralized, and not thriving.?

As a leader, you know how important it is to communicate clearly. That's why you are in the role of a leader. The organization trusts you to lead the team to accomplish your assigned goal. That requires you to tell people what to do, when, and how to do it, right? You spend your time sending out messages and then become frustrated when the team doesn't do what they are supposed to do, which causes you to send out even more messages, thus repeating the same experiences. So how can we become better communicators??

Most leaders spend most of their time on the outbound communication side, including drafting emails, creating presentations, and other forms of communication. While this is a vital component of a leader's responsibilities, effective communication is a two-way process that requires active listening, empathy, and clarity of thought. Leaders who master the art of effective communication become more approachable, trustworthy, and influential.

One way to think about effective communication is to think about the ratio of inward to outward breathing; too much in or out results in a very unhealthy situation for your body. The key is to have a proper balance between the two. The same applies to your communication volume and direction.

You can do that today by checking how many emails are in your inbox vs. what's in your outbox. Ignore the bulk reply-all and SPAM messages. Look just at the communications sent to you and where you reply. What is that ratio? Is it the proper amount, or does it need to be adjusted??

The area where most leaders need help is active listening. Active listening isn't actively preparing a response to someone's comments while pretending to be listening to the speaker. Active listening means paying attention to what the other person is saying, asking clarifying questions, and summarizing their message to ensure understanding. Leaders who listen actively create space for their team members to share their thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Active listening allows for better collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making. Here are a couple of phrases that you can prepare ahead of time so you can be actively listening to others:

• "that's interesting. Can you tell me more about ...."
• "How did you figure that out?"?
• "It sounds like..."
• "Can you help me understand more about..."
• "Fascinating. Go on"
• "Thank you for sharing your recent challenges. I want to help you as effectively as possible. Do you want to work on a solution together or be heard at this moment?"

Another way for effective communication is to be clear and concise. The researcher and author Brene Brown in her 2018 book "Dare to Lead" said,?"Clear is Kind, Unkind is unclear."?Clear communication uses simple language, avoids jargon, and provides concrete examples to illustrate their point. This helps team members to understand their expectations, goals, and objectives and to align their efforts accordingly. Reviewing it yourself, or even better, having someone else proofread it, will help you consolidate your message and make it more effective.?

Effective communication is an essential skill for leaders that are often overlooked or rarely intentionally improved upon through practice and feedback. Leaders who significantly impact their organization are almost always influential leaders with clear communication skills. So take some time today to improve your communication skills. Your team (and you) will be better because of it!

I strive to practice what I post! Communication is a two-way street, so please send along your thoughts, comments, and ideas for future articles. Thank you!