Communication Skills for Leaders

Leadership communication skills involve communication practices that aim to develop strong teams, shared understanding, a common purpose, and sense of belonging among team members. Leaders must demonstrate good communication skills to foster better relationships and encourage their team to put their best foot forward.

For leaders, communication skills are about more than enhancing your organization’s bottom line; successful communication creates a positive employee experience, fosters trust, and allows team members to successfully navigate through organizational change.

Here are the six essential communication skills for leaders:

• Adapting to different communication styles. Each team member has a different communication style. Leaders should learn what the styles of each of their team members are and be able and willing to adapt to them. Moreover, they should assess whether the combined styles of the team pose any challenges and how the team members’ individual strengths can be leveraged.
• Active listening. Listening does not come naturally to most people. It requires willingness, practice, and patience. Active listening involves being focused only on the speaker, giving team members the opportunity to express their viewpoints, acknowledging underlying issues and emotions, and more. To successfully achieve these practices, leaders must display the proper body language, stay focused, eliminate distractions, maintain eye contact, and ask follow-up questions.
• Transparency. The goal of transparency is to actively share essential organizational information and issues with team members. Leaders must nurture a culture that values speaking openly about the organization’s goals, challenges, and opportunities. This transparency can help drive trust, confidence, and productivity among teams. Keep in mind that even though leaders should encourage open communication, they should also understand where to draw the line and practice confidentiality when appropriate.
• Clarity. Team members must have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that each employee’s tasks are well-defined and that their deadlines are clearly understood. If a team member is having difficulty understanding his or her responsibilities, leaders should be able to offer examples and further guidance. If leaders do not have the answers to an employee’s questions, they should know who to reach out to in order to acquire the information they need.
• Empathy. Good leaders demonstrate empathy. They know how to approach their team members in a courteous and caring manner. Empathetic leaders acknowledge the feelings and experiences of their team members. Not only does this show respect, it also helps team members feel valued. Leaders who struggle with empathy must mitigate their egos and step into another person’s shoes. This can help them perceive and appreciate others’ points of view.
• Feedback. Fostering an environment where constructive feedback is expected and encouraged helps spur ongoing learning and development for employees at all levels. Instead of simply initiating annual performance reviews, incorporating real-time feedback—smaller, on-the-spot coaching sessions—allows leaders to reward and correct behavior sooner rather than later. In addition, real-time feedback gives leaders the opportunity to hone their coaching skills, make progress on their own opportunities for improvement, and grow into well-rounded leaders.