Elevate Your Leadership Brand with One Question
As a workshop facilitator and communication coach, I’ve worked with dozens of leaders to improve their communication skills.
When you can communicate with clarity in a way that makes others feel heard and valued, your leadership brand skyrockets. Your leadership brand is what people say about you when you aren’t in the room. When it comes to communication, do you know what your team members are saying (or thinking)?
He’s not very clear.
I wish she would get to the point faster.
I don’t feel like he ever really listens to me.
I was hoping she was going to give me more details.
I wish he would keep us more informed and be more transparent.
If these are the things your team members are saying, you have room to improve your leadership brand when it comes to communication.
You want them to be saying things like:
She’s a great listener.
I love the way he always makes it clear what I’m supposed to do next.
She’s excellent at giving clear and direct expectations.
He never wastes our time with unnecessary meetings, details, explanations, etc.
She does a great job of always keeping us informed.
So how do you ensure that you’re in the second group? You start by making a simple mindset shift. Before communicating with team members, leaders usually consciously or subconsciously think:
What do I need to say?
Instead, to be more effective, leaders should be shifting this mindset and asking this question:
What do they need to hear?
When you ask the second question, it helps you to eliminate the non-essential information that can get in the way of clarity and action. It forces you to consider what is my purpose and who is my audience.
Considering these additional questions will help you to choose the clearest and most effective content for your audience – whether that audience is one person or many.
Much of the breakdown in communication in the workplace is due to unclear communication that results from not starting with the above three questions. Leaders either include way too much information that clouds understanding or way too little information that prevents understanding.
Or, they don’t consider what they would like the team member to do as a result of the communication (this can apply to in-person or digital communication).
If you’ve defined your purpose, you will also be able to end your communication clearly, letting the audience know what action you expect them to take next (even if that is no action at all — for example, “Just wanted to keep you informed, no need to do anything except be aware of what is going on”).
If you’ve defined your audience, you’ll also know how to say whatever it is you’re saying. It can help you make choices on tone and length. You will consider what they already know and how to best make them feel valued.
This one piece of advice – think about what others need to hear instead of what you want to say – can be a game-changer for your effectiveness as a leader.
It’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to elevate your leadership brand.
