5 Communication Skills Every Leader Must Master |
Posted: November 6, 2017 |
For leaders to be successful in whatever organization or company they are leading, they must possess solid communication skills. Great leaders encourage, motivate, and inspire. Leaders are also responsible for training people and sharing new ideas. In order to perform all these things effectively, excellent communication skills are much needed. In this article, we have shared 5 communication skills every leader must master in order to be successful. 1. Interpreting Body LanguageSomeone said that if body language conflicts with the words, then the body language will be more truthful. So leaders should be able to pay attention to people’s non-verbal cues and unseen language. When you’re able to read these hidden thoughts, you have many advantages. For instance, when interviewing candidates, you will be able to know whether they are honest. You can also know whether the candidate is confident in whatever they are saying. Being able to read body language will help you during negotiations, selling, conducting meetings, and delivering presentations.
2. Listening CarefullyToday there have been a lot of advancements in the way people communicate. Electronic communication has made long-distance communications easier than ever. Voice communication has been replaced with texts and emoticons. However, all these have hindered our listening ability. This is unfortunate as without listening to what people say, we end up missing a lot of details that could be important. Leaders should learn empathetic listening. This means that if the person you’re listening to is excited, you also try to be excited. You need to reflect the other person’s emotions with your facial expression not just verbally. While it might not be easy, it will help you understand the person’s thoughts and emotions.
3. Clear verbal communicationWhen speaking, leaders should use words that can be clearly understood by their audience. You need to speak as clearly as possible otherwise your message will be lost or even the audience will see you as arrogant. You achieve this by preparing your conversations beforehand. Take all your time to plan your words and sentences well if you’re going to have an important discussion. Think about some possible questions your audience might raise and prepare correct answers. This will make your speech effective. You can improve your verbal communication skills by reading more often. You can read journals, books, speeches, and articles from articulate authors to get to some tricks of effective verbal communication. Watching debates, presentations and speeches will also improve your verbal skills.
4. Writing skillsWhile it’s true that smart managers and entrepreneurs hire freelancers to help them in their routine projects like presentations and speeches, you should also be able to write your own content. This is because it’s not every time when you will hire someone to write convincing emails to your clients or customers. You need to train yourself how to be concise and direct when you’re writing. Make sure that you don’t use unnecessary words or fluff that can affect your message. An excellent writer should be able to say a lot with just a few words.
5. ConfidenceLastly, leaders should be confident when interacting with others. This helps you to earn trust from your co-workers. There are different ways in which you can exude confidence such a simple eye contact and using a firm but friendly tone. By being confident, your employees will believe and follow whatever you say to them
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