“Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.” – Paul J. Meyer
Leadership, to any extent, is not for the faint of heart. It requires accountability and can often be successfully achieved through quality communication. According to a recent Holmes report, the cost of poor communication has hit $37 billion. The opportunities for effective communication are endless. Read below where we address both verbal and non-verbal ways to communicate and achieve organizational success.
Don’t ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.
The idea behind a successful business (large or small) is that you and your team members are all working toward a common goal. Everyone plays a valuable role in the success of the business which ultimately impacts their individual success. Carry out a culture of mutual respect and consideration – No job is too small.
Listen first.
Arguably one of the most important factors of successful communication is non-verbal. You likely employ these individuals based on a combination of their work ethic and character so being open to hearing what they have to say shouldn’t be very hard. To properly communicate, you must first listen to questions, comments, and concerns. Give honest consideration and then offer solutions or answers accordingly.
Be Honest.
When you communicate with your employees, be honest. There’s nothing more obvious than when you’re being misled. If you’re enforcing a new policy or noticing slack from an employee, address the concern with honesty. For example, if you’re implementing employee monitoring software, have a conversation about it. Explain why you feel it necessary, or it will be assumed that there is a lack of trust in your employees.
Have an open door (or email) policy.
Your employees need to feel comfortable communicating with you. Whether you are in-office or remote they need to know you’ll be present and responsive to the topic at hand. This offers you the option to nix problems before they occur to prevent a domino effect.
Ability to adapt your communication style.
Like different learning styles, your employees may have different ways to achieve effective communication. Identify your leadership style to better understand how you’re interacting with, and perceived by, employees across the organization. Knowing how to tailor your communication is essential to reaching organizational goals.
Effective communication is often achieved by non-verbal actions which set forth a culture of mutual respect and consideration. To achieve organizational success a leader must define communication standards and stick by them.
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