Communication is the Key to Leadership

Communication is one of the most important attributes one can find in an exceptional leader. Communication leads to motivation, inspiration, respect and trust among leaders.

By communicating their thoughts and concerns to employees correctly, a leader is not only sharing ideas he/she is also motivating them to work as a team, grow the company and succeed. I often communicate my stories of success to my team in order to inspire them to work harder on their own brands, in return bringing more traffic to my website. I also found that continuous communication works really well, checking in with people, motivating and encouraging them to push forward raises the level of production.

“Great leaders, spend the bulk of their time communicating, and they know how to employ all three of Aristotle’s rhetorical elements.” HBS professor Nitin Nohria

A leader who has strong communication skills is able to connect with others; building confidence and managing conflict. I think that conflict should be resolved before it turns into such. I found that having weekly meetings with your team and taking your time to see where each individual is coming from does wonders in preventing future conflict. These meeting allow people to communicate the problems that they are having with others, the manager, workflow, and other troubles. Once these issues are out in the open, the leader can manage the conflict by suggesting ways to improve it. In return employees feel confident in communicating their issues with the team.

“Communication is an act of gaining understanding and commitment from individuals, in order to learn from others and build an exceptional organization.” said Beverly Y. Langford, professor and director of Business Communications Programs at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business

A huge part of being a good communicator is being a superb listener and listening leads to gaining knowledge from other people. I cannot begin to tell you how many managers simply don’t listen to their employees. I came across this when working for Health Net. I had a great relationship with my manager; however, she never stopped to listened to anybody on our team. Eventually most of us left, and Health Net dissolved our unit. I think that listening is 90% of communicating. Many people just want to be heard and if you give them fifteen minutes of your time and really listen, eventually they will trust and respect you. Having trust and respect from your employees make the job much more enjoyable =).

Without trust and respect you wouldn’t be much of a leader. When I started my company and hired a small staff, I took the time to listen and get to know each and every one of them personally. After a while these people who I still work with today, started to see my vision for our company, and molding a vision of their own. They were more enthusiastic about the company as a whole and wanted to contribute what they could, going as far as working for free to grow the business. By listening we also gain knowledge form our peers. I learned a heck of a lot form my back end developer and am now able to update our websites on my own by listening and taking notes in our meetings.

“If I were required to choose the single essential skill from the many that make up the art of argument, it would be the ability to listen.” Gerry Spence, trial lawyer

Superior communication in management leads to many other key leadership traits. I cannot imagine running a team, group or having any sort of meaning relationships without communication.

How do you utilize communication in your workplace?