7 Key Communication Strategies for Leadership and Managing Teams

today we're discussing what makes a
great leader and we're going to share
seven skills all right so grab a warm
beverage and maybe some pen and paper
and let's get into it
all right so the first skill is
listening
now this is not something that should
come as a surprise to you because
communication is a two-way street and if
you're not listening then you're not
being as effective of a communicator as
you can
so it's very important that as a leader
you listen you listen to your teammates
you listen to the stakeholders you
listen to
yourself you listen to the other
managers as well and listening is going
to be essential especially if you want
to delegate and delegation is an
essential part of
managing managing teams managing
projects managing programs managing
people
if you don't listen
then you're gonna miss a lot of what's
being shared
and a lot of the times
people
that are talking about themselves
they're talking about their goals and
their objectives they're going to
mention things that you're going to
start picking up on and so if you are
listening well then you're going to know
what things people like what aspects of
their job they love what challenges they
love to overcome what
are they really good at you will become
aware of their strengths and weaknesses
as well which will
allow you to be a better delegator
and so listening is crucial the next
thing is being observant this plays into
eq if you are being perceptive and
attuned to people around you you're
going to be able to show greater empathy
because you're going to sense
when someone feels stressed or if
they're having a rough day or if they're
really excited and happy you're going to
be able to
notice that and then act on it and so
this is really important especially when
it comes to empathy because as a leader
as a manager you want to lead with
empathy you want to be able to
know
how to build trust and how to
communicate with people
and part of that is through empathy
right if you are not being
receptive to
someone's different emotional states
then you might not necessarily
be
leading with empathy and that's a major
pitfall if you're not doing that because
again if you are avoiding the empathy
then you're not really leading as best
you you can so it's really important to
be attuned to the different emotional
states to different
things that might be going on to have
your antenna up and being able to be
observant will really serve you well
because you're going to start noticing
things that you might not have if you
were just head down blinders on
and not being aware part of what makes a
good manager is understanding the
different
emotions in a room right if you are
leading a meeting for example you can
sense what's going on just by observing
just by noticing body language
listening to tone of voice right and
that ties into the listening as well as
you can see but really being observant
and so with this it's about the way
someone says something
the way that they're presenting
themselves their actions their
non-verbals their body language
how they show up to work right and so
all of the little details that
are part of our communication and if
we're not listening or if we're not
observing then we can really very easily
miss it so it's very important to be
attuned to that and to be observant the
next one is having an agile mindset
flexibility is of the utmost importance
you really do need to be flexible
because things change
you might be in charge of one thing and
then things get moved around and now
you're in charge of more than one thing
or maybe timelines shift around maybe
scope creep happens and suddenly you are
trying to figure out how to get that
scope back to where it needs to be or
reframe
or whatever else might be there to
challenge you
you need to be able to adapt so
adaptability flexibility these are
important because again things change
the only thing that's certain is change
so if we can't roll with the punches
then we have to
start being able to adapt we need to
learn how to do that and so having this
flexible mindset being agile being
prepared to say okay i'm ready to take
on whatever challenge i need to to get
the job done or i am happy to retrace
and to backtrack and start again or get
back to the drawing board or say you
know what i don't have an answer for
that right now but i'm going to find out
or seeking out subject matter experts
right
not always having the answers but being
prepared to find them come what may
so flexibility is key you're going to be
going through a lot of changes things go
through a lot of changes processes
change people change so we really have
to be attuned to adaptability and be
ready to face it head on
next we have creative thinking so this
really comes into play with problem
solving if you are an creative and an
abstract thinker you were going to be
able to problem solve in ways that
people hadn't even thought of
and so
it's really about trying to
come up with solutions even if that
means
speaking them aloud talking them through
with people in fact that's encouraged
because collaboration is so important
when we are leading right collaboration
is key
that's what enables us to
make an impact to drive impact at scale
to
celebrate the wins to be a collective
unit and
really
do the job that much better
we do that with others we are able to do
that together right there is no i in
team
we have to be aware of that right so
collaboration is part of that but the
critical thinking here the creative
thinking is important in so far as
you can find new ways of coming up with
solutions to problems that
might arise
and thinking about what was done in the
past how things are different now and
how to attack that issue now
getting into the state of mind where
let's call on this person and that
person to help us with this because that
person's an expert in this that person
is really good at that and knowing who
to call on and thinking about things
with a holistic approach and and that
brings me to the next skill which is
communicating but not just any type of
communicating it's about communicating
with transparency and authenticity so as
a leader you have your own authentic
style you have the types of
communication styles that you
like to use
in different settings you have the types
of communication styles that really have
that gravity task when you want to
command a room when you want to
collaborate when you want to be
vulnerable when you want to motivate
people and so everyone has a different
way of doing that but the point here is
to be you
and so if you're not sure what your
style is try out a few of the different
ones that i've shared in previous
lessons
and try to see what feels good and use
the feedback from your team see what
happens right it's not just about using
it and maybe it feels good but if it's
not getting results if it's not being
conveyed well and if people aren't
understanding your message in other
words if your message is not being
transmitted then you might have to move
things around and change up a style or
two and maybe use a more hybrid approach
if that's more you and find your
authentic way of communicating and the
second part of this is transparency you
want to make sure that everyone is on
the same page
you want to level set and make sure that
expectations are clear at the get-go and
if they're not clear then you are
constantly communicating updates and
changes as they surface and so
transparent communication and open
communication
are
extremely crucial if you want to be an
effective leader because it makes sure
that everyone knows what is happening
roles are messy they're mutually
exclusive and collectively exhausted
everyone knows what they're doing and
the way to do that one of the ways to do
that is yes through delegation which is
important and we touched upon it earlier
but also making sure that you're
transparent about what roles need to be
filled who needs to do what what needs
to be done what you're doing
where you are in the project what the
feedback is from stakeholders what part
of the iteration process you are on what
needs to happen in the next sprint and
so on and so forth so
really a lot to think about with
communication
but think of it as the two i mentioned
two things authenticity and transparency
and with that you're gonna start seeing
your communication become even more
effective as a leader
next we have rapport building rapport
building is essential for creating that
bond with people for creating that trust
and that is very important with teams
and with leaders and with managers and
with being able to lead a team because
if there is no rapport then there's no
trust and then
the team is not going to be strong
and
there are going to be issues so we
really want to be able to
build rapport so that means building the
relationships that means building the
team that means
showing people that you appreciate them
and you care about them and that you're
gonna fight for them and that you're
gonna stick your neck out for them right
because that's what a leader does you
take accountability and you take
ownership and it's not any one person's
fault if there's a snafu or a hiccup in
the system
you take ownership you take
accountability for something like that
and you work on it together as a team so
if you know if there's a situation where
people are not motivated well
it's on you to help
create that shared vision with them and
help get them excited about something
right because nobody really wants to be
working on something that they're not
they're not interested in or they don't
like or they're not motivated about so
helping them understand what that is and
trying to find a good fit and having
them get more motivated is a great way
of showing them
that you are building rapport because
you're taking interest in them you're
concerned about what they're interested
in you're appreciating them for all they
are and all that they do and you're
showing them that you are coming from a
place of trust and lastly is
decisiveness being able to make
decisions quickly within time
constraints and with the information
that you have at the moment
is really important
it
is easy for people to just deliberate
and deliberate and not ever come to a
decision but good leaders and good
managers are those that are able to use
the information they have at hand at
that very moment take in consideration
all the other aspects of what the
project is the scope everything that
they need right the timeline the budget
the stakeholders and then ultimately the
shared vision right what the risks are
even and coming to a decision
with the information they have at hand
and in a timely fashion it's a lot
easier said than done but of course you
know you get help along the way because
you're you've created a nice team that
will also you know benefit you as well
because you're all in it together you're
in it to win it and with this
collaborative mindset
you can come to
decisions much more easily as well but
it's on you as leader to be able to say
okay given the information i have here
looking at it holistically
considering all that i need to
with whatever i have in front of me the
information that i have
and then making that decision
and not taking too long with it because
that's what decisiveness is all about
all right so they hope that you enjoyed
this lesson on seven different ways of
being an effective leader we're all
leaders in some way so i want you to
consider that when you are
in your next conversation or in your
next meeting or
in your team and you're on a project and
you're doing you know all the things you
need to be doing
think about how
you yourself are a leader in your own
way
all right and i hope that you practice
these strategies and make them your own
and definitely try them out because it's
only with trying them out and practicing
them that we can get even better and
they start becoming second nature so
then we don't even have to think about
them we just do them all right
explainers thank you so much for joining
me for this lesson i hope that you
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alright so that's it i hope that you
enjoyed it and i will see you in the
next one
bye for now and happy exploring everyone
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