Communication is a bridge.

It connects leaders who desire to mobilise their teams effectively to create outstanding results with teams that want to feel engaged, motivated, and energised to achieve those results.

What leaders say and how they say it impacts what people do.

Hence, it is no surprise that over the years, research has consistently shown that effective communication is amongst the top five to ten skills a leader needs to be successful.

The pandemic and the resultant hybrid work culture elevated communication to a higher level of importance. Suddenly, leaders no longer have the luxury of talking to their team members or peers face-to-face daily or in informal settings. 

Today, an increasing number of people feel isolated, lonely, and disengaged in the global workforce.

Leaders need to find innovative and creative ways to make people feel seen,heard, and motivated in long-distance relationships. These key skills determine a leader's positive impact on their people. 

As an executive leadership coach, I have had conversations with leaders about their challenges in this area.

I share three ways you can enhance your communication with your teams to help them feel engaged and valued.

Provide Clear Expectations - Ambiguity and assumptions are the source of almost all failures. As a leader, take time to clarify your expectations for your team. 

Next, communicate these expectations and provide clear guidelines to your people. People feel energised and engaged when they know what is expected of them. 

Your teams look up to you to cut through the ambiguity in the current complex and rapidly changing world. When you can give them clarity, you gain agile and result-oriented teams.

Additionally, it would help if you spent time communicating the organisational purpose and vision to make work feel meaningful to your people.

One-to-One Conversations – Do you remember a time in your career when your manager took the time to talk to you alone to get to know you? How did it make you feel?

Have you tried sitting and talking to your children, listening to them, asking them about their dreams and aspirations? If you did, you would agree they feel heard, valued and understood. 

One-on-one conversations are an excellent opportunity for leaders to get to know their team members. 

Conversations and the right questions have the power to help us understand an individual's dreams, aspirations, passions, strengths, ambitions, etc. Taking the time to have a non-work conversation with every individual on your team gives you valuable returns, such as their loyalty and commitment. 

The better you know every individual on your team, the more successful you will be in matching their career goals to opportunities, delegating to their strengths, and providing them with the right learning opportunities to grow.

Some questions you can ask-

1. What are your professional dreams and aspirations? Personal dreams?

2. What do you love about the work you are doing?

3. What do you feel is your biggest challenge?

4. What key strengths are you using in the workplace?

5. Where do you want to grow to be more successful in what you do?

6. What do you want from me as your manager?

Optimistic Language--Mind your language! Our words have a powerful impact on a person's feelings, motivation, and commitment.

In the current volatile, uncertain, and dynamic economic and business environment, leaders will need to convey hard and tough messages to their people on occasion. 

It is important for leaders to incorporate optimism and hope into difficult and complex messages so that people do not walk away with feelings of gloom and doom. Instead, they can see opportunities in the toughest of times. 

Conclusion

Taking the time to communicate consistently, timely, and individually with your people is an investment in their well-being, mental health, and higher productivity.