A lot can be said about what makes a strong leader. There is no strong leader, though without communication. Leaders must communicate to their team key pieces of information to accomplish tasks, fulfill obligations, and achieve success.
The world’s greatest business leaders have used communication to hit their goals and reach success. Communication is an important pillar of leadership, no matter which industry you work on. Many emerging leaders program focus specifically on developing communication, emphasizing its importance in business.
Let’s learn why communication is important in leadership:
You don’t want misinterpretation
First and foremost, you don’t want there to be a misinterpretation of important information. A miscategorization of data will lead to confusion. That’s not good. You want the information to be communicated concisely, inspiring, and identify what’s expected of a team member, a business partner, or a client. Communication implies an implied direction, i.e. ‘work on this, ‘this is our target, and this is how we get there, etc.
The best leaders communicate their vision
Your team should know what your vision is. All of the world’s brightest minds in leadership each have a vision that can be easily stated and communicated. Employees know the goals they’re working towards and are aware of what the greater goal is.
It provides the team something to identify with, takes pride in, and motivates. If you can’t communicate your vision, your leadership will be undefined.
Communication is vital to building relationships
As a leader, you are tasked with building relationships with other team members, business partners, and clients. Your company’s success relies on you as the leader to create and maintain these relationships.
That’s how you build trust, define goals, and inspire. Comparatively, poor communication will only lead to limits that curb your success and restrict growth.
Communication leads to trust and loyalty
When we communicate, we see each other as human beings. Even if you’re someone’s boss and they’re your employee, when you communicate well, you see each other’s likes and dislikes and personalities and empathize with their feelings.
This sort of knowledge is what fosters loyalty both ways. You learn to rely on your team members as they will on you. This comes not from exemplifying authority but from being transparent and honest.
You’re a lot stronger when you collaborate
Every employee or team member is a resource, so many organizations squander or misuse talent. The truth is that organizations are stronger when there are collaborative elements involved. No one wants to work somewhere where the motto is, “Be quiet and do your job.”
A leader understands that collaboration empowers team members and can lead to more effective systems, the sharing of innovative ideas, and active problem-solving.
Different people communicate differently
There are many different communication styles, and not everyone communicates the same way. As a leader works with different people, what works over there is not guaranteed to work over here. Communication must be tailored to the audience.
Leaders, even highly skilled in communication, can take some learning and practice to determine the best communication style for a given person. A leader who can do this will further an organization’s goal.
What bad communication in leadership gets you
Economic studies have highlighted how poor communication in leadership leads to low team morale, missed performance targets, and lower-than-average revenues. Organizations exhibiting weak communication from management lose anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions annually.
It’s not pretty. If there’s ever a motivation to become better in communications as a leader, it’s to avoid the potential damage that bad communication can get you.
You can guide your team through uncertainty
Every business eventually experiences change. Some are forced, and others come gradually. With change can come uncertainty and challenge. As a leader, you must be able to guide your team through the hard times and moments of crisis.
Communication is key to building trust, empathizing, and managing the many different perspectives that can present when making way through change. When team members don’t know what’s happening around a major change, instability can fester.
Communication gives you a chance to listen
Your team members can tell you a lot about your organization. Things that aren’t in your immediate line of sight. That’s valuable. Communication is not singularly about talking to yourself. It’s also about listening, allowing team members to talk, engage, share, and pose questions.
When they do not have the chance to express themselves, they don’t feel heard and disengaged. As if that wasn’t enough, you aren’t made aware of issues and information you may want to know about as a leader. A successful leader is constantly in touch with their team.
