Leadership communication training – skills all leaders need

Posted by jaques montegolifier on June 14th, 2019

Being a leader is something everyone aspires to be, especially in their professional life. A leadership position brings with it an entirely new set of responsibilities but it takes a lot of skills for one to get to a leadership position, including good communication skills. A good leader is one who knows how to communicate with team members and manage their expectations. A new leader especially needs to imbibe certain skills that help him/her connect with team members, build team spirit and communicate expectations in a way that is beneficial to both, the leader and team members. Here are a few skills that all leaders can cultivate from leadership communication training.

Listening and responding: A good leader is one who has mastered the skill of listening. As a leader, your team members will approach you with a variety of scenarios – personal and professional. They could approach you for advice, to complain about a colleague, or ask questions pertaining to work. As a leader, you need to listen, not only to the words, but also to the emotion behind them. You need to be a compassionate listener, without being judgemental. Public speaking training, which is a part of leadership communication programs, prepares you to listen for facts that your team mates feel strongly about and provide the correct responses to the same. Making your team mates feel heard and acknowledging their message with correct responses is extremely important when you are in a leadership position.

Complimenting: People work, not only to get paid, but also to be noticed and complimented for the effort they put in. Compliments help boost the morale of employees and make them strive to be even more productive. Whether you choose to complement them publicly in front of other team members or in private, via e-mail, you should never miss an opportunity to show your team mates that you appreciate their work. Recognizing the efforts of employees and complimenting them properly is an important skill you learn in a leadership communication training course.

Delegating tasks: While a leader should know how to listen and compliment his team members, it is just as important that he/she delegates tasks with a slight stance of authority, so as to command respect from team members. While delegating tasks, you need to make a few things clear including what needs to be done, who needs to do it, how you need things done, and when work needs to be submitted. It is especially important that you explain the reasons why things need to be done within a stipulated time (or deadline). Public speaking training helps you delegate tasks easily while making your team mates realise that their job does not end with one task; that it encompasses a series of tasks across various projects with different clients. Also, people are more motivated to do the work if they know the reasons why it is being done.

Verbal and non-verbal communication: Employees typically observe their leaders in order to draw inspiration from them. They will notice your words and your body language; how you react to good and bad news and how you handle it as a leader. No matter how positive or negative the piece of news you receive is, you should always act positively. Verbal and non-verbal communication leadership communication training focuses on this aspect of leadership.