What is leadership communication? Richard Branson describes communication “as the most important skill a leader can possess”.
Why?
Because – as a leader – your primary role is to lead. To have a destination in sight, to chart the course to success and to persuade your team to follow you on the journey.
In order to influence your team to follow you, you first need to meaningfully connect them with your vision.
And to connect with them, you need to be able to communicate effectively with them.
What is leadership communication…
I define effective leadership communication as:
The development and delivery of messages that inform, inspire, engage and unite your team behind a common purpose and goal.
…and why is it so important to your success as a leader?
Effective leadership communication is the essential ingredient to success because it creates shared understanding, meaning and connection between you and your team.
This creates a solid platform for trust to be built and we know from the likes of Gallup and Great Places to Work, that trust in leadership is one of the primary contributors to high employee engagement.
When employees are engaged, they are far more likely to give extra discretionary effort, which increases their overall performance and productivity.
And this delivers greater levels success and better results for the individual themselves, as well as for your team, your business, your customers and other stakeholders. In fact, in their research, Towers Watson found that companies with effective leadership communicators delivered 47% higher total returns to their shareholders, compared with firms whose leaders are less effective communicators.
Putting it into practice
At the centre of any high-performing team, there is a highly effective leadership communicator. In your role as a leader, I encourage you to think about your leadership communication. Ask yourself:
Have you created a meaningful connection with your team, by effectively communicating messages that inform, inspire, engage and unite everyone behind a common purpose, goal and direction?