5 Ways to Enhance Your Communication Skills to Be a More Effective Leader  

Whether a marching band, combat unit, marketing team or hospital trauma team, there’s a fluidity to teams that work well together unmatched by singular players thrown together to accomplish a task. A team outperforms the abilities of each individual member to become greater than the sum of its parts.

Every team leader craves a team that operates as a cohesive unit to attain seemingly unattainable results. Every team member hopes to use her skills on such a team. Clear communication binds an effective team with the same magic a master interior designer uses to turn random objects into a cover shot for Architectural Digest.

New to management or seasoned leader, every team lead wants:

• • • Fewer misunderstandings
    • Increased employee engagement
    • On-time delivery

It’s the leader’s responsibility to make this happen by preparing the team for what they will do, walking them through the steps to do it and giving them the tools to ensure their success. Essentially, the leader assembles Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

Define Deliverables
What do you want? When do you want it? How will it get done? You’re the quarterback, but you need to make sure the team understands the play. Get the team to agree on specific expectations for deliverables on specific dates. Instead of agreeing to revamp the law firm brochure. Agree to have the printed brochures in hand by December 15^th and a first draft of the partners’ bios by September 1st.

Provide Clear Direction
Give your team directions not suggestions. Identify what you would like done and when you would like it completed, but be specific. “I want quotes from three satisfied customers on our landing page,” is more specific than “I want visitors to see how happy our current customers are.” Ambiguous suggestions about “happy customers” could lead to time wasted gathering stock photos of satisfied customers. Give your team a better understanding of the bigger picture by also explaining why you need it competed on a certain date and in a certain format. Sharing the “why” helps team members understand your position and envision a possible next step in their own careers.

Assign Roles
Knowing who will complete which tasks for the team is as important as clearly defining what must be done. Assign roles on the project to avoid wasted time due to duplication of work. Make sure the whole team understands who is responsible for the tasks and the way those tasks complement each other. In this way, a leader not only assures understanding of the individual’s role, but also defines his or her role on the team.

Offer Feedback
It’s easy to feel lost in the crowd as a team member if you never receive feedback from your team lead. Does the lead know which tasks you personally have completed? What did he think of your efforts? Detailed feedback, both positive and negative, helps the team member to grow, strengthening the team. If a team member has created beautiful charts but they still lack data you would like to see, tell him, “I appreciate the effort you’ve put into making these charts easier to read, but can you find a way to add ‘X’ data to them for our next meeting?” In this manner, the manager conveys his appreciation for the well thought out charts and his expectations for the next step and the desired completion date.

Check-in Face to Face
It might seem antiquated in our tech-based society, but face to face meetings encourage communication not attained in email or telephone calls. Even with the help of an unprofessional emoji or two, the smile on your face when you drafted your short email response won’t be received in the reader’s inbox. Miscommunication happens when one party cannot surmise the other’s intent, as when a short email response written in the minute before you rush out the door to the next meeting is taken as indifference to the situation or anger. By meeting face to face to discuss the issue, both parties can use body language and facial expressions for better understanding.

Change Meeting Locations
Even the strongest teams sometimes need to take a collective walk and clear their heads. Especially when your team is striving for creativity, a change of venue might be all it takes to get creative juices flowing again. Move the sales team out of the regular meeting room on Monday afternoon and meet for breakfast at the local diner instead. When spring fever has everyone staring out the window, have a walking meeting along the river.

A leader fails if the team fails, and seasoned leaders with a new team are in just as much jeopardy of failing as inexperienced leaders. The right combination of communication ingredients is the perfect recipe for success in any organization.