6 Key Leadership Essentials - Part 1 The Importance of Effective Communication

As we begin our series from the Brilliant Leader Program, 6 Key Leadership Essentials ALL Great Leaders Know, I wanted to start by sharing a quote from a well-known motivational speaker and leadership trainer, Anthony Robbins.  He hit the nail on the head when he said,

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and then we must use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”

Effectively communicating with others remains the single most important factor on a leader’s list of attributes.  But what does effective communication really mean?

It is knowing when and how to alter your communication style to get your message across.  If you can’t reach the hearts of those you are speaking to, if you can’t get them to rally around your message, if they don’t buy into your enthusiasm then you’re just blowing hot air into the atmosphere.

As an effective communicator, you don’t have to use perfect phrases or show how smart you are, you just have to understand your audience, believe in your message, and speak to them in a way that will resonate with them.
   
So the first key to become an effective communicator is to adapt your communication style and approach.  You must take the time to understand what motivates your followers and then learn what drives them to succeed.

Second, you must learn the importance of just being quiet.

Great, brilliant leaders know when to keep their mouths firmly closed and just listen.  You know, often we are so busy responding, we miss the essential message the speaker is trying to convey.  We jump out so quickly to respond we don’t realize how much damage we’ve done to our speaker’s self-esteem until it’s too late.

Learning when to be quiet and then using all your senses to really hear the message behind the words is critical to a great, brilliant leaders’ success.  Using all your senses means really focusing on your speaker.  It’s watching the speaker’s body language, hearing the passion in the speaker’s voice, getting your entire brain focused on what’s being said, and then adapting the style of your approach to meet your speaker’s needs.

Great, brilliant leaders have honed their ability to make those they lead feel nothing is more important than what they have to say.  And the awesome power of this key essential is that when the conversation is over the speaker has a sense of knowing that they have been truly heard and understood.

Vince Lombardi once said, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

So, my challenge to you going forward is to practice these two essential keys of great, brilliant leadership.  1)Be willing to adapt your approach to meet the needs of your audience and 2) Be quiet and make your audience feel their message was heard.  Drop me an email at info@thewestberrygroup.com and let me know about AHA-moments.

Next week we’ll focus on two more of the Brilliant Leaders Program, 6 Key Leadership Essentials ALL Great Leaders Know.  Stay tuned to learn about living your life as the role model and the importance of being poised under pressure.