The 9 communication habits that separate good leaders from great ones

The piece explores a core disciplined leadership skill: how leaders communicate with impact to build trust, alignment, and belief in their vision.

I recall, as a young leader, sitting in meetings with CEOs and noticing that they had a unique and impactful way of communicating, one that stood out from the rest of the team. They had a capability that I call ‘CEO speak’. Founder CEOs often see communication as secondary to technical or operational expertise in the early stages of entrepreneurship.

However, from raising money to motivating your team, the quality of your communication skills is critical. Your vision may inspire, but deliberate communication is what secures funding, aligns teams and sustains growth. The more I have observed CEO speak, the more I noticed consistent patterns.

To improve your communication as a leader, follow these simple rules: 1 Speak last It may appear strange that my first suggestion for CEO speak is to speak last. However, impactful leaders speak last. If you speak first, you set the direction, and your team is less likely to challenge or offer different perspectives, limiting the depth of discussion.

Speaking last also provides you the space and time to listen actively, which leads to better decision making as you take in all perspectives. 2 Become a skilled listener Don’t listen to respond, listen to learn. Many people listen only to plan their rebuttal or next comment. Instead, be fully present and absorb what’s being said. Don’t feel you need to respond.

You can thank everyone for their input and say, ‘Let me reflect on this and come back with my thoughts later today or tomorrow’. 3 Be a simplifier Develop the skill of summarising and simplifying messages. As a leader, you must be able to distil complex information and then concisely communicate the issue, the root cause, and clear, actionable plans for your team.

You can learn this skill through deliberate awareness in the moment as you listen to one of your team articulating an issue. Then reflect on how you can shorten, clarify and repackage what they communicated. Practise this, and over time you will improve, and it will become a habit. 4 Choose your words thoughtfully Maintain a positive and solution-oriented approach.

Avoid overusing the word ‘but’, instead, where appropriate, use ‘and’. Similarly, rather than ‘challenge’, use ‘opportunity’. Identify your communication bias with regard to ‘filler’ words. Everyone has filler words they overuse, such as ‘like’, ‘you know’ or ‘umm’.

Identify yours and minimise them, because they undermine your message. 5 Identify quotes that become shorthand for communicating key messages  Impactful leaders use powerful quotes over and over again to reinforce a message. They can also be shorthand for how you convey a message to your team.

Find your own quotes, but some of my favourites are: 

6 Remember WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)  People listen with one primary question in mind: How will this impact me? An example is your opening speech when you are new to a role and are introducing yourself to the team. The only thing people are thinking is whether you, in this role, will be good for them and the company.

They will be wondering whether the company grows, and whether there will be opportunities for development and promotion. When crafting any message, ensure your message connects with the audience so they hear how they will benefit, because that is what they care about. 7 Manage emotions Notice I say manage emotions, not ‘your’ emotions. The reason for this is that in meetings, individuals exhibit varying levels of emotion.

Disciplined leaders are self-aware and are role models, and control their own emotions, not losing track of their key arguments or their objective for the meeting. They can also defuse situations where emotions from the other party are taking the meeting off course. 8 Manage your own buzz Be your own best PR (public relations) agent without being arrogant. Avoid being overly self-deprecating.

Saying things like, ‘I’m not an expert, but … ’ undermines your authority unnecessarily, and these are filler words that add no value to the conversation. 9 Over-communicate big decisions As a founder CEO, you are deeply immersed in the business, but your team isn’t. Research shows that people need to hear a message six or seven times before it truly sinks in.

Although Taylor Swift has sung the song Shake it off thousands of times, she sings it with the same passion and energy every time! You must be the same and communicate your key messages with passion, energy and consistency, over and over again. If implementing these practices feels unnatural at first, don’t worry. That’s normal. Over time they will become second nature.

Keep this list handy and reflect regularly on how well you are applying these principles. Edited extract from Discipline beats vision: How to be the leader your company needs starting Monday by Dane Hudson (Wiley, $36.95), available at all leading retailers, and . .

Originally published on LinkedIn. Read the original →