5 Habits For Clearer Communication – Actions to Speak Clearly Like Top Leaders
Every time you speak at work, people judge you. Your accent. The way you hold yourself. Your level of confidence…. In leadership and management roles, people ask themselves – does this person sound confident and sure of themselves? Do I trust them? Am I confident to follow where they lead?
By getting into these habits for clearer communication and improving the confidence you display EVERY TIME you talk, you change and improve their perceptions of you. Perceptions influence the work you get, the projects you are asked to lead, the size of your team, when you get promoted and your bank balance. Speak with confidence, change perceptions and you change your work prospects.
5 Habits For Clearer Communication – Actions to Speak Clearly Like Top Leaders
- Say less and make what you say count
- Use clear structures to make what you communicate clear
- Be explicit for clearer communication
- Create emotional predictability for your audience
- The better your practice, the better your performance – 6 actions to build confidence
Towards the end I share the 6 best actions I know to build your speaking and communicating confidence. To INCREASE your communication expertise, you must practice these actions. Practice is what will make you more successful. Getting into a habit is putting those actions into practice every single day at work.
I used to be rubbish at communicating clearly. I would get very nervous, lose my train of thought and wish I was elsewhere. Public speaking – I hated talking to groups of more than one. I have use each one of the habits I am sharing today to MASIVELY improve my communication skills. You can do exactly the same. Start taking action today to create better habits for clearer speaking.
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The First Habit To Speak Clearly Is To Say Less And Make What You Say Count
Have you been in meetings where several people are going back and forth with different views, and then a person who has been listening carefully, speaks up, clearly and confidently and the rest of the rooms stops to listen. That person doesn’t say a lot, yet everyone listens and thinks about what they have said. Often their insight sways the discussion or direction of the group. Just think about WHY that person commands attention for a sec?
Most people talk too much. The more time they spend trying to explain their point of view, the more detail they add, the more they sound insecure. The more they speak, the less clear their communication becomes. Their audience tunes out, no longer really listening.
Have you noticed that?
To speak clearly, say less. The other person has a lot less to hear, less take in and less understand. Their brain has less work to do. The result – your message goes in.
Condense your core message down to one clear point. Finish that point. Make sure it lands and is understood by your audience. Then move to the next key point if needed.
Say less for clearer communication.
The Second Habit For Clearer Communication Is To Use Clear Structures For What You Communicate
When you need to speak, don’t jump in and start speaking. Take a moment to collect your thoughts and structure what you are going to say. Then speak coherently. Don’t speak first and force your brain to try to catchup with the structuring part. You will ramble or waffle. Structure is essential for how to express yourself clearly at work.
A really simple communication structure is CPA:
- Provide the context or the why
- Communicate your key point
- Ask for actions
An example
We lost about £25k on average over each of the last six months on three of our older products (context). I am proposing we stop producing those products as we have not been able to cut costs significantly (key point). I would like your permission to stop producing these 3 products (action).
You don’t need to say any more. Practice being comfortable with silence. Wait until you get permission or they ask a question.
My son, who is only 11, often speaks up with a comment. It is well said, clear and confident. I have no idea was he is talking about because he misses out providing the context.
Always make the context or the why clear and link it to the point you are making.
Everything you communicate should have clear beginning, middle and end. Structure is vital for how to express your thoughts clearly.
The Third Habit For Clearer Communication Is To Be Explicit
Great communicators are very explicit when they communicate or speak. They say exactly what they want or what they mean. They are direct. Great communicators don’t leave room for interpretation. They don’t hedge their message. They don’t include distracting emotional language or baggage. Great speakers don’t ask for permission. They chose their words carefully. They choose simple over complex. Great communicators use everyday language, not jargon.
They make it as easy as possible for you, their audience, to understand their message.
Those – who are not as good communicators – do the opposite of the traits we have just talked about. Or they don’t do them as well as they could. Being a good communicator is a journey.
When I became a leader for the first time, I didn’t start off communicating well. I did a lot badly. I would be indirect. Hedge my message. Use unclear wording and more. I was worried that others would be upset if I was direct and fully honest. As I practiced communicating more explicitly and honestly to my team members, including the bad stuff, I noticed something strange. The more direct and honest I got, the happier they became. Their trust in me went up. They relaxed. I became even more direct. Their response became even more positive.
Why.
Team members want clarity. They want to know where they stand. They want certainty. The more explicitly and honestly you communicate, the more they get what they want and need.
Be explicit and direct.
Create Emotional Predictability For Your Audience – The Fourth Habit
Humans are emotional. We all have our ups and downs. When we show emotional states or behaviours that are NOT aligned to what we are saying to our audience, our message gets lost. Their brains are so focused on dealing with their reactions to our emotions, they don’t have the energy to take in our message.
An example – I asked a colleague politely to help me with something. He literally exploded, shouting with anger. I have no idea what he actually said. All I remember was what appeared to be totally random anger from him. My opinion of him in that moment plummeted. I later found out he had girlfriend problems and I – unlucky – spoke to him at a bad moment.
As a leader or manager, you can’t afford these sorts of lapses. Teams expect you to be able to regulate your emotions with them. Emotional control is part of being responsible for leading others. Your credibility depends on it.
Before communicating, check your own emotions. Take deep breaths. Calm yourself down. Think positive thoughts. Get yourself into a calm, emotionally stable place before speaking.
When you speak, if you show emotions, make sure they are aligned with your message. For example – when you team hits targets for the week, show your excitement and happiness. When you are giving bad news, use a quieter calmer sympathetic voice. Align the emotions you display with your message.
Project a calm and in control person when you communicate as a manager or leader.
5 – Practice Well To Perform Well – 6 Actions To Build Confidence
It is very easy to say be more confident when you speak and pretty hard to actually speak confidently, especially when every eye in the room is watching you.
Confidence is earned. Confidence is the result of speaking well and communicating clearly. I am sharing some of the best tips I know to build your skills and with those skills, your confidence.
1 – Conviction
Access conviction through purpose. When you speak with no purpose, it is hard to be confident. Be clear in your mind what your purpose is before communicating. Be committed to your purpose. For example my purpose for speaking is to help you communicate more clearly to all those around you.
2 – It’s Not About You
Don’t make your communication about you. You should be focused on your audience. You are speaking to give them something – knowledge, insights, skills, direction, actions etc. Focus on your audience and stop all the me, me, me thoughts – “what do they think of me”, “please don’t make me look silly” etc that we all have going through our minds.
3 – Construct Carefully
Construct your message carefully. Write out what you want to say. Cut your message down into bullet points. Speak your message. Refine and cut down again. Repeat. Keep practicing this, and you will be able to do it all in your head in a few seconds for shorter messages, answers to questions etc.
4 – Practice Speaking
Practice speaking out loud with your audience in mind. Don’t hold back. Speak as if you had that audience in front of you. Picture the full meeting room, all those attentive expectant faces looking at you. Practice with the same volume, energy, pace etc as you want to speak to your actual audience. Go through your full speech at least 5 times in this way.
5 – Excitement
Turn nervousness into excitement. The physical reactions you have in your body when you are nervous are the same as when you are excited. Train your mind to recognise those signs as excitement, not nerves, by telling yourself over and over, you feel excited.
6 – Start Small
Start small and build up. Practice in front of two people. Then four people. Then a small meeting room. When you feel confident, speak to bigger audiences and repeat. Get used to the emotions and physical reactions going through you. These don’t change much. Your control and management of those feeling improve.
The better you practice all these tips, the better you will perform. Make your practice as good as you practically can!
Getting clearer communication and speaking more clearly builds your confidence. The more confidence you have, the more attention you will command.
In summary
I used to be rubbish at communicating clearly. You are very unlikely to be as bad as I was. Please take action and start improving your habits right now. Communication skills are so important for success as a manager or leader.
I have gone through 5 habits for clearer communication for you to use every day. Use these actions to speak clearly and communicate clearly like top leaders do.
- Say less and make what you say count
- Use clear structures to make what you communicate clear
- Be explicit for clearer communication
- Create emotional predictability for your audience
- The better your practice, the better your performance – 6 actions to build confidence
If you are a leader, a board director or senior manager and are looking to improve how clearly and confidently you communicate, click here for coaching options
If you have any questions on “5 Habits For Clearer Communication – Actions to Speak Clearly Like Top Leaders”, please email me at support@enhance.training and I will get back to you.
Clear, concise, confident communication takes a while to achieve. By using these actions and practicing every chance you get, you will get to speak like top leaders do a LOT quicker.
Communication is one of the most important skills managers and leaders should focus on developing and improving. Great communication is highly prized by leaders and team members.
Get into these habits as quickly as you can!
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