Unlock the secrets to transformative leadership communication with yours truly, Colby Morris, as we dive into the essentials of connecting and resonating with your team. It's not just about what you say, but how well you listen, and in this episode, I'll share with you the tools to cut through the noise and tune into the nuances of your team’s needs. Together, we'll explore strategies that go beyond mere talk, equipping you with actionable steps to make every interaction count, ensuring your messages not only land with purpose but inspire action and drive results.
Prepare to leave behind the theoretical and embrace the practical side of leadership. I draw on my own experiences, likening the journey to mastering a martial art; it's all about the practice, not just the knowledge. Remember, clear and impactful communication isn't just about the words—it's about the connection and the practice. Join me as we step into the dojo of leadership development, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button for ongoing insights that will challenge and improve your leadership style with each and every listen.
Unlock the secrets to transformative leadership communication with yours truly, Colby Morris, as we dive into the essentials of connecting and resonating with your team. It's not just about what you say, but how well you listen, and in this episode, I'll share with you the tools to cut through the noise and tune into the nuances of your team’s needs. Together, we'll explore strategies that go beyond mere talk, equipping you with actionable steps to make every interaction count, ensuring your messages not only land with purpose but inspire action and drive results.
Prepare to leave behind the theoretical and embrace the practical side of leadership. I draw on my own experiences, likening the journey to mastering a martial art; it's all about the practice, not just the knowledge. Remember, clear and impactful communication isn't just about the words—it's about the connection and the practice. Join me as we step into the dojo of leadership development, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button for ongoing insights that will challenge and improve your leadership style with each and every listen.
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you. Now here's your host, colby Morris.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to another episode of the TLD Podcast, where I strive to give you actionable tools and resources to help you become a better leader faster. Who am I? My name is Colby Morris and I have the honor of joining you every week for these discussions. I hope this week is a less controversial topic than last week because, based on the messages and discussions I have with some of you on LinkedIn and Instagram, many of you were not comfortable with last week's topic about vulnerability. With your staff, I had some very interesting discussions and if you have any questions about that, go back. Or you didn't hear last week? Make sure you go back and listen to that one about vulnerability. It did not sit well with some of you and we had some good conversation. But today I'm focusing on something else. I'm hoping this topic hits a little closer to home, because I'm focusing on improving your communication skills as a leader. You see, clear and effective communication is not just important, it is vital. You have to have clear communication to build trust, to inspire your team and to drive results. So let's dive in. I'm going to give you three actionable tips that you can start implementing immediately. And what do I mean by that? It means exactly that you can end this podcast and start putting some of these actions in to practice.
Speaker 2:
All right, start with point one. All right, start with point one. Start with active listening. The foundation of good communication for any leader is being an active listener. As straightforward as that may sound, active listening takes conscious effort. So let's first define active listening, and I've done this a few times, but it's so important I want to make sure I do it every time we talk about it. Active listening that's when you listen to truly understand and you don't just listen to respond. Active listening is when you listen to understand and not just to respond, and a lot, of, a lot of leaders are guilty of that. I was really guilty of that when I first started leading. I would listen and start formulating the arguments in my head while they were talking and realize I didn't really catch most of what they said and I certainly did not catch what they were trying to truly indicate or emphasize. So when someone on your team is speaking, try this Put away your phone, close your laptop or lock the screen on your desktop, close the door and truly focus on not just the words that they're saying, but the meaning behind them. Try to hear the emotion and what they're being, what they're communicating, and then pause before you respond to make sure that you truly understand. Okay, and if you didn't, if you didn't ask some clarifying questions, hey, take the time to actively listen, and that communicates respect. Okay, it earns your, your, your team's trust. So your, your action step is the next time you have a team meeting, put away your phone and anything else that could distract you.
Speaker 2:
Okay, focus solely on listening intently when each person speaks, take notes on anything that seems important, any key points that you want to make sure you gather and that you want to follow up on, and then mirror what they said back to them. Check for understanding. You're like, okay, what does it mean? Mirror it it means, hey, what I heard you say was you think that this? Or hey, I want to make sure I understand exactly what you're saying. You said that it's this and you're just saying back to them so y'all can be on the same page.
Speaker 2:
All right, let's go to point two. I want you to communicate with intention. Look as the leader. Everything you say carries weight. Your communication should be so purposeful and intentional, especially when you're painting the vision or you're inspiring action. Before any important communication, I want you to ask yourself what is my specific goal or my desired outcome? What would I want my team to think, feel or do afterwards? Okay, in other words, always have an outcome or a goal in mind when delivering important information, and then you want to craft your messaging very intentionally with that goal or that aim in mind. I want you to choose very precise words and examples that really reinforce whatever your objective is. Okay. So your action step is this for your next big announcement, or your inspiring message, or, or however you're going to, or whatever you're going to deliver to the team, I want you to map it out beforehand. I want you to write down your key points, or maybe even the full script, and then and then refine it. Okay, ensure every element ends up adding up to your intended purpose, and then practice it. Let someone listen, okay, someone you really trust. Deliver it to them, or give them the script and have them really critique it, and then check that person for understanding. All right. Now, point three I want you to follow up and create feedback loops. Okay, communication is not a one and done action. Do you hear that Communication is not a one and done action?
Speaker 2:
Okay, after delivering an important message, you need to follow up consistently. You need to check for understanding and whether any additional information, context, context or example is needed. Okay, ask your team for feedback and their reactions. Ask them how they're delivering the message to their teams and what they're hearing others say about it. So, yeah, if you're higher up in the org chart and you have teams under you that are managers under you and their teams, you need to make sure that that information is trickling down. So don't just ask the leader who's delivering it. You need to go talk to those people on the teams. Hey, tell me what you understand about this, can you? Can you tell me in your words what we're trying to do or what we're trying to accomplish, and see if that's really getting down into the front lines of the teams, that they understand what's happening, okay, and then maintain an open dialogue.
Speaker 2:
Okay, following up creates accountability and alignment around the original message. Okay, around the original message. Okay, I've said this a lot, but you really cannot over-communicate as a leader. I threw that as a leader in there because I have kids and when they were young, well, let's just say it's very possible for them to over-communicate, but as a leader, it's really impossible for you to over-communicate. You have to make sure that message is going out there frequently and consistently. So your action step after your next major communication okay, whatever it is, I want you to schedule individual check-ins or even surveys. I would highly suggest the check-ins like really talking to people face-to-face all the way down the organization to make sure they understand.
Speaker 2:
Okay, if it's just you and your team. Check your team for understanding, okay, have them tell you what they understand about it. Okay, ask questions. Okay, areas of confusion or any additional needs that they may have. Okay, if you create a feedback loop, you can make adjustments as they are needed. But if you don't know that they're needed, then everyone just stays confused and that's kind of the opposite of what you're going for. All right, so there you have it Three actionable ways that you can really level up your communication skills.
Speaker 2:
Remember active listening, communicate with clear intention and then make sure you're following up. Put these into practice and you can see your leadership presence and your impact grow. But remember, if you don't put anything into practice, you don't get any better. Okay, leadership is not just something you're just born with and it just happens all the time. You have to practice things.
Speaker 2:
Just because you listen to a podcast doesn't make you better at it. Just because you read a book doesn't make you better at it. How do I know? Well, I can guarantee you, if I went and read 10 books about jujitsu and then I went into the ring and you know, thought I was going to, you know, spar with somebody who actually practices jujitsu, and then I went into the ring and you know, thought I was going to, you know, spar with somebody who actually practices jujitsu, I would not end up in a great situation. Okay, head knowledge does not equal practical heart knowledge, because I haven't actually practiced it. Okay, all right, make sure you join me next time on the tld podcast. If you want to connect with me, the best way to do that is in the show notes. There's my linkedin profile there, colby morris, or you can connect with me on the instagram page, which is things leaders do. So go out there, communicate well, communicate clearly with your teams. And you know why Because those are the things that leaders do how to be a better leader.
Speaker 1:
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode. Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.
