How something is said is often as powerful as what is said. The ability to clearly yet mindfully communicate is a crucial skill that business leaders need to develop. To effectively communicate with their teams, business leaders must carefully craft their messages to be understood by everyone, without inadvertently offending or, sometimes, revealing information that’s not ready to be released.
Below, 15 experts from Forbes Coaches Council discuss how business leaders can become more mindful of language when communicating with their own teams.
1. Choose Your Words Wisely
Most leaders are very good at delivering impromptu messages. As a leadership coach, my advice to them is, “Choose your words wisely and you will generate excitement, enthusiasm and engagement. Choose them poorly and you will have missed an opportunity.” To do this successfully, avoid being impromptu on important messages. - Randy Goruk, The Randall Wade Group, LLC
2. Have A Plan And Be Honest
The first step is to have a plan. Talk it through with senior leaders as well as influencers in the company (not everyone who influences the team sits in an office). Be honest about what you know and don’t know. Tell them when you will be able to share more. Identify the questions the team may have and be ready to answer them. Above all, tell the truth and own it. Never throw anyone under the bus. - Leann Wolff, Great Outcomes Consulting
3. Speak To All Styles Of Information Gathering
Everyone processes information differently. Some gather information through data, while others are highly intuitive, even to what is unspoken. Others crowdsource their information gathering. It is imperative for the leader to consider how people will gather their information and speak to all modes of listeners. Their communication efficacy depends on being “multilingual” in this way. - Evan Roth, Roth Consultancy International, LLC
4. Communicate To The Whole Employee
Be mindful of your intention. What do you want your message to cause? What feeling? How should your employees feel after hearing your message, as their feelings and attitude will impact the result? A staff acting with confusion and ambivalence will cause a different result than a team operating with clarity and confidence. Most compose for the head and hands. Remember the heart and gut also. - Damaris Patterson Price, Working River Leadership Consulting
5. Review For Diversity And Inclusion
One of my clients was just hired at a major company as their diversity and inclusion leader. Part of her role will be to help the leaders craft messages in any form to bring people together and to not cross the new diversity and inclusion directives. If you have someone like this at your company, use this resource. If you don’t, be conscientious of diversity and inclusion in team communications. - John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.
6. Fill The Space Before Others Do It For You
When you have something in the fire that’s not ready to be announced just yet and there’s a space in the communication or, worse, you shut people down in asking the critical questions, you need to fill that space with something that still gives direction and lights a fire in them. If you don’t, it will be filled with everyone’s biggest fears, and that’s much harder to turn around. - Donna Karlin, No Ceiling, Just Sky™ Institute
7. Draft Talking Points
Investing time into preparing customized talking points will engender trust. Consider drafting points about why a decision was made and how it connects to your organization’s strategic objectives and core values. Find ways to share the quantitative and qualitative cost of an employee not taking a requested action. Share what isn’t changing. And personalize the message to each employee group. - Michael S. Seaver, Seaver Consulting, LLC
8. Be Deliberate And Intentional
With any communication, I encourage leaders to create a strong intention for their message. One question that can help guide this is, “How do you want to leave them feeling?” With this in mind, you can assess and discern whether pieces of information are going to detract from your intention or support it. This also helps to be deliberate in choosing the appropriate language to convey the intention. - Carolina Caro
9. Practice Assertive Communication
Make it about the other people first. It is critical that leaders listen to others, truly hear what is being said and anticipate what they might say or what their perspective or feeling is. Ask questions and address what they are saying. You can say less and still meet their needs. Use language that acknowledges where they are at. Pause and only share what is approved and relevant to them. - Jerome Zeyen, InsightHR Consulting
10. See Things From Their Perspective
Even the most empathic leaders forget what it is like to be on the receiving end of important messages. Before you communicate to your team, put yourself in their shoes to determine what you should and shouldn’t include. Will data give urgency to a call for quick action? Will a timeline comfort people afraid of change? Will additional resources help people buy in? Let empathy drive your messaging. - Loren Margolis, Training & Leadership Success LLC
11. Don’t Forget The ‘Why’
We often jump into telling people “what” and forget to explain “why” a decision was made. Not only is answering the “why” question critical to people’s understanding of information, but it also helps people engage with communications that might otherwise upset or offend them. They might not agree, but giving them a lens into the rationale boosts the odds that you will overcome resistance and gain acceptance. - Aric Wood, XPLANE
12. Create Space For Thinking
To be mindful of language, take a quiet pause and create space to think through the intention of the communication you want to deliver. Determine what you want the receiver to feel, do, think and say during and after the message. If you are delivering via your voice, be aware of the tone you use and your facial expressions. If writing, reread it out loud and ask, “Does this convey what I want?” - Kris McCrea Scrutchfield, McCrea Coaching
13. Sandwich Your Message
Leaders striving for brevity can be viewed as abrupt with short directives, particularly in email. For email, I recommend typing out what you want to say. Then insert a brief, amiable beginning and a kind close. The “kind word buffer” can smooth the edges from being direct—especially if you’re in a leadership role where your emails will automatically carry weight. - Lisa Rangel, Chameleon Resumes LLC
14. Beware Of Pronouns
In being mindful of the language used when communicating with your team you must speak in specifics and measurables while doing your best to avoid using pronouns. By being specific and measurable, it will be difficult to misunderstand exactly what is expected. Avoiding pronouns helps to clear the waters of communication because pronouns can choke a message and cloud communication channels. - Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience
15. Keep It Simple And Focus On Them
It’s important to focus on the biggest concerns of those you are communicating to and design your message to address them. A leader’s communication is best when it is simple and straightforward, using words that anyone could understand. When you do that you appear to be authentic and sincere. Tell people what will matter the most to them and your intentions will be clear, which will build trust. - Lynda Foster, Cortex Leadership Consulting
