SIMPLE, CLEAR, CONCISE, CONNECTED, & FREQUENT
If you have these five qualities in your communication, you will get your message across. As an executive leader, it is your responsibility to provide the ongoing information and feedback to maintain a singular and strong voice in your organization.
To maximize your ability to improve alignment with your organization through good communication, let’s discuss these a little more.
- Simple: One of the biggest detriments to communication is attempting to demonstrate your intelligence and vocabulary. For leaders, it’s critical that you communicate simply.
- Clear: You must have a message that is understandable to your audience. Remember: memorable is doable. When it’s clear and simple, people remember it. They repeat it to others. And they will be more likely to take action and do it.
- Concise: Don’t waste time beating around the bush. Get to your point before you lose your audience.
- Connected: Think about what inspires and motivates you. Give examples and tell stories to connect with them and make your message more memorable.
- Frequent: Most important, communicate frequently. People don’t usually get it the first time or the first way. Research shows that spaced repetition is key to learning and retaining information.
Not everyone absorbs information the same way. Some people remember if they read it, others if they hear it, some if they visualize it, and others if they have some experience of it.
When you have the five qualities, they’ll get it, and more important, they’ll do it.
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP ACTION PLAN:
How can you communicate more clearly?
What can you do to communicate your key messages more often?
“If a leader can’t get a message across clearly
and motivate others to act on it,
then having a message doesn’t even matter.”
~ Gilbert Amelio
