On communicating well: use these five strategies to enhance your managerial communication skills

HR Magazine, Jan, 2005 by Joelle Jay

One of the biggest challenges managers face is communication. And yet, communication is also one of the most critical aspects of leadership. Without good communication, managers can fail to gain commitment from employees, fail to achieve business goals and fail to develop rapport with the people on their team. In short, they can fail as leaders no matter how good their intentions may be.

Sound scary? It can be, especially for first-time managers. Front-line employees simply don't need the same level of communication skills as leaders do. But when employees rise to leadership positions, they must learn to connect with a greater number of people more effectively to get the job done.

Managers can enhance their communication skills with commitment and practice using a few key strategies that will help determine what, when and how to communicate effectively

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Listening

The most effective leaders know when to stop talking and start listening. This is especially important in three particular situations: when emotions are high, in team situations and when employees are sharing ideas.

First, listening is crucial when emotions are high. Extreme emotions, such as anger, resentment and excitement, warrant attention from a personal and a business standpoint. On a personal level, people feel acknowledged when others validate their feelings. Managers who ignore feelings can create distance between themselves and their employees, eroding the relationship and ultimately affecting the working environment.

From a business perspective, emotions can also interfere with clear thinking. Allowing employees to address their emotions helps them move beyond the situation at hand in an effective way and get back to business. Managers can develop stronger relationships with their employees while enhancing productivity simply by listening to their employees when emotions are high.

The second most important time to listen is in team situations. Team environments can involve multiple personalities, complex dynamics and competing agendas. By listening carefully, managers can ensure that everyone is working toward the same goal. Listening also helps managers identify and address conflicts early, as well as facilitate healthy working relationships among team members.

Third, listening is vital when employees are sharing ideas. When managers stop listening to ideas, employees stop offering them. That means managers are essentially cut off from the creativity and expertise of the people on their team, and leadership becomes an illusion.

In these and almost any situation, the advantages of listening make it worth doing well. The basic fundamentals of good listening include the following:

* Attending closely to what's being said, not to what you want to say next.

* Allowing others to finish speaking before taking a turn.

* Repeating back what you've heard to give the speaker the opportunity to clarify the message.

With these fundamentals, managers can clearly communicate that they care about what the speaker is saying and want to help.

Facilitating

Facilitating communication is more than just listening, and it is more than leading a conversation. Good facilitation is a continuous cycle of three steps: hearing what is said, integrating it into the topic at hand and saying something to move the conversation forward.

For example, imagine a manager facilitating a meeting in which she and her team are developing goals for the coming year. The conversation might sound something like this:

Manager: As we develop our goals for next year, it's important that we hear from everyone in the department. What are your ideas?

Employee 1: I think it's important that we get productivity up. I notice we have a pretty relaxed pace around here, and it gets frustrating when some people are working hard and others seem to be contributing less than others.

Manager: OK, so we need improved productivity. What would that look like as a goal?

Employee 2: Actually, I think it's more a matter of setting a higher sales goal than improving productivity in the office. We don't just need to be busier; we need to get better results.

Manager: I see. So the idea is that we should set higher sales goals for everyone, which would consequently address the productivity issue. Is that right?

Employees: Yes.

Notice in this exchange that the manager took the time to repeat what she heard so that the employees could verify its accuracy. She also integrated each comment into the topic at hand--tying the first employee's frustration with productivity to the task (goal-setting), and connecting the second employee's point about sales to the topic on the table (productivity). Even though her employees were giving all of the input, the manager stayed focused on the task of preparing goals and led all comments in that direction.

Good facilitation is one of the ways managers become leaders. It requires garnering the input of everyone in a group while keeping them focused on the task at hand. It's especially useful when guiding a team toward a desired outcome--for instance, when developing a strategic plan, putting together a joint project or coordinating activities.