BLOGS BY LEADERS

6 Small Ways that Leadership Communication can make a Big Impact with
- ANJALI MATHUR, CHAIRPERSON & MD, TIC

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As a Content Marketing Agency, we at The Information Company (TIC) have been creating internal and external communication for some of India’s top businesses for over two decades. And one of the most important sources of communication for a business is its leader. Leadership Communication (whether in the form of emails and newsletters, authored articles and thought leadership blogs like this one, posts on the company’s social media handles or even TED Talks) speaks volumes about your effectiveness as a leader and consequently influences the success of your business - not just with your employees but also with other stakeholders, partners, consumers as well as the media.

Based on my own experience that comes not just from communicating with our own employees at TIC but even more from creating leadership communication for our clients, here are some simple yet significant suggestions for an effective communication strategy:

1. Listen

A good leader knows when to speak and when to listen. Whether you're engaging with your people internally or your consumers externally, ask them what they want and take the time out to listen actively.

2. Empathize

Once you’ve heard them out, put yourself in their shoes and show them you understand where they’re coming from. “The strongest leaders in the next decade will be those who lead with empathy, not fear and are compassionate, not authoritative.” says Dan Shawbel of Workplace Intelligence.

3. Simplify

The less jargon you use to communicate, the better. Speak with honesty, clarity and specifics, especially when engaging with employees. An article for the Harvard Business School Online says “The clearer you are, the less confusion there will be around priorities. Employees will know what they’re working toward and feel more engaged in the process.”

4. Habituate

Make it a habit to communicate regularly both, internally and externally. Employee advocacy platform Smarp recommends developing an efficient content strategy. At TIC, we regularly create internal and external communication for our clients based on a sound strategy that we design according to their requirements.

5. Adapt

Every leader has their own style of communicating. But don’t get too attached to it. Always be prepared to adapt your style depending whom you’re speaking to and the medium of communication.

6. Act

Finally, no matter how good you are at Leadership Communication, if you don’t follow your words with actions, then people will lose faith in you. If you make promises, keep them. If you receive feedback and inputs, act on them.

I have personally witnessed how communication coming from the leaders of our agency improves employee morale, increases external credibility of the organization, inspires positive change all around and ultimately impacts the company’s bottom line.