STRATEGIC PLANNING: Insights to Leadership Communication Skills

This past week I attended three unrelated forums that ultimately identified key communication skills used by successful leaders. From these discussions, I am reminded that sometimes it isn’t what we say so much as how we say it. Some of the following won’t be new concepts to you but may serve as useful reminders of those attributes seen in successful leaders. At the end of the day, it all comes down to relationships. Below is the list of tidbits that I took from the various meetings:

1. Successful leaders know it takes courage to stand up and speak but also know sometimes it takes courage to sit down and listen.

2. Successful leaders understand their most important role is to help their staff succeed. It doesn’t matter how tight the budget is–sometimes we do things simply because it is the right thing to do. We provide the tools to our staff so they can succeed in their job.

3. Successful leaders are consistent in applying rules and, most importantly, consistent in following them and enforcing them fairly. One leader said he made it his goal to be the last one to leave on Friday afternoons. He didn’t understand why other leaders expect their staff to work until 5 pm on Friday but think it’s completely acceptable for the leader to be out playing golf all Friday afternoon.

4. Successful leaders are great about spontaneous rewards. They don’t wait until performance evaluations to provide feedback to their staff. And they use spontaneous recognition to bestow unexpected moments of praise and acknowledgement on those working for them. I’ve learned in recent years the surprising power of a handwritten note to recognize a staff member for a job well done—when used sparingly, the benefit to productivity and worker satisfaction far outweighs the time it takes to think about and write the note.

5. Successful leaders love to win, but even more, they value the process of learning from experiences regardless of the outcome.

6. Successful leaders always remember they still put their pants on the same way everyone else does.

7. Successful leaders don’t negotiate with themselves. They have a strategic plan, they are decisive, and they work the plan.

8. Successful leaders say what they mean and mean what they say. Integrity and honesty are not old fashioned values to them but are active within their lives.

9. Successful leaders accept personal responsibility when bad things happen, and they recognize their staff for positive outcomes.

10. Successful leaders stop asking “what” and start asking “why”. Learning to understand the “why” of something is the path to wisdom.

11. Successful leaders nurture people to get buy-in from their team.

12. Successful leaders don’t stop with learning from mistakes and failures; they deploy what they learn to achieve future successes.

13. Successful leaders work and live with gusto. They know that balance is necessary for sustainability.

14. A leader can’t be a good leader until he/she learns how to be a good team player.

15. Successful leaders’ value relationships and this value is reflected throughout their organizations’ culture.

Communication is a skill that can be learned and applied in business relationships. These same skills are also applicable in a leader’s personal life. Why be a successful leader and communicator at the office and not apply these same skills at home?

[Ask] [diigo] [dzone] [Facebook] [Fark] [Furl] [Google] [LinkedIn] [Twitter] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 8:28 am and is filed under Holman-business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.