Leadership Communication

“Great leaders communicate. Great communicators lead.” Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek is right to point out that leadership communication isn’t limited to those at the top of the organization. Across all levels, people are leading and developing the skills they’ll use throughout their careers. Whether they are leading projects, facilitating meetings, managing the sales process, or managing client relationships, whenever people get work done through others, they are leading.

Improving their communication skills helps employees advance their careers and move up in the organization.

Developing leadership communication requires a practical, focused, and personalized process.

For people at the executive level, improvement must take into account the strategies and habits they have developed over time and have been successful with.

Our job is to assess and reinforce strengths and focus improvement where it matters most.

Whether in a group workshop focusing on leading effective meetings or individual coaching sessions to improve presentations to the board, our process moves through three stages.

Goal-Setting

This step in the process is about identifying how individuals want to be perceived by others and what change they would like to see in themselves. It is also about clearing away misconceptions or faulty assumptions people might have about business communication. We find it is often necessary to cut through a vast amount of well-meaning feedback, iffy tips and tricks, and too-prescriptive training to separate what is helpful from what is not.

Self-Awareness

Successful communication, especially for leaders, requires clear-eyed self-awareness. This includes not only an awareness of how one is being perceived but also an awareness of what changing old habits and assumptions feels like in the moment that communication is taking place.

This insight is part of every training and coaching session. When it’s appropriate to take it further, we rely on the Executive Presence Index (ExPI) developed by Bates Communications. As certified ExPI coaches, we help leaders understand how their intentions compare to others’ perceptions. We help them apply the insight they receive through their assessment to the variety of communication situations they face.

Skill Development

Skills develop when these three stages — goal setting, self-awareness, and behavior change — come together. By developing a leader’s ability to stay engaged and focused in the moment an interaction occurs, behaviors become intentional, and new habits are formed.

Reaching those goals requires practice, video feedback, and coaching.

Contact Us. Let’s get
the conversation started.

Contact Us