If you've been put in charge of a project or you're leading a team in English,
I'm sure you're spending a lot of mental energy trying to figure out what does
leadership communication in English sound like?
And the truth is it depends on what leadership style you
have in English. For example,
one leader might be described as calm and quiet.
An equally exceptional leader might be described as energetic and lively.
Leadership looks differently for everyone.
And there are multiple styles of communication in leadership that are perfectly
acceptable. However, to truly resonate with the team,
leaders do need to communicate with steadiness and trustworthiness
in this Confident English lesson. Today,
you're going to learn five best practices to inspire your team through
professional, confident communication as a leader in English.
Now you don't need to use all five of these best practices. Instead,
choose the strategies that resonate with you and
that align with your leadership style in English.
Now, before we jump in,
let me quickly introduce myself just in case this is the first time that you're
here. I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your
life and work in English.
One way I do that is with my weekly Confident English lessons,
where I share my top confidence and fluency building strategies,
targeted vocabulary and communication skills training,
just like in this lesson today. So while you're here,
make sure you give it a thumbs up and be sure to subscribe to my Speak Confident
English YouTube channel. So you never miss one of my lessons. And with that,
let's start right away with best practice number one:
leaders choose their words wisely. In other words,
leaders choose their words with intention by avoiding
specific words, leaders communicate with certainty,
removing any little seat of doubt that may exist in a listener's
mind. How do they do that?
Leaders consciously avoid fillers, weakers,
and the word, but. Let's look at each one of those individually.
Fillers are those little sounds and words such as, um, uh, hmm,
so, uh, you know, like..
Those little sounds and words that sneak into our language
when we're nervous or when we're unprepared.
Those fillers can cast seeds of doubt and
introduce uncertainty.
They even put off nervous energy when we use them too much in
our speech. To sound confident and inspire trust,
aim to reduce using fillers while speaking.
The best way to do this is practice speaking aloud.
Record yourself, listen to it,
and evaluate it to determine whether or not there are too
many fillers in your speech. And if there are practice again,
slow things down and aim to pause quietly between
words at the end of sentences. And so on.
Be aware of overusing those fillers and aim to
use those silent pauses.
Every time you feel the need to use one,
one great way to practice doing this is with my How to Say What You Want
training in English.
This is a free training I offer at my Speak Confident English website.
In this training,
I share my step by step method that I use with all my students,
for how to truly develop confidence, fluency, and clarity in your speech.
So if this is an area of difficulty for you,
be sure to check out that training and practice using that method.
Now let's move on to weakers.
Leaders also avoid words that downplay
or add ambiguity into a statement such as it seems like,
or a little bit.
Removing those words allows a leader to communicate with
clarity and certainty.
Let's look at an example sentence that uses a weaker and we'll compare it
to a sentence without. Instead of saying,
it seems like the product didn't do so well this time we can remove
some weakers and make this a more powerful statement with the product didn't do
well this time. That second statement removes any ambiguity.
Lastly, leaders avoid overusing the word, but.
But is a conjunction in English that introduces contrast or contradiction
as a result.
This word can invalidate anything that was said before.
Plus using the word but can unintentionally communicate that you don't
truly appreciate your team member's thoughts. For example, in this statement,
I appreciate your thoughts,
but we need something that truly resonates with our customers.
By using the word, but we introduce contrast, contradiction
and potentially send the message that we don't really appreciate those thoughts.
Thankfully, the fix is easy. You have two options,
you can replace the conjunction, but with the conjunction and,
or simply end your sentence and start with a new one to communicate trust
and openness. For example, I appreciate your thoughts.
I think we need a strategy that resonates strongly with our customers and
that second example,
there's no contradiction and there's no sense of invalidating what someone
else has said. And now best practice number two:
leaders are genuine.
Have you ever received positive feedback or praise not really
knowing what it was for?
When leaders or anyone overuses superlatives, for example,
that was amazing. Or that was fantastic.
Without any specificity,
it can sound disingenuous and others might start to wonder if you
really mean that positive feedback.
Rather than rely on those superlatives,
a better way to communicate positive feedback is to provide
specific information about what was done well. For example,
rather than say, this report was amazing.
You can tailor that feedback with specificity,
by saying I'm impressed with the careful attention to detail and the depth
of research provided in this report. Great work. Now,
best practice number three: leaders are transparent. In other words,
leaders are honest and forthcoming with details. Whenever possible.
Of course,
there are times when certain details of a project or a budget aren't appropriate
to be shared in that moment,
but even stating that to your team and letting them know that you will provide
details when it's appropriate to do so,
can inspire trust and provide strong communication.
For example,
if a team member asks about the status of a promotion rather than
use ambiguity and say something like, ah, it could be possible.
A great leader will instead acknowledge the request,
provide clear expectations and potential timelines of
when that promotion could be possible.
By choosing transparent language leaders ensure that everyone on
the team is on the same page. And there is a strong foundation of understanding.
Now, best practice number four:
leaders clearly communicate goals and the why of those
goals. In other words,
they provide clear reasons for their established goals,
sharing the reasons why of a particular decision or an action that you've taken
can help align your team members with your values and help them
understand your vision as well. Moreover,
this inclusivity can strengthen your team members trust in
you as a leader to help you think about how you might provide the
why, the reason behind your decisions or actions that you take.
Here are three sentence starters you could use. Number one,
before we decide who needs to do what to get this project accomplished,
let's talk about why this project is so important to our company.
Number two,
I know there are many opinions here on how we should move this project forward.
Before we get into the how of moving forward,
let's make sure that we're clear on the ultimate intended outcome and
why it's important. And number three, as you know,
our company recently decided ____, and here's why _____.
And lastly,
best practice number five for how to communicate as a leader in English:
leaders speak with authority. When we speak,
we can use our voice in a way that conveys power
authority,
even warmth and doing so inspires
trust among your team.
Team members rarely follow a leader who speaks with an air of
uncertainty and lack of confidence.
One way to use your voice with power authority and warmth is to remove
any shakiness from your voice.
This is a word we tend to use when we are able to hear someone's anxiety
in their voice. Their voice may sound weak, quiet, and uncertain.
A good leader will also communicate with the appropriate volume in their voice.
That doesn't mean that you have to be loud and yell,
but instead you're always aware of how well others can hear
you. If you're nervous about an upcoming meeting,
make sure that you practice in advance. And when I say practice,
I don't mean think about it in advance or write down some notes. I mean,
practice saying it out loud. This is going to help you in two ways. Number one,
speaking out aloud will help you clarify your ideas.
So you're able to communicate them clearly. And number two,
it will help you have confidence in what you're going to say,
which contributes to a stronger, more powerful voice.
Now with this last best practice,
I've talked a lot about power authority and warmth.
I also love to associate those qualities with the word charisma
in English.
And I have a whole lesson on how to communicate with charisma.
I'll share a link to that lesson in the notes below now to finish.
I want to repeat that your leadership style may differ from someone
else's and I recommend that you select the best practices in
this lesson that resonate with you,
that work with your leadership style.
I also would love to hear from you.
I'm curious how you would define great leadership communication.
What qualities come to your mind if you're not sure.
Think about someone who inspires you.
Have you listened to a presentation or someone that you work with and think I
love the way they communicate.
What is it that you love about that communication style?
When you start to identify what you admire in others,
you can start to incorporate that into your own communication style as well.
So take a moment and share the top qualities that you've noticed
in others with me. How would you define that?
Great leadership communication style.
Thank you so much for joining me. If you found this lesson helpful,
be sure to give it a thumbs up and I'll see you next time for your Confident
English lesson.