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Everyone has their “trade secrets” and great communicators are no different. The ability to educate, instruct and inspire others to great things through words sets great leaders apart from the mediocre ones. We should all take advantage of opportunities to learn from the greatest of these.
Whether it was Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address or Churchill’s Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat, the great communicators motivated the masses to do great and difficult things. While personality and opportunity played a role in these situations, there are some principles that we can all apply.
Back in 2012, Mike Myatt wrote an article entitled 10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders. It’s still very relevant and worth your time to read. If you don’t have time for the full article, here are the 10 secrets (plus a bonus!) summarized.
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- Speak not with a forked tongue: In most cases, people just won’t open up to those they don’t trust.
- Get personal: Stop issuing corporate communications and begin having organizational conversations – think dialog not monologue.
- Get specific: Specificity is better than Ambiguity 11 times out of 10: Learn to communicate with clarity.
- Focus on the leave-behinds not the take-aways: The best communicators are not only skilled at learning and gathering information while communicating, they are also adept at transferring ideas, aligning expectations, inspiring action, and spreading their vision.
- Have an open mind: I’ve often said that the rigidity of a closed mind is the single greatest limiting factor of new opportunities.
- Shut-up and listen: Great leaders know when to dial it up, dial it down, and dial it off (mostly down and off).
- Replace ego with empathy: I have long advised leaders not to let their ego write checks that their talent can’t cash.
- Read between the lines: Take a moment and reflect back on any great leader that comes to mind… you’ll find they are very adept at reading between the lines.
- When you speak, know what you’re talking about: Develop a technical command over your subject matter.
- Speak to groups as individuals: Leaders don’t always have the luxury of speaking to individuals in an intimate setting. Great communicators can tailor a message such that they can speak to 10 people in a conference room or 10,000 people in an auditorium and have them feel as if they were speaking directly to each one of them as an individual.
- Bonus – Be prepared to change the message if needed: Another component of communications strategy that is rarely discussed is how to prevent a message from going bad, and what to do when does.
What are some of the other secrets you have noticed that great leaders use to communicate effectively?
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