Leadership and Management Development Part 2 of 6
Communication skills for leaders and managers
This six part essay covers the six major themes of leadership and management development. The six themes are as follows:
Your leadership and management development programme needs to be centered on the six essential leadership management skills, namely the ability:
- To set and achieve your goals.
- To communicate clearly.
- To manage time and prioritise, and delegate work.
- To manage conflict and handle difficult people.
- To create and sustain a positive mental attitude, especially during tough times.
- To inspire others and create a positive, productive atmosphere.
If you want to know more, about communication skills and their role in leadership and management then please read on................
Communication skills for leaders and managers
There is a strong correlation between good leadership and management ability and good communication skills. This suggests that, in order to be a better leader manager, you need to improve your abilities to more effectively communicate.
Better Leadership and management development requires the ability to effectively communicate. You need to be able to communicate your message to all those who need to know it. If you want to know more about accurate communication and its role in leadership and management then please, read on.
The language of a leader
In a business context, communication is defined as "the transfer of information and emotion from one mind to another".
As a leader manager, you need to be able to do both, meaning; you need to be able to communicate information in a manner that is clear, specific, accurate, and unlikely to be misunderstood.
And in addition, as a leader manager, you need to be able to communicate emotion; emotions such as motivation, enthusiasm, confidence, desire and cooperation.
So we have two major subset skills:
- The language of facts, reason, and logic.
- The language of emotion, feelings and sentiment.
We call these two language patterns:
- The language of science, and
- The language of politics.
Communication Skills Training
Do you ever think to yourself, "I know what I mean, but I can't explain it"? You need to be able communicate facts, feelings, information and ideas, in a clear, professional and confident manner. If you want to learn more about our communication skills training, please click here.
The language of a leader should subsume both sets. If you are a leader you need to be able to speak both languages. And you should be able to flip from one to the other, at will. And you should have a keen sense for when each type of language is required.
If you are talking like a cold, objective scientist, when the situation requires that you are more sensitive to their feelings, then you will miss your conversational mark.
If you are talking like a politician when the other person wants definite answers and specific figures then you will miss your conversational mark.
You must talk logically when you need to. And you must be able to talk emotionally when you need to.
The ancient Greek philosophers called these two complimentary language styles, logic and rhetoric.
What is the language of logic?
Logic is factual, numerical, with defined concepts, detailed, specific, and objective.
What is the language of rhetoric?
The language of rhetoric is the opposite model. Rhetoric is open ended, passionate, emotionalised, subjective, emotive and exciting.
What is the language of a leader?
A leader has both sets.
How can you learn both sets?
Take them one at a time and practice until you are an expert. When you can do each one separately it is a relatively simple matter to be able to switch from one to the other.
The ability to communicate with accuracy clarity and logic together with the ability to inspire the passion, the motivation and the self confidence in others is the second skill of the leader manager.
Now you have a goal and a way of communicating the goal to others.
Now you have clear communication, you have your second leadership management fundamental.
What is the third leadership and management fundamental skill set?
Answer: the ability to plan ahead.
This is the subject of the third blog in this series.
If you want to know more please click any of the links below.
Part 1: To set and achieve your goals.
Part 2: To communicate clearly.
Part 3: To manage time and prioritise, and delegate work.
Part 4: To manage conflict and handle difficult people.
Part 5: To create and sustain a positive mental attitude, especially during tough times.
Part 6: To inspire others and create a positive, productive atmosphere.
Please follow the link for details about our leadership and management development training.
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About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years’ experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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