8 essential leadership comms habits to cultivate

Emotional instability can infect the workplace and lower productivity as surely as malfunctioning equipment.

Often, the person causing the retention problem has moved from buddy to bully without intending ill will. It just “happens.” That boss got promoted from supervisor to manager or from manager to senior executive without adequate leadership and communication skills for the job. Forming new habits will help.

1. Make sure the team knows the deliverables.

In survey after survey, leaders report that their team understands organizational goals. Yet team members themselves say they do not. In a worldwide Gallup poll among 550 organizations and 2.2 million employees, only 50% of employees “strongly agreed” that they knew what was expected of them at work.

The more layers of the organization that stated goals need to travel through, the more chances that things get lost in translation. But the result remains the same: Disengagement and lowered productivity.

2. Dislodge log-jamming directives.

Lines like this stop workers in their tracks: “I’d like to blow this up and try to rebuild it from the ground up.” “Let’s just put everything on hold until I get a better understanding.” “Check back with me before you make any final commitment on that.” Such statements put a brake on productivity.