One of the key things we teach in our Leadership Academy is that Leadership = Influence.
The best leaders of today’s companies, non-profits and CPA firms are effective communicators. The second most important skill is the ability to understand “strategic context”: What are the forces working on your business (internally and externally).
That is why I loved the recent post at The Source for Communicators that comes from the New York Times‘ director of employee communications, Judy Jones.
Jones believes that communication comeptencies are necessary for leaders to:
- share information with others in a responsive and timely manner,
- actively listen to other points of view before stating their opinion,
- communicate clearly and succinctly to all levels of the organization, and
- make strategic use of different communication channels (e.g., face-to-face, phone, e-mail).
The six communication competencies for leaders
According to Jones, an effective leader:
- Clearly and appropriately expresses information and data and his/her desires and needs.
- Understands the importance of and demonstrates good oral, listening and writing skills with manager, colleagues and work team.
- Adapts communications to audience requirements to optimize understanding, and adapts to a diversity of communication styles from others.
- Actively presents information and ideas to all appropriate levels and leads others to do the same, and actively listens to others’ ideas and information.
- Promotes open expression of ideas and encourages communication without retribution.
- Is recognized as one who effectively clarifies and communicates key/strategic information.
Did you know you can build these critical competencies through programs from our own Business Learning Institute? We have nationally recognized instructors with experience at some of the largest companies in the U.S. and CPA firms of all sizes. Read my post from the NASBA CPE Conference for more examples.
Here are just a few of the upcoming courses available: