Communication. It is something we do everyday, but no one said it was easy! When dealing with the people you work with, how well you communicate directly impacts how successful you will be in those relationships and, in turn, how well your business runs.
Being in the Virtual Assistant world, we often talk to business owners who wish their assistant could read minds. Admin Slayer is very fortunate to have talented Slayers working with us who are flexible, concise communicators, and are eager to work closely with clients to forge effective collaborative relationships. Intuitiveness - a valuable skill that many professional administrators have - is not mind reading and, in any event, mind reading really isn’t what you want nor need when it comes to working collaboratively with your team and running a successful business.
What you want is a great team around you, one that’s fully invested in the success of your business… and that is built on two-way communication. This will take time and effort from everyone and in many cases requires communication skills that we have to practice, need to reflect upon, and ideally, are flexible enough to change when the desired results are lacking.
Whether the people you work with are in the same space as you or working virtually, communication (and doing it well) is vitally important. If you’re secretly thinking that someone should just know what you need, you will be disappointed over and over.
So you think you’re a good communicator?
An effective communicator is able to clearly and effectively convey information, ideas and instructions to others. They also possess the ability to actively listen, understand, and respond to the needs of their team members.
Communicating well with your team and garnering their respect often requires us to look hard at what we do, how we go about it, and the results achieved from our communication style.
Here are some critical skills needed to be a good communicator:
Be clear - Say what you mean and take action to ensure your team members understand exactly what needs to be done and how it should be done.
Provide enough details (who, what and when).
Avoid pronouns when talking about multiple people. Use specific names to avoid ambiguity.
Expect questions - especially if you haven’t taken the first 2 points to heart. “Dumb” questions are quick for you to answer but if the answer is a learning moment, pass that knowledge on.
Be concise - Stay on point and keep it short. If you lose your audience, you increase your chances of not getting the result you wanted.
Be empathetic - Try to see things from others’ perspectives by accepting what you hear even if you have a different opinion. Show respect to your team members by taking time to digest their ideas.
Listen - Effective communicators are also active listeners. They take the time to listen to their team members' concerns and provide clear feedback or answers.
Give feedback - Provide timely and constructive feedback to help to ensure that work is completed on time and to the required standards.
Be realistic - Recognize that delegating certain tasks may take longer than if you did them yourself… for a while at least.
Empower - Effective communicators empower their team members by giving them autonomy over the work they have been assigned. This helps to build trust, motivation and ownership, leading to better results.
Encourage collaboration - Monologues and ramblings don’t belong in team discussions. If you find you’re speaking for more than a couple minutes, stop and allow space for others.
Be self-aware - Do people keep misunderstanding you, asking an increasing amount of questions, tuning out or not actively participating in discussions? Time to ask some hard questions. What is your communication style? Is your team comfortable offering suggestions? Are you listening to them? Perhaps it’s time to try connecting for quick calls to cover the necessary information, or set up an instant-messaging platform versus asynchronous emails.
Be genuine - Build trust and respect by being genuine in how you treat people and when you give praise. Providing extraordinary accolades for doing something ordinary rings hollow and erodes respect, but genuinely appropriate gratitude goes a long way.
Know your communication style - We all have one. Are you more assertive and direct, more passive and indirect or somewhere in between? Take some time to reflect on how you deliver information, whether it’s working as well as you like, and also how you prefer to receive information. Consider details such as how quickly you expect your team members to respond, whether you prefer synchronous communication, and if meeting for a quick call on a regular basis is more efficient. If you’re unsure of your communication style, there are many resources and quizzes online to help you determine this.
Whether you’re working with a Virtual Assistant or with an entire team, encourage everyone to reflect on and hone their communication skills. By doing so, you will be taking those all important steps to foster invested and respectful relationships that support your business needs.