Who Are You Even Talking To?

If you’re willing to wear that cape that comes with truly leading your team, you know that phrase I shared as we started down this path won’t be one you’ll be using as your own any time soon! That whole idea of “I’m only responsible for what I say, not for what you...

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More Than a Basic Understanding…

If we really want that strong foundation for leadership communication skills, learning to know each member of our team as well as we possibly can is the best starting point I can suggest. To that end, showing our team members that we’re actually interested in who they are rather than just...

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A Foundation for Developing Leadership Communication Skills

At this point, I feel like I’ve pounded the drum loudly enough about communication being a responsibility we can’t duck if we expect to lead anyone around us. And I think you’re probably on the same page with me that the messages we send as leaders are far more than just what we...

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Do Unto Others…

Remember that quote I shared from the Snoopy meme, “I’m only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand,” as we started looking at how important communication is for anyone in a leadership role? While I have seen or heard more than a few folks in supervisory or...

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Don’t Just Tell Me, Show Me! Then Show Me Again...

Once we accept that it’s way more than what we say, there’s a lot more we’ll need to consider than just our tone and our body language. If we’re really leading the team members who are counting on us, they’ll be watching what we do when those words aren’t...

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It’s Not What You Say…

The one responsibility we can’t duck if we want to lead is communication! But that’s never as simple as just saying the right words!

So picture the movie Rush Hour, where Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker first meet and Tucker asks Chan “Do you understand the words that are coming...

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Why is Communication Important in Leadership?

Having looked at the one responsibility we can’t shirk as a leader, as well as what we can expect to happen if we do, let’s take a quick look at some data that makes a strong case for why communication really is so important in leadership… It’s not just some crazy tirade...

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What If I Don’t Accept That Responsibility?

I can hear it now… Somebody read the last post and is pushing back! “Wes, I don’t agree with you… I can’t control how anyone responds to what I tell them, that’s on them. And I certainly can’t help it if they can’t understand the simple words that...

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There's One Thing We Can't Duck if We Want to Lead!

I’m guessing you’ve seen it too… Heck, I’ve had it sent directly to me in emails and I’ve had folks say it to me face to face! Most recently, I saw it in a social media meme with a picture of Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon strip, where Snoopy has a frown and...

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The Old Fashioned Way…

Think back to the scenario I shared as we started digging into the biggest challenges we’re facing in the workplace today where my friend told his students they’d better have a really good excuse for not performing well in his class… He wasn’t just being harsh, he showed...

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The Court of Public Opinion

I maintain that I’ve never seen anyone truly value something they didn’t earn… I can’t think of classmates through high school who had some of the fanciest clothing, cars, or whatever but treated those things with very little respect. I remember watching numerous folks...

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There’s No Prize for Just Showing Up!

Having looked at some of the biggest challenges we’re facing in the workplace today, as well as some of the issues that come from handing out trophies to folks who aren’t even participating, let’s change gears and look at some things we do intentionally as leaders to avoid most...

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