Listening before speaking and remembering someone’s name are just two communication habits that make you an even more admired leader.A. Reflective Listening
Reflective listening is a skill that involves digesting what someone has shared and summarizing it back to them. This demonstrates a true desire to understand what the other person is trying to convey and requires attentive listening. Practicing reflective listening helps the other person feel more understood and elevates the quality of the interaction overall. - Mark Krassner, Expectful
A. Eye Contact
It’s very important for a leader to convey that they are interested and engaged in what a person is saying, and one way to do that is through keeping eye contact with the person who is talking. By doing so, the speaker feels that they are being heard and understood, and a stronger bond and understanding can be formed between both parties. - Diana Goodwin, AquaMobile
A. Posture and Tone
The best communicators in the world — think JFK, Gandhi, Elon Musk — utilize strong posture and an authoritative tone of voice to optimally deliver their messages. When communicating, keep an upright posture and a stern voice. This will help you deliver your messages with authority and inspire confidence in your words. - Obinna Ekezie, Wakanow.com
A. Simplicity
Great leaders and communicators have the ability to make complex topics simple. They’re not concerned with impressing you with a large vocabulary or through complex topics. Rather, they have the ability to take complex topics, reduce them to simple elements, and communicate the key benefits and reasons for each point. - Mark Daoust, Quiet Light Brokerage, Inc.
A. Conviction
You have to have faith in yourself and your decisions, because with that comes an urgency and clarity that can make up for most other ways you might be lacking in charisma. Foster your own sense of purpose and worth because others won’t do it for you. Communicate ideas when you’re sure of what you believe in and why, and it will show. - Adam Steele, Loganix
A. Authenticity
You know when you hear a politician speak and you think to yourself, “Gosh, I don’t trust that person” or “Something seems off?” That’s because they’re using communicative habits that don’t align with their personality. As a result, they come across as inauthentic. Persuasive body language, listening, eye contact, smiling, asking great questions, and keeping concepts simple are all great, but you must be authentic when doing so. - Alan Carniol, Interview Success Formula
A. Enthusiasm
Leaders who move their arms and whose eyes seem to light up the room are instantly engaging to others, as they incite passion and motivation. When teams see an excited leader, they’re inspired to do their best work. It’s important to be inspirational and enthusiastic to get buy-in for what you want your team to do. - Cynthia Johnson, Ipseity Media
A. Memory
An extremely underestimated leadership communication habit that leaves a lasting impression is remembering someone’s name. The habit of remembering names and personal facts perfectly demonstrates that a leader wasn’t only listening, but found the interaction to be important and memorable. This simple and small gesture can go great lengths in making people feel important and heard. - Justin Lefkovitch, Mirrored Media
A. Humility
Second-rate CEOs think that shouting about their successes (and ignoring their failures) is the secret to success. Truly great leaders acknowledge the impact of chance and randomness on outcomes, and that includes admitting to their failures. As Winston Churchill once said: “Meet success like a gentleman; disaster like a man.” - Richard Kershaw, WhoIsHostingThis.com
A. Interpersonal Sensitivity
Great leaders have a very keen ability to sense others’ non-verbal emotional and social cues - a skill referred to by experts as “interpersonal sensitivity” - and quickly make decisions that inspire leadership in others. Being interpersonally sensitive allows great leaders to develop close connections with employees that help motivate hard work, productivity and loyalty. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
A. Empathy
Great leaders have the natural ability to be empathetic when communicating with others. Not to be confused with sympathy, empathy is much more valuable, as it is a key element of having emotional intelligence. For example, I like to always put myself in the other person’s shoes to better understand their feelings and motives and make a deeper connection during our conversation. - Terry Kim, NexGenT
These answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
Originally posted January 20, 2017 on The Huffington Post.
