What’s one thing leaders sometimes overlook? Communication.

When leaders communicate effectively, they foster inspiration, provide insights, and create open channels. Which leads to new opportunities, productivity, and positive dynamics.

The reverse is also true – poor communication can have negative consequences.

Leader = Inspiring, Credible, Confident… What Else?

What brings a culture strategy to life? Communicating at scale.

What allows you to effectively bring your people together? Communicating at scale.

What makes them understand what happens in the organization/ project? Communicating at scale.

Leaders are usually skilled at one-on-one and team communication. However, many haven’t developed the skill of effectively communicating at scale. There’s a real opportunity for leaders to upskill in this area and boost their effectiveness.

Why Communicating at Scale is Important

1️⃣Communicating at scale can make change happen in your organization and bring business success. Research shows that effective communication at scale brings business results.

2️⃣Communicating at scale increases employee engagement & alignment. So they actually do what they need to do and make the right decisions for the business, rather than going off on random projects and wasting time.

3️⃣Poor communication during change projects or restructures can lead to losing top talent. It damages your reputation, and hinders your ability to attract the best employees. This leaves you with disengaged and disgruntled staff who are unhappy with their roles.

4️⃣Poorly communicated new technology is like having an expensive car you never drive. Without employee proper training, expensive software tools go unused. This fails to improve productivity or make work lives easier.

5️⃣The reward of communicating at scale is that you can be a much more conscious communicator. You can have much more impact. That benefits not only the projects you’re supporting but also your position in the organization. A powerful leader shines and stands out, and they’re the ones who get the promotion as well.

Internal communication is like the blood that runs through veins. It brings the information in different directions. Without it, it would be very hard for the company to live. It brings different projects and strategies to life.

How to Excel at Communicating at Scale?

1- Listen to Employees on the Front Line:

They have valuable insights into process issues and customer interactions. Without this feedback loop, you might miss out on key information and opportunities to solve problems and improve.  For example, in a logistics company, airport depot staff can identify issues that management might not be aware of.

2- Be Honest and Give the Answers You Can:

It’s about honesty and being human. It’s not about telling everybody all the details. It’s about being a leader and facing up if your employees are unhappy and working out a solution together. You shouldn’t be uncomfortable talking to your people. Because they are the ones who are going to make your business successful.

3- Build the Relationships Before the Key Conversations:

Never go into a meeting where you’re hoping to influence, without knowing the views of everybody in that meeting beforehand.

You can build trust and credibility, and that will help you in those meetings. Even when you make a misstep, if you’ve got a trust bank that is full and overflowing, you’re in the best position that you could be. You needn’t be nervous or scared.

4- Be Intentional about the Trust Triangle:

Trust triangle: what you say, what you do, and what other people say about you. These need to align to build trust. If what you say and what you do doesn’t match, then that degrades trust. Also, what others say about you is really important. That’s where personal branding comes in. Because it’s influencing what people say when you’re not in the room.

Leadership is deliberate. Communication is deliberate. Being trustworthy is deliberate. Building your personal brand is deliberate.

They don’t just magically happen. There are decisions, thought processes and strategies behind it all to get results. All of the successful leaders have been working on them and working hard.

5- Be Reliable and Take Ownership of Your Actions:

For example, don’t keep canceling meetings with people and switching them around. Apologize and be upfront. People understand and they respect. If you can’t meet your obligations, be a leader and take ownership of it. Explain and communicate effectively and maybe reduce your commitments or get extra support.

6- Build a Communication Strategy First:

One of the mistakes that leaders make is that they jump into tactics when it comes to communication. Like saying “Oh, we’ve got to announce the new IT system. Let’s have a video.” Building out a full strategy is essential before going straight to the tactic of what you’re going to do.

7- Help Employees Understand How New Strategies Impact them:

A corporate strategy needs clear communication to be effective. Leaders can announce a strategy. But if employees don’t understand its impact and how it applies to them, they’ll make decisions that misalign with the company’s goals.

Finally, do you want to build an effective personal brand today?

Here is a free quiz to Discover The Power of Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn in less than two minutes! Get your score here.

This blog article is based on the live LinkedIn event with the internal communication expert Monique Zytnik