The most successful, effective individuals are intentional with how they approach each interaction. Intentional communication fosters clarity, efficiency, and stronger relationships in the workplace.
When you communicate with purpose, you minimize misunderstandings, and ensure that your messages are clear, concise, and aligned with your goals. This intentionality saves time, reduces frustration, and enhances collaboration, as team members are more likely to stay on the same page.
Thoughtful communication also demonstrates respect for colleagues' time and attention, building trust and promoting a positive, professional environment where everyone feels valued and understood.
Yet many professionals struggle to effectively communicate; whether in writing, in a meeting, or giving a presentation.
If you want to increase your influence and impact, enhancing your communication skills will position you as a confident and competent leader in your organization.
Every interaction is an opportunity to increase trust, collaboration, and teamwork.
How do you communicate with confidence, credibility, authority, and composure?
1. Be clear in your communication.
Avoid vague language that is confusing. Part of having positive presence and credibility is providing information in a way that others can follow. When communicating instructions, your ideas, expectations, or giving feedback, use clear language. People thrive on clarity. They want to know what you expect so they can deliver. Avoid vague language such as:
- ASAP
- Soon
- When You Get a Chance
- We should
- Try
2. Avoid qualifiers.
Women in particular often use qualifiers to soften a message. Examples are, “just”, “sorry”, “kind of”, “I could be wrong”, “Does that make sense?”, “Maybe we could try this approach…”, “I don’t know if this will work, but…” These words and phrases can send the message that you are second guessing yourself and don’t portray confidence.
3. Be direct.
It’s possible to be respectful and direct at the same time. Don’t soften the message—ask for exactly what you need. For example, if you are asking an employee to complete a task you could say, “I know you are working on another project right now. This report needs to be sent out by 12 noon today. Can you table that other project and make this a priority this morning?”
In this example, you are being clear, and also respectful. Many managers avoid clear language because they fear coming off as too bossy. Yet vague language causes more problems and misunderstandings.
4. Be concise and to the point.
The clearer your message, the better the person is able to give you what you need. Know your audience. Some colleagues will want more details and some colleagues appreciate brevity. I find most executives prefer concise information that gets to the point. Certainly, you want to be prepared for deeper questions. And you will be more influential if you state your recommendation clearly and concisely without all the extra details that often aren’t necessary.
5. Start with your recommendation.
State what you are asking for or recommending up front, and then support it with the necessary information. For example, “I’m recommending X, here’s why…”
6. Don’t bury the lede.
This concept from journalism refers to not putting the most important information too far down in the article. The most important information typically comes first and the supporting details after. Don’t bury your request in a lot of information. Be clear up front about what you are asking for.
7. Invite others into the conversation.
Be mindful in meetings of colleagues who may have a valuable perspective and who aren’t speaking up. At times, individuals who identify as introverts may feel it’s challenging to join the conversation if everyone is talking and there is little space to speak up. Invite others to share their ideas and perspectives.
8. Speak up in meetings.
Research shows that people who speak up in meetings are more likely to be seen as leaders. Meetings are one the best places to create credibility. Yet when most professionals are uncomfortable, they default to taking notes. Don’t hide behind note taking. Make eye contact, show engagement, and speak up to share your opinions and ideas respectfully.
I recently listened to a podcast with Vanessa Van Edwards, who is an expert on charisma and communication. Vanessa shares research from Yale University that cites charisma is one of the most important ingredients for success. It accounts for 82% of how people evaluate you.
Charisma has nothing to do with extroversion or introversion. The great news is that charisma can be learned.
There are social signals that we send that influence how people evaluate us. The key is to be intentional about these signals.
The most important elements are Warmth and Competence.
- Sometimes, very smart, competent achievers under signal warmth and they are perceived as cold.
- Sometimes highly warm people are focused on being liked and will over signal warmth cues. If you are highly warm in the workplace, your desire to be liked can get in the way of your need to be respected.
A way that you can increase your influence is to focus on balancing warmth and competence signals. This podcast episode is fascinating, and shares many examples and strategies for increasing charisma, influence, and confidence.
Whether you are a professional, manager, or CEO, how you communicate has a huge impact on not only your influence with others, but your success in your position.
Pausing to be intentional in your verbal and written communication can dramatically increase your influence and credibility in your work and personal life.
I really love and enjoy this reading. Reading this I learned that when you speak out clearly you thoughts and ideas people see you as winner, because you are not afraid to go straight to the point.
Great article.....And happy belated birthday! Welcome to my world, young lady!
Whenever I have a work project that I keep putting off - I think about delegating that project to someone else - which accomplishes 2 things- it gets the project done and frees us my brain space thinking about it.
Good morning. I loved this read. Thank you so much for sharing. Sincerely, Melissa :)
Thank you for this blog Laurie. I liked most part and specially "As organizations have become more complex, there is a tendency to require employees to do more with less. This is a slippery slope, and often can result in employees feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. One of the biggest contributors to this is not evaluating resources during the strategic planning process." I will use this practice "A best practice is to do what I call Priority Planning—putting important practices on your calendar ahead of time so they become a priority in your day. Examples of activities to Priority Plan include scheduling recurring coaching sessions with each team member, time for strategic thinking and planning, vacations, doctor appointments, important children’s events, and blocks of time for focused work on projects." To be more effective, I will get a good rest so I can have enough energy in the morning. I will read the blog again along with the other links on employee evaluation. Thank you so much Laurie. Best wishes to you and your family.
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I love the feedback on the more than 50 hours of work. AND filling time. So true. Unfortunately, showing that you work longer hours is still seen as being a "hard worker" - not sure how to change that though.
I enjoyed the read. I concur that transitioning from technical skills to delegating results was a task within itself. I did not realize I was almost trying to do the same thing from my previous position, and it was not working. However, I am seeing the results of how delegating daily tasks makes my job and workload easier. Thank you, Laurie.
Thank you for sharing information about your trip Laurie! All 3 things resonate with me - probably #1 being the biggest. I know when I'm gone for a week, I'm still thinking about work and need a vacation when I get back because I did not relax enough. I think your idea of a longer vacation is definitely in my future!!
Hey Laurie, My take on your list - 1 - everyone has a story - listen 2- social media causes interpersonal problems 5- generational differences create hurdles / earn it you aren't entitled / we should help them get there not give it to them 6 AMEN some leaders I would have followed thru Hell, some I wish - well, you know 7- true BUT be as good as your word and 14- Hopefully we leave some good from our efforts, I know the good leaders I have had have. Seen a lot in my career but it really comes down to treat others the way you want to be treated, fair, honest, and straight forward. Good read. Take care
I love this so much and thank you so much for sharing! I really just love realizing that enjoying the simple things sometimes is the best! Also recognizing that what is important and fun to you may not be everyone else's fun on the on the trip. “Do we get to keep these toiletries?” was my favorite!!!! :):) Glad you had a great time and got to spend it with your family!
I very much resonate with lesson no 3! Thank you Laurie
I think the part that you might have missed in their top 5 things, some of which were not "Italian" or even different from home, all of them happened with you, both of you. And i think that is what they will remember too. And you've got tons of photos that will remind them of what the Sistine Chapel looked like - then they might remember what it sounded like or smelled like. Oh- and i agree with you 100% about sleep!
LOTS of great take-aways from this post! Thank you for posting! I especially love "slow down to speed up". That's a keeper!
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the not getting enough rest to be at my best. definitely need to get more quality sleep and make that a priority
It really is hard to narrow down the 3 lessons into one because they are all so interconnected. You need to give your mind and body THE TIME to relax SO THAT you can enjoy the SIMPLE THINGS, including REST. I enjoyed that lesson as a whole. I will take that lesson with me on my next vacation (or staycation). As always, thank you Laurie for your candor and for sharing your own lessons with others so that we too can benefit.
Great information and reminders
Laurie, Thank you for sharing your trip and these nuggets. The lessons that resonate most with me are it does take time to relax and getting proper rest. When you devote 15 plus hours of your day for work, taking care of home and others; the 6-7 hours you lay down does not cut it! For me during this time I'm trying to unwind and find myself thinking fighting not to think about what I have to do tomorrow. Even after I create a to do list for the next day...I find things I need to add. Taking a day off here and there doesn't cut it as well because of all the plans you have for that day. I try to make sure my Mental Health Days remains just that.... time for me to laugh, cry, scream.... whatever I need to release the cares and stress!
Really enjoyed the article... and all very true!
Since I was already well aware of #1 (I'm in the same boat with taking a long time to relax), I think I'm resonating most with #3. I'm learning to prioritize sleep / rest and it's been wonderful. Love that you said "I love sleep.". :)
Welcome back from vacation. Well deserve! Action is the key to success. Shoulder to shoulder, coaching and delegating task to help other employees grow are very important. It is a sacrifice that one must do. Forget about yourself and be with your team day in and out to help them grow, is not always easy. On the long run, your team is stronger, and you can depend on them for the success of the organization. Thank you so much!
So many great tips here, thank you!
I am so impressed you're able to disconnect and these are great tips I'll be sure to try on my next trip!
Such a great post - so inspiring!