Lately it seems like our concept of leadership skills has been rapidly evolving: high definition video conferencing and online meetings have made it easier to lead virtual teams and unpredictable business environments have placed emphasis on agile organizations that constantly learn and evolve (e.g., Learning Organizations).
However, this does not mean that traditional leadership skills like face-to-face communication are on the downswing. In fact, a Forbes survey of 760 business executives revealed that 8 of 10 executives still prefer face-to-face contact over virtual communications, citing reasons such as helping build stronger relationships, allowing them to read nonverbal cues, and allowing them to bond with peers and clients1.
Even as virtual communication continues to flourish in the business world, face-to-face communication will never become an obsolete leadership skill. Therefore, we wrote this article to help you assess your own face-to-face communication and improve your skills.
Why all the fuss?
Communicating face-to-face is something that is so commonplace that it is often taken for granted as a core leadership skill. At the same time, it is almost impossible to imagine leading without it. For leaders at all levels and industries, face-to-face communication is quite possibly the most commonly expressed leadership skill. It truly seems to embody that old allegory, “where the [leadership] rubber meets the road.”
Face-to-face communication helps leaders accomplish a number of critical functions, such as2:
- Capturing attention
- Inspiring commitment
- Developing networks
- Strengthening relationships
- Building trust with staff and clients
- Promoting a positive climate
- Energizing others
Face-to-face communication can be broken out into multiple categories. The categories that are particularly important for managing teams and workgroups include:
- Sharing information and expressing ideas
- Understanding and recognizing information and ideas
- Expressing thoughts and feelings
- Responding to others’ thoughts and feelings
Rate your own face-to-face communication
How strong are you with face-to-face communication? Take a moment to rate your own communication skill on the four categories using the following rating scheme:
- 1 = I don’t do this at all
- 2 = I sometimes do this
- 3 = I regularly do this
1. Sharing information and expressing ideas | Score |
| Being specific by providing details and giving examples | |
| Being strategic by sharing the rationale behind your ideas and decisions (e.g., how does idea X contribute to goal Y or strategy Z?) | |
| Being concise, brief, and to-the-point as opposed to verbose | |
| Being assertive, confident, and definitive as opposed to apologetic or hesitant | |
2. Understanding and recognizing information and ideas | Score |
| Listening in order to understand as opposed to preparing your next remark | |
| Asking probing questions to encourage more information sharing | |
| Summarizing key thoughts and points of agreement/disagreement | |
| Checking in to make sure you understand key points before agreeing/disagreeing | |
3. Expressing thoughts and feelings | Score |
| Letting others know when you did not understand | |
| Letting others know when you disagree in a straightforward respectful manner | |
| Letting others know when you agree or like something they did or said | |
| Letting others know when they veered off-course or changed the topic | |
4. Responding to others’ thoughts and feelings | Score |
| Asking what others are feeling without assuming you know | |
| Responding to others who are discontent, angry, or hurt by acknowledging their feelings | |
| Responding to others who express warmth or closeness in a way that acknowledges their feelings | |
| When working with a group, surveying members to get a sense of their agreement/disagreement |
Improve your face-to-face communication
After gaining some perspective on your approach to face-to-face communication, the next step will be to develop your skill in a few key areas. As you do this, keep in mind that face-to-face communication is a balancing game – be sure to avoid overkill. Not every item follows the “more=better” approach. For example, communicating in a brief and concise manner is generally a good thing (it increases understanding and gets your point across without generating a lot of extra “noise”), but when taken to the extreme it can come across as hostile or uncommunicative.
To improve your face-to-face communication skill, follow these steps:
- Go back through and circle three low-rated items that you think would be most beneficial for you to improve
- For each item, take a moment to reflect on what it would look like to improve (e.g., what does it mean to share the rationale behind your ideas? what would it look like to be more strategic in your face-to-face communication?)
- Write down a clear and concise SMART goal for each item (e.g., “In the next team meeting I will take three minutes to discuss the rationale behind my proposed revisions to our project plan by explaining how these changes will help us accomplish project objectives on time”)
- Track your progress against these goals and immediately write new goals after accomplishing them (new goals should be written so that you can apply each improvement item to different contexts)
- Continue this cycle until you have incorporated each item into your regular communication across contexts
Stretch Challenge. If you really want to stretch yourself and are up for the challenge, present your completed survey to your team, peers, or direct reports and do the following:
- Ask if they agree/disagree with your ratings (ask for examples, acknowledge their feedback, don’t be defensive)
- Ask if they agree/disagree with the three items you prioritized as most beneficial to improve (what three items do they think you should prioritize?)
- Consider their feedback and refine your top three priorities (then follow the steps above)
Happy communication!
1 Forbes Insights. (2009). Business meetings: The case for face-to-face. Retrieved from http://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Business_Meetings_FaceToFace.pdf
2 McEuen, M., & Duffy, C. (2010). The future of meetings: The case for face-to-face. Hospitality Industry Perspective, 6. Retrieved from http://www.themaritzinstitute.com/Perspectives/~/media/Files/MaritzInstitute/White-Papers/The-Case-for-Face-to-Face-Meetings-The-Maritz-Institute.pdf
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