Every time you speak, you have an opportunity to advance what matters to your leadership.

Your communication therefore has to be as driven by outcomes as everything else you do in your work.

Before every meeting, presentation, town hall, panel discussion and keynote, you need to know exactly how you want them to think and act as a result of what you say.

I know… who has the time for that? You’re in back-to-back meetings all day long, and working late into the night.

I get it.

But if you are responsible for managing a team, division or entire organization, you have to be able to communicate effectively.

And that’s very different for leaders than it is for others.

Leadership is not about keeping things just as they are and resting on your laurels. It’s about changing what is now – either by improving it significantly, building on it or creating what has never existed before.

As a leader, you meaningfully challenge what is now. You look beyond it to see what could be. And then you lead a collective to go beyond and create it.

You can’t do it all by yourself, or you would, so you depend on others to do their part. Some may report to you. Some may not. But in any case, they most likely can’t see what you see. You have to help them.

Because your ability to ignite your change rests on whether or not they respond.

That’s what makes it unlike any other type of communication. It’s not just about sharing information. It’s about saying what will move them from where they are now to where they need to be to act on what you’ve said.

Sometimes the action is to change the way they think about what you’re saying. If their awareness, understanding, interest, beliefs or attitudes about it create any barriers to their ability or willingness to help realize your change, you have to remove those barriers through what you say.

As you well know, change doesn’t happen in one instance. It’s a spectrum. And non-linear. It can be two steps forward, and three steps back.

And that largely depends on their response to you each and every time you speak about your leadership initiative.

In order to respond, they of course first have to hear you. Understand you. Believe you. And be convinced that your change matters enough for them to act.

HERE’S MY COUNSEL:

Every time you speak, you have an opportunity to advance your leadership initiative. Don’t squander it.

First and foremost, ask yourself this:How do I want them to think and act as a result of what I’m going to say?