The 4 Pillars of Communication You Need To Master as a CEO

Communication is key when it comes to owning a business – as a CEO, you should definitely know a thing or two.

The truth is that the majority of aspiring entrepreneurs don’t have much experience when it comes to their future business endeavors. Usually, they are people full of ideas who desperately want to see them turn into reality. Anything beyond that is trained, learned, and put into practice on the spot.

And while we all try our best to constantly improve our leadership skills, there’s a certain aspect of being a company’s CEO that is beyond doubt one of the most crucial ones. Other than productivity, knowing how to invest wisely, and being great at delegating work duties, a successful CEO surely knows how to communicate properly.

At first, you may think that there’s not much in communication that you need to master. My advice here is not to underestimate the power of having impeccable social skills. In business, we are not just chit-chatting with our peers, employees, or clients. The goal of any conversation is to result in great communication that is both fulfilling and useful for all sides.

So without any further ado, let’s get down to it – in today’s article, we’ll discuss 4 aspects of business communication that you should prioritize and focus on.

Without proper communication, your business is doomed

I feel like we often tend to put communication last whenever we talk about business advice and know-how. The reason is not that we think it doesn’t matter – more likely we believe there are other things that need our attention in terms of improvement and further development.

Think productivity, business hacks, time and team management, the hiring process, etc. There always seems to be a multitude of aspects that we find difficult and want to focus our attention on. And while all of them are incredibly important for the development and growth of our business, we should not forget about proper communication.

In business, communication is key – whether with your managers, employees, clients, or even competitors. If a CEO fails at communication, their business would soon begin to suffer. Why? Because there are people involved and where there are people, they need to express themselves verbally in a fruitful, clear, straightforward, and useful way so that their needs/desires/requirements are being met.

Being good at conversating is indeed a powerful skill of any CEO who understands the importance of maintaining healthy relationships with the people involved in the business. Without proper communication, misunderstandings, quarrels, disputes, and failure are likely to be observed.

If you want to have great business communication, focus on these very important aspects – let’s call them the 4 pillars of conversating

Counting on clear, to the point and precise communication in business is definitely the key to success. You’ll soon witness all your relationships with people improve mainly because you’d all feel understood, taken care of, and appreciated.

In business, you need certain skills in order to make your communication style stand out. Think about it – when we conversate in our personal lives, we often tend to leave things unclear, misunderstood, or allow other people to stay with wrong impressions about what we had to say. In addition, situations like these often lead to quarrels, failed relationships, and constantly emerging issues.

We definitely do not want that in business and entrepreneurship.

But is there a way where we can easily transform our business communication skills for the better and end up conversating in a beneficial and entirely optimized way? There is! Here are the most important 4 pillars you need to pay attention to when communicating:

1. Clarity. By all means, having clear and to-the-point conversations is incredibly important in business. Imagine needing to say many important things and facts in a conversation that will ultimately shape the way a project is about to turn out. If you are vague and unclear in your wording, how can you expect people to understand what you have to say? In addition, the whole work process might suffer due to misinterpreted guidelines and task evaluations.
2. Confidence. If you are a CEO, then, by all means, you should radiate confidence each time you talk to people, be it your employees, clients, and especially competitors. Confidence is a great virtue in business since it showcases your own belief that you can handle any situation. It’s important for your peers to see in you someone who has great ways and approaches. Self-confidence is also extremely important – showing certainty and comfort in your behavior also shows people that you and your work ethic can be trusted.
3. Respect. Sometimes being a CEO can cloud one’s judgment and let their ego take a step in. I cannot even begin to explain why this behavior is not okay. Being excessively egocentric puts aside another virtue that’s incredibly important in business communication – respect. When you conversate with your peers, you should always showcase respect and show those people you highly value their expertise and professionalism. You’ll witness that once you show respect in communication, you’ll receive respect as well.
4. Provide but also accept feedback. Just because you are a CEO doesn’t mean that people have nothing to say to you in terms of feedback and evaluation of your work and communication. Be sure to provide useful and helpful feedback to your employees but also be ready to accept feedback back from them. Instead of opposing and becoming argumentative, try to actually listen to what people have to say and take the lesson with an open heart. In time, this behavior will strongly improve the majority of your professional relationships.

In a nutshell

Once you realize just how important communication is in business, you’ll begin to understand why you need to constantly improve it.

Being clear, confident, respectful, and willing to accept opinions and evaluations will greatly improve not only your work ethic and processes but also your relationships with everyone surrounding you on a daily basis. Don’t forget that owning a business is not a one-man show – rather, it’s a group activity that needs constant nurturing and development. Through communication, you can achieve just that.