Communication skills are one of the most important leadership skills. Communication helps align values, goals, and tasks at work. Unfortunately, many employees find that their boss’s communication skills need improvement. According to a 2017 Interact/Harris poll, 91% of respondents stated their leaders lacked good communication skills. Communication problems ranged from a lack of clarity in directions to not giving enough time to speak to subordinates to a need for more constructive criticism.

If you want to improve your leadership communication skills, BigSpeak Speakers Bureau works with some of the top leadership keynote speakers and communication keynote speakers. These leadership keynote speakers are CEOs, bestselling authors, and successful athletes. If you want to learn more, here are five leadership tips from the experts on how to communicate better.

1) Stop Multitasking

If you want to communicate better the best way to start is to make time to listen according to top communication keynote speaker and bestselling author of We Need To Talk Celeste Headlee. When you multitask, you might think you’re being more productive but you’re really sending a sign to your employees that what they have to say is not as important as your work.

2) Communicate Regularly

Many employees complain about a lack of clarity or input from their leaders. Especially in these times of remote work, Tsedal Neeley a top virtual leadership expert and Professor at the Harvard Business School, says leaders need to communicate more consistently. Neely suggests two ways to communicate on a regular basis: informally and formally. Informally, reach out to your subordinates and make contact. Don’t just send an email: send a chat message or pick up the phone. Also, set up more formal times to interact through a scheduled one-on-one to see how they’re doing and if they need help. 

3) Connect Before the Point

It’s important for leaders to make a personal connection with their team members—before getting down to business. Inspired leadership and teamwork keynote speaker Robyn Benincasa suggests taking just 30 seconds to let your employee or teammate know you see them before diving into what you need. By asking something as simple as how are things going and waiting for an answer, you show you care about the person as a human being and not just as a means to an end.

4) Listen and Observe

Not all communication is spoken, so it’s also important to listen and observe what your employees say (and don’t say). The best way to do this, according to leadership keynote speaker and marketing expert Omar Johnson is to study their body language and ask them open-ended questions. By asking open-ended questions, you allow people to describe their work situation as they understand it. By not framing their situation, you allow your team members to feel they are being heard and understood.

5) Ask the Hard Questions

Finally, as a leader you need to ask the hard questions, according to Liz Wiseman, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Multipliers and a top leadership keynote speaker. Hard questions aren’t asking for facts and statistics a person can easily look up or that you already know. Hard questions show a leader is interested in learning more about what a team is doing and forces team members to stretch their abilities in order to answer them.

Whether you’re looking to do a conference, keynote, or online meeting, these leadership keynote speakers have the expertise to show how to communicate better with your team.