Communication is imperative in any relationship. And as a leader in a startup, you have relationships with investors, employees and clients. These individuals can help your business succeed or become roadblocks to your goals. Forming and maintaining productive relationships with them is more than essential — it’s a way to create a competitive advantage.
Yet, as a startup leader, you know you’re tasked with wearing multiple hats. Juggling all those tasks at a breathtaking pace can cause communication errors and misunderstandings. Of course, it’s not by design or with intent. But if you want to avoid these missteps by improving your communication habits, here are a few tips you can follow.
Streamline repetitive processes
If there is one thing about startup environments that people find energizing, it’s the constant change. And, this change is usually moving at a rapid pace. While every day can be different at a startup, certain processes tend to stay the same. No matter what stage a business is in, repetition is bound to happen.
Because of this day-in and day-out replication, proper communication may not take place. Expectations may be assumed, people might not ask necessary questions, and processes could become inefficient. For example, employees might start forming individual workarounds for tasks they perceive as burdensome. Before you know it, you’ve got multiple less-than-ideal approaches happening in the background. Worse yet, you may never know about them.
Instead, you can streamline repetitive processes with specific forms. For example Droplet’s data collection form, whether as a checklist or questionnaire, can help in two ways. It communicates what everyone needs to know while keeping them on the same page. Second, it’s an efficient way to collect feedback without putting someone on the spot. Confusion is mitigated and people are able to immediately exchange ideas for improvement.
Engage in active listening
Communication isn’t only about the words you use and whether you’re disseminating information. Besides speaking and writing, the art of communication includes reading and listening. While you may have something to say, you also have to learn to “read the room” and hear others. Ensuring those you are leading feel heard also includes understanding what they’re not saying.
Developing this skill starts with empathy in addition to effective, active listening. Becoming an effective listener requires the development of various, broad-spectrum characteristics. You’ve got to combine probing questions with focused attention, sensitivity, and non-verbal cues. Listening can mean silence, but it also means demonstrating a thorough understanding of the other person’s perspective.
Naturally, it’s difficult to accomplish this if other people aren’t engaging in conversation. Facilitating those interactions through technology can accommodate a group’s multiple communication styles. It’s why collaboration platforms like Asana and Slack can encourage effective listening. You can exchange information in writing and through video calls while tracking project tasks collectively or individually.
Learn From Self Recordings
When you’re delivering a message, it’s hard to be objective about how you’re coming across to others. For starters, you’re observing what you’re saying from inside your head. You’re not seeing your body language. You might also hear your tone of voice, but not necessarily realize how it’s perceived from an audience’s point of view.
However, you can gain this perspective by recording your presentations and other verbal communications. Recording video calls with your team, investors, and clients provides a fodder of material for you to study. You can also record yourself during rehearsals and practice speeches. Whether it’s a video or audio-only recording, you can learn from it.
Microsoft Teams, for example, lets you record audio and video sessions you can play back at your leisure. These recordings are shareable if you want someone you trust to give you their honest feedback. It may be a mentor outside the company who will identify improvement opportunities. Any smartphone also has video recording software for in-person meetings and practice speeches at home. It’s a way to mirror back potential adjustments to your approach.
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Align Your Actions With What You Say
Those around you need to know they can trust you. Communication helps establish and maintain trust. But if your actions don’t match up with your words, trust is going to go by the wayside. Inconsistency is what often sets the erosion of trust in motion.
Think about a leader who you lost faith in. Was it because they didn’t know their stuff or was it because you weren’t sure you could count on them? It’s usually because you weren’t confident in what they said and did. For instance, they might have said they valued the team’s input. However, during brainstorming sessions, they would shut down and dismiss everyone’s ideas but their own.
Perhaps this leader also tended to pull the rug out from under people. They tasked team members with work only to not use it. Instead, they’d redo the work themselves without providing employees with feedback.
Communication happens through actions more so than words. And while it’s perfectly fine to change your position, remember to express why you’re shifting directions. Otherwise, you’ll cause confusion, which will lead to a loss of trust.
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Improving Your Communication Habits
Leading a startup takes gumption and the ability to juggle competing demands. Multiple stressors are thrown in your path, whether they’re obstacles to goal achievement or everyday annoyances. Through all of it, you’re expected to communicate your vision, inspire others through your words, and make good on your promises.
While you can take comfort in the fact that even top-notch communicators sometimes struggle, taking a laissez-faire approach to communication won’t cut it. This method could easily spell the end of your business dream. Seeking ways to consistently improve how you communicate with clients, investors, and employees ensures you can steer the ship in the right direction.
Streamlining internal repetition, engaging in active listening, learning from recordings, and matching actions with words are ways to make strides. Although these tips aren’t exhaustive, they provide startup leaders with a springboard. The most critical aspect of improving your communication habits is your willingness to engage, both with your team and yourself.
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