7 Simple Communication Habits That Help Leaders Build Trust and Influence
- Brainz Magazine
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
Diondra Filicetti is a Learning and Development professional, best-selling author, and two-time TEDx speaker. She specializes in team engagement, leadership effectiveness, and communication, helping organizations create motivated, high-performing teams.
When you think of leadership communication, do you picture the big moments like Steve Jobs unveiling a new Apple product, the Prime Minister addressing the nation, or the CEO making an announcement at the company town hall? Technically speaking, those are examples of leadership communication. But they’re only part of the picture.
In reality, leadership communication happens every single day. It includes the major announcements and the small hallway conversations, the team meeting to discuss direction, and the quick chat by the coffee maker. Every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships, reinforce priorities, and align the team.
But why does leadership communication matter so much? Because leaders have enormous influence on how people feel at work and how they perform. According to Gallup, managers alone account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. With that much power, leaders have a significant responsibility to improve the very communication skills that shape their interactions with their team.
Leadership communication should generally have 1 of 4 outcomes
Build trust: Leadership communication should build trust by demonstrating that the leader is credible, reliable, and genuinely cares about the team’s success and well-being.
Provide clarity: Leadership communication should leave team members with a clear understanding of goals, priorities, and expectations, not more questions.
Create alignment: Leadership communication should ensure that teams are moving in the same direction and according to the same priorities. Alignment is meant to eliminate potential friction between team members or departments, prevent the duplication of effort and enable the team to collaborate more efficiently.
Inspire action: The ultimate purpose of leadership communication is to spark meaningful action. Good leadership communication motivates people to take the next step, which could be adopting a new behaviour, working on a task or even changing course entirely. Leadership communication, built upon trust, clarity, and alignment, and strengthened by empowerment, should have the team feeling confident about taking action.
With these outcomes in mind, here are seven small ways to improve leadership communication:
7 simple ways to improve leadership communication
Greet everyone
Many leaders unintentionally hold themselves apart, often because they are preoccupied with responsibilities, deadlines, or strategic decisions. However, when leaders disappear into their offices or rush past their team without acknowledgement, the perception from the ground floor can become, “They’re too important to talk to us.” A simple habit like greeting employees by name or taking a moment to check in builds approachability and trust.
As an example, in my previous career, the operations manager would take daily “gemba” walks around the production floor. During those walks, he would greet all of the equipment operators by name and check in with them. That small action earned him loads of trust and respect from the team.
Understand the work
Sometimes leaders are out of touch with the work that their teams do. Not only is this not a good look, but it is unstrategic. How can the leader communicate effectively with their team if they don’t have an understanding of what their team does or the challenges they face? Leaders who are disconnected from what their teams actually do are not in a position to provide clarity for the team. They risk making poor decisions and losing credibility.
In order to provide clarity and alignment, the leader must understand the work. Understanding the work doesn’t mean micromanaging, it means investing time to learn the tasks, tools, challenges, and customer needs that shape daily operations. These insights will facilitate better conversations between the leader and the team and, therefore, more effective leadership communication.
Provide context and transparency
Trust grows when people fully understand the situation they’re facing. When teams receive fragmented or limited information, it leaves them feeling unimportant (not being privy to more information), unsure, and unable to make informed decisions. This often leads to disengagement and a passive “Just tell me what to do” mindset, which is unhelpful in advancing the business. In leadership communication, sharing context and being more transparent about challenges builds more trust and more commitment. It helps the team understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture.
Communicate the desired outcome
Many leaders focus heavily on the task rather than the outcome. For example, instead of explaining that the business needs to increase revenue by 15% in order to cover inflated expenses, a leader might ask the Sales team to increase cold calls. Or they might ask Customer Service to upsell more. Neither of these tasks describes the outcome the leader is looking for. Without explaining the outcome, the task might feel disconnected. Drawing the connection between the task and the desired outcome gives employees clarity about what their efforts are intended to achieve. This actually empowers them to approach the task in more meaningful ways, or even propose new ideas rather than simply following task instructions.
Get the team involved
If you want more buy-in, increase involvement. People are much more committed to solutions they help to create. Think of the last time a friend of yours asked you for help. Together, you may have worked on coming up with a solution to your friend’s problem, and by virtue of being involved in the process, you suddenly became invested in the outcome. It’s a natural human tendency that also exists on teams. When it comes to leadership communication, make it two-way communication. Ask more questions, ask for suggestions, and get the team talking too.
Inspire confidence
Business is challenging. When a leader is up against large objectives, it’s common for the team to doubt whether those objectives are achievable. As the leader, inspiring confidence through leadership communication is a skill of its own. It starts with small moments of encouragement. It could be reinforcing belief with statements like, “It will be challenging, but this is the right team for the job,” or “We can do this,” or even “You are capable of this, and if there are resources I can provide to help you, I’ll do my best to get them for you.” These small moments in leadership communication that inspire confidence are often what motivate the team to take action and give their best. But remember, it isn’t about blind optimism. It also means ensuring your people have the resources they need, removing barriers, and reprioritizing projects so the team feels fully supported.
Recognize the efforts of your team
Recognition is one of the most powerful yet underutilized leadership communication tools to support engagement. Everyone appreciates being seen. Some people prefer public praise while others might prefer private kudos. Either way, feeling seen gives us a sense of satisfaction and encourages us to continue to work hard, knowing that our efforts are appreciated. Incorporating recognition into your leadership communication and genuinely thanking people for their effort is simple yet extremely worthwhile.
Leading with meaningful communication
Mastering leadership communication isn’t about the big fancy speeches, it’s simply about saying what matters. It’s about communicating what your team needs to hear. Incorporating these seven habits into your leadership communication (greeting everyone, understanding the work, providing context, clarifying outcomes, involving the team, inspiring confidence, and recognizing effort) creates a powerful foundation for effective leadership. When practiced consistently, these behaviours strengthen trust, increase clarity, build alignment, and inspire action.
If you’re ready to deepen your leadership and communication skills, explore Diondra’s workshops here. You can also dive further into her approach by reading her best-selling book, Engagement Economics: How to Increase Performance and Profitability by Engaging Your People, available on Amazon.
Read more from Diondra Filicetti
Diondra Filicetti, Team Engagement & Communication Expert
Diondra Filicetti is a distinguished Learning and Development professional, best-selling author, and two-time TEDx speaker. As the founder of Driven By Co., she helps organizations enhance performance through engaging workshops, leadership programs, and communication training. Her book Engagement Economics explores how employee engagement drives profitability and success. With expertise in adult learning and instructional design, Diondra has empowered thousands of professionals to lead with purpose, connect effectively, and inspire growth.
