By guest blogger Kenneth Waldman
[October 12, 2015] What makes a good leader? The answer to this question is a bit complex, but one could argue that a person has to possess a certain set of skills and specific characters traits in order to be able to separate himself or herself as a leader.
One of the less obvious skills every successful leader needs to have is the ability to write well. Before you dismiss this claim, think about it for a moment. Every leader has a professional obligation to maintain a certain image, and that includes the way they interact with other people.
Communication between a leader and other team members takes on a written form a lot more often than you would think, so it’s imperative that his or her writing is good quality. Each person has unique style of writing, a literary fingerprint if you will, which means that every leader’s writing skills are a reflection of their personality and they play a crucial rule in how other people perceive them.
Here are 7 reasons why improving your writing skills has a positive impact on your leadership.
You Can Spread Your Vision among the People More Effectively
At the core of every successful business is a clear and well-defined vision, and in order for that vision to work, it needs to be accepted among the members of the team, or a company. This can be achieved very easily in smaller companies, by interacting with each employee in person, and passing your vision and ideas onto them. However, this approach will become increasingly difficult as your company grows over time.
An equally effective alternative would be to communicate with members of the team in writing. Not only will you be able to reach out to more people, but it will also help you personalize your brand and company, making them seem less generic and corporate.
You Will Attract Top Talent, Collaborators and Clients
Infusing the written communication with a certain personal flair makes your company appear more human. This makes a world of difference, because everyone prefers to see an actual person behind a project or a company, instead of a faceless, nameless board of directors which seems untouchable.
This creates a healthy working atmosphere, which means top talent will be eager to join your company, and once you have the best people in the business working for you, your company will flourish, attracting more stable partners, as well as top-notch clients.
You Will Receive Constructive Feedback
Because people reveal a part of themselves through their writing, when they receive feedback, or criticism, they tend to take it personally. But, instead of shying away from criticism, a good leader should embrace it, because they have a lot more to gain if they do. Constructive criticism, coupled with direct communication will inevitably bring a discussion to life. Once you have a discussion taking place, ideas will start going back and forth, and because communication is personal and direct, none of them will get lost in the process.
You Can Become an Authority in Your Field
One of the unwritten rules business is that it takes several conversations to turn a sales prospect into a client. You can make that entire process more efficient and streamlined by initiating several of those contacts at the same time by using custom written content as a means of communication. This will help you establish yourself as one of the leaders in the industry, whatever it may be.
Once you are in that position, you will most likely encounter some stiff competition, seeing as most enterprises hire marketing experts in order to develop marketing strategies. But, if you choose to rely on your exceptional writing skills, you will have no trouble staying a few steps ahead of them.
You Can Use the Influence of Others to Your Advantage
Getting other influential people to get behind your company is the best possible marketing strategy. However, this can only be achieved if your writing is of the highest quality. Good writing makes you sound authentic and genuine, as opposed to sounding like a mindless corporate drone. Once those influencers have your back, you own scope of influence will grow larger all of a sudden. Most importantly, they will have your back because they consider you influential as well, and that’s a good place to be.
You Can Avoid Confusion
Verbal communication leaves plenty of room for interpretation or misunderstanding. If you want to prevent that from ever happening again, in addition to delegating tasks verbally, deliver them in a written form among your employees. This way, you will have a written record of everything that needs to be done, including the responsibility of each member of the team, as well as an account of how your project is developing. Also, once your employees receive their deadlines in writing, they are less likely to miss them.
You Can Establish a More Efficient Company
Just think about how much time is wasted each week in order to get a large number of people inside one room, at the same time, just so you can have a meeting. A more efficient way would be to brief each member of the group in writing. Best of all, you can message them all once, so it doesn’t matter how many employees are actually working for you. By doing this, you are showing that you value your team members and their time, and you are making the company more efficient.
The written word is extremely undervalued in this day and age, and it shouldn’t be like that, because it is often superior to other forms of communication, especially in the corporate world.
Every successful leader should be aware of this fact, and use it to their advantage, and the advantage of the company they are working for. Improving your writing will improve your image and your value among your peers, help you run a tighter ship at your workplace, and become an authority in the industry.
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Biography: Kenneth Waldman is a freelance writer and content editor at essay writing service EssayMama which provides assignment help for students. Kenneth draws his inspiration out of the traveling and sport. Get in touch with him on LinkedIn.