Three ways millennials can be more effective communicators

A significant challenge facing younger leaders is the shift to a more formal communication style.

We know that millennials have spent most of their adult lives on social media, which usually translates to informal, emoji-filled missives.

What would happen once they’d have to discipline members of their team, or worse, fire an employee?

Somehow a text or chat message would seem inappropriate in this scenario.

We asked Ruel de Vera, a Palanca award-winning writer, college professor and trainor for corporate employees, for his tips and insights on how millennials can improve on this aspect.

1. Seek to be understood

Good communication skills are second only to vision when it comes to being a leader. Before you can impress or inspire, you must be understood. You cannot ask people to follow you when they do not know what you stand for, what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. Whether through written text or spoken words, a leader must reach out and include others in his or her endeavor. The more followers understand what their leader is saying, the stronger the unit becomes.

2. Adopt a mode of communication which suits your audience

A leader must determine what manner or style is required to properly communicate with those they intend to lead. Some followers require unambiguous instructions laid out in print all at once. Others require counseling through continuous communication. A good leader is able to toggle from one mode of communication to another.

3. Maintain a formal tone, even on chat apps

Messaging apps are perceived as informal, but they can be as formal as you want them to be.

They can be very useful for the workplace—everyone gets the messages right away, you can see each other’s responses and the conversations are saved.

The important thing is to maintain a formal tone even when using the messaging apps, remembering to use corrected grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization at all times.

Are there other tips that you think would help millennials? Let us know!

The Inquirer Academy is offering a workshop entitled “Effective Writing: The Basics Reviewed” on March 20 to 21 to be facilitated by Ruel De Vera. The workshop is for professionals who wants to improve their grammar and writing skills in order to present a truly professional and competent image.

To help your supervisors improve the way they communicate to their colleagues, bosses and clients, they can enroll in the upcoming module of the Supervisory Essentials Training series entitled “The Leader as an Effective Communicator.” The workshop will be held on April 20 to 21, 2017.

The Inquirer Academy is located at 4168 Don Chino Roces Ave. corner Ponte St., Makati City. For more information about the workshops or if you would like to add your input on the article, you may email [email protected], call (632) 834-1557 or 800-8110 and look for Jerald Miguel, or visit the website at www.inquireracademy.com.

The author is the Executive Director of Inquirer Academy.