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 trainer 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.
De Vera will conduct a workshop titled “Grammar Review and Business Writing” on Jan. 28, 2019. It is designed for professionals who want to improve their grammar and business writing skills.
There will also be a workshop titled “Effective Writing: Writing with Impact” on Feb. 19-20, 2019. One of the topics included is improving sentence and paragraph construction to ensure clarity and conciseness. It is beneficial for people whose line of work heavily involves writing.
The Inquirer Academy is 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 e-mail ask@inquireracademy.com, call (632) 834-1557 or 771-2715 and look for Jerald Miguel or Karl Paz, or visit the website at www.inquireracademy.com.