The church relies on strong leadership. In fact, you might be surprised at how much the Bible has to say about the topic. At its heart, leadership is about influence. And for the church leader, the goal is to get people excited and invested in the church’s vision.
It’s almost impossible for leaders to flourish if they struggle in the communication department. But because they’re so busy, communication is one of those soft skills that many leaders don’t invest enough time into in order to improve.
Here are five tips for leveling up your communication game.
1. Maintain a consistent attitude
A leader doesn’t have to be perfect, just dependable. Predictability builds trust and helps model what you want to see from others. Even keeled, consistent leaders create space for two-way communication to thrive.
Moodiness and inconsistent behavior are like throwing a wet towel on communication. If people become nervous about what might set the leader off or result in a lecture, they’ll start second-guessing what ideas are safe to suggest or consider.
2. Work on your emotional intelligence
There are a lot of leadership skills to focus on, but few pack the wallop of learning to manage your emotions and understand the emotions of others. It helps you in several ways:
- You develop the ability to control and redirect negative emotions.
- You can put yourself in other people’s shoes and empathize with them.
- You learn to manage working relationships effectively.
Emotional intelligence feeds into so many significant areas. It helps you improve your team’s communication, it creates a healthy culture, and it enables you to become someone others trust. It also directly ties into point #1: emotional intelligence helps you maintain a consistent attitude.
3. Talk less
One temptation leaders face is over-communication. In an attempt to be understood, they can bury others in an avalanche of verbiage. By becoming better listeners, leaders can improve communication a hundredfold.
This includes:
- Actively listening to ensure that you understand the other person’s words and intent
- Being able to repeat what you heard the other person say
- Clarifying places where parties are misunderstanding one another
- Listening to understand, not to respond
- Fighting the urge to interrupt in order to hammer home your own point
Wise leaders know that the less you talk, the more weight your words carry.
4. Ask the right questions
Good communication involves drawing the best out of people and engaging in ways that ensure you understand someone’s ideas and can weigh various options. But asking questions is about more than getting to the information you didn’t know. It’s also a tool for bringing someone around to your way of thinking.
Through questions, leaders can filter out all the noise and get to the heart of the issue: “How does this affect us?” They can help people focus on the positive instead of the negative: “But what are the opportunities here?”
Before you tell someone what to think, consider ways that a question might help someone see an issue from another vantage point.
5. Be fully engaged and present
There are a lot of things that threaten to keep leaders from being present when engaged with their team:
- Stress
- Distractions
- Information overload
- Interruptions
- Worry
- Hunger
- Etc.
Unfortunately, engagement is a muscle that a leader needs to use, or else they lose it. If they allow themselves to get distracted and preoccupied, it becomes easier to be that way in the next meeting. Over time, people expect you not to be present, and they begin to disengage themselves.
When you commit to being fully present with your team, they feel respected, noticed, and appreciated, and they’re more likely to invest more of themselves in God’s work.
Improve your church communication with the right tools
You’re in the communication business. From your website to your children’s ministry, every element of your ministry is about serving others and communicating the beauty of the gospel. We provide the digital tools you need to proclaim the good news far and wide.
If you want to focus more on what you communicate, let Sharefaith equip you. We’ve got everything you need, like:
- Media, graphics, worship backgrounds, and church videos
- Social media graphics
- Children’s videos, slideshows, and curriculum
- Websites
- Giving solutions
- And more
Come check out our various membership plans, get specific content, or get everything you need at one low subscription price in Sharefaith Suite.
Free eBook
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