Communication is key for strong leadership

Allison Halpern, BSBA ’18, wrote this post on behalf of Bauer Leadership Center.

The Bauer Leadership Fellows program is designed to help students advance their leadership capacity and refine and understand their values and strengths. A few weeks ago, we began this exploration process with our fellows at the first annual Captain’s Chair Meeting, jointly hosted by the Center for Experiential Learning (CEL) and the Bauer Leadership Center (BLC).

What we learned: the first step toward strong leadership is clear communication.

Our fellows broke into small groups to discuss various challenging leadership situations and how leaders can navigate them successfully. The key deliverable needed: clear communication among clients, team members, and advisors.

Here are a few steps to follow to be a compelling, communicative leader:

1. Set expectations up front

Ensure each team member feels equally valued and understands ways they can create impact. Address critical questions and conversations with managers or advisors upfront and align goals.

2. Provide continual feedback

As work progresses, each member should understand where they are excelling and falling short, so that they can continue growing. This continual loop of feedback is crucial for the success of a team and creating a strong outcome for a client.

3. Focus on results

At the end of the day, everyone wants to drive results for the client, and this is important to reiterate throughout to stay on task and maintain team alignment.

Session one of our BLC Captain’s Chair is complete, and you can follow along here through our blog and social media posts (@BauerCTR – Facebook: Bauer Leadership Center).

The Bauer Leadership Center’s fellowship process focuses on robust learning and practical hands-on development through serving as consulting project team leaders for CEL Practicum teams. We will be posting helpful tips learned at various points along the way.

Guest Blogger: Allison Halpern, BSBA ’18, Bauer Leadership Center