Top Leaders need to have great communication skills because their whole purpose is about getting results through others.

As a leader, you will have gone past that stage in your career where you have had to role your sleeves up and complete the "doing".

So now is the time to step back and look at the direction that your team or department needs to be moving towards. Now is the time to formulate strategy and plans.

Seeing as you will not be actually physically carrying out your plans you need to get others to carry them out for you. You need to communicate your requirements in a motivating and empowering way that gets others to complete the tasks and activities to a high standard and within budgetary and time constraints. You have a vision in your mind and you need to communicate this to everyone.

You are seen by your team as someone who is successful and they will be looking to you to set the example – they need to be impressed with the way that you come across as a leader, as a motivator, and as someone who can stand up and speak comfortably in front of others.

How effective are your communication skills?

Here is a quick way of assessing the effectiveness of your communication skills. It will provide a starting point from which you can work from. Please answer the questions below:

• Can you make small talk easily?
• How comfortable do you feel when meeting people for the first time?
• Can you a hold a conversation?
• If you had to speak in front of 50 people with 24 hours notice would you feel okay about it?
• Can you express your opinion in an objective manner without getting angry?
• Can you hold motivating conversations?
• Do you find this easy?
• How well can you communicate bad news?
• How well do you manage conflict in the office?
• Can you communicate effectively with people at all levels?

Have a look at your answers and see if there are any patterns that emerge. Have a think about these and jot down some ideas of what you can do to improve your skills in each area.