Every good gardener knows they need to have an effective toolkit to help them do all the tasks that are required to keep a garden in order. They know they can’t get by with just one tool or tools that are old, rusty or broken. Having the right tools just makes the job so much easier. Imagine trying to dig over a large garden bed using a tiny hand tool designed for pot plants. It would take forever, hurt your hands and probably not aerate the soil very well anyway. That’s why gardeners take care of their tools, store them properly and replace them as required.

The basic gardener’s toolkit should contain, amongst other things a:

• Shovel
• Fork
• Rake
• Secateurs
• Saw
• Watering can
• Wheel barrow

So what is the equivalent for a workplace gardener? What should be in their toolkit to ensure they are being effective and efficient? What is the equivalent for them of using the wrong tools or old tools? I think the most valuable tools for any leader are communication tools and they are a set of tools that need to be continually updated to remain useful. What worked 10 or 20 years ago will not work today.

People have changed and the way we communicate has changed. Here is my list of just some of the communication tools you need to master in order to be an effective leader.

• Communicating to a group (ie public speaking)
• Cross cultural communication
• Cross generational communication
• Cross gender communication
• Online communication (ie social media)
• Email communication
• Communicating via instant messaging
• Communicating via video conference
• Communicating in a crisis
• Communicating bad news
• Communicating about change

How many of these tools do you use on a regular basis and what “condition” are they in? Could they use the equivalent of a clean or do you need to replace the old ones with newer versions?

Tags: Employee Communication, Leadership and management, Leadership skills