Highly effective leaders are powerful communicators | Seema Vijay Singh | SVP – People and Culture | MediBuddy

Having said the above, we have also seen times in our professional careers where hiring managers hire only for technical skills. Unfortunately for talent hired & developed with such limited expectations, career growth slows down and often stops when the need to influence other people to get a job done becomes important. So, maybe, reducing emphasis on communication has not been the best decision for hiring managers and recruiters.

Communication is the ability to understand and be understood as intended. We often limit communication to prowess in a language but communication is so much more. It is not only spoken or written words, it is also the context of the conversation, underlying intent & feelings, tone of voice, facial expressions, body language and even silence. At its core, communication is about exchanging information, ideas, feelings, and meanings between individuals.

Consequently in the business world and our careers, communication is increasingly becoming the core skill, and the key differentiator. This increased emphasis has come from constantly expanding global businesses, the need for high collaboration in matrixed teams, and increased use of remote work and digital communication tools. These changes in workforce structures require the ability to express oneself clearly to continually minimise misunderstandings that come from unclear communication.

We all know that communication is the cornerstone of great leadership and this leadership capability is built through the years of leaders’ professional careers. Therefore for a successful today & tomorrow, organizations need to make communication the centre of our hiring processes.

In sourcing candidates, start by crafting job descriptions that very clearly emphasize communication competencies, leverage social media platforms to assess candidates’ communication styles through their interactions and content.

In assessments & interviews, incorporate situational judgment tests that simulate real workplace scenarios of effective communication, utilize structured behavioral questions that explore past communication challenges and successes. Hiring loops bring in good diversity of comprehension and thought, and enable us to assess communication capabilities & potential from multiple perspectives. Hence, opt for ‘hiring loops’ for decision making rather than one person making the decision of moving the person to the next round.

Finally, train hiring teams on active listening and empathetic interviewing techniques to better evaluate candidates’ interpersonal skills, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic hiring process. Investing in communication skills at every stage of the hiring process will create a workforce that is equipped to navigate the complexities of today’s business landscape and highly effective future leaders.