Effective communication is a crucial aspect of connecting with a team, especially if you want to motivate and inspire them to perform at their best. So, how do you win their hearts and minds to get them behind you and help drive the positive changes you want to see for your organisation?

If you’re staring at a blank sheet of paper, it’s worth taking a step back first to consider the ingredients you want to include in your presentation or speech before you start putting your slides together. Because impactful leadership communications have to go beyond merely relaying information; demonstrating authenticity and utilising the art of storytelling can be powerful ways to connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Authenticity is the cornerstone of effective leadership communication. When leaders communicate authentically, it’s undeniably true that they build trust and credibility amongst their teams. So, thinking about how you want to come across is important, especially if presenting doesn’t come naturally to you. We’ve all endured uninspiring speeches where the presenter merely recites bullet points without revealing anything personal. Such presentations often leave the audience distracted and yearning for a genuine connection. So find your personal style and be yourself.

Every leader is, of course, different, so it’s important to find a communication style that feels genuine and unique to you. When crafting a presentation, try asking yourself: what really drives you? What are your goals? What makes you want to go to work in the morning? Are there any personal experiences you can draw upon to bring these aspects of you to life and maybe inspire others?. This can be a difficult thing to do, because, when it comes to self-analysis, being subjective is close to impossible. So, consider asking a trusted friend to ask you these questions – get them to ‘interview’ you and let them help you to reveal the true you.

Striking the right balance between what you’re comfortable with and adapting this to the setting and situation, whether that’s during a global keynote, a company offsite, or a quarterly update, is the key to fostering genuine connections and winning over a team.

Storytelling is a super powerful tool in communication, particularly in presentations. Stories can captivate, inspire, and convey complex ideas in a relatable manner. When leaders incorporate storytelling into their communications, they can really help create a lasting impact. So, if you don’t usually use stories, give it a go.

But what story to tell?

Stories about a situation, product or service that add meaning or relevance can allow leaders to connect a concept to their audience on deeper level. For example, you could explore telling a business story from an angle that your audience may not have previously considered. Finding a new angle and weaving it into a relevant, authentic story is more likely to help your audience connect with your key messages. A well-told story can ignite passion, convey a vision, and help things really stick in the minds of an audience.

And a story doesn’t always have to be business related. In fact, some of the best stories are the ones that feel like they’re not relevant to business at all, until you get to the punchline and link seamlessly back to the theme or objectives you’re communicating – that way you’ve hooked the audience from the start. People remember stories far more than facts or statistics. When you use storytelling, you help ensure that your message is not easily forgotten.

Most speeches will benefit from supporting visuals – if carefully crafted, they should help the audience to contextualise the messages being communicated. If you’re one of those people who tends to rely heavily on bullet points to guide your speech, consider starting the process of creating your presentation earlier. Learn it! There’s no substitute for knowing your content back to front because it will allow you to focus on your performance instead of trying to remember what comes next. Replace some of those bullet points with imagery that keeps the audience engaged without revealing your message prematurely. Full-screen images can be far more engaging than slides cluttered with text or statistics, especially if their meaning only becomes clear when you finish making your point. Consider incorporating visual metaphors that step outside traditional business imagery. These unexpected elements pique curiosity, keeping your audience on their toes and ensuring they pay close attention to your core business messages once you tie it all together.

This worked really well for a global keynote we produced for MicroStrategy. We incorporated stunning photography and video sequences that evoked a real sense of curiosity for the audience, and we ensured that the presenter’s points landed at the exact right moment so that the key messages resonated all the more impactfully.

If you feel comfortable doing it, you could consider interviewing an external guest (either live on stage or on video) to provide external validation on your business/strategy/aspirations. Again, authenticity is key here – allow the guest to speak freely and give the audience their true perspective on your topic. If you try and rehearse this too much and script it, it won’t feel genuine and the audience will smell a rat, so choose your guest carefully and if appropriate, consider allowing some constructive criticism of your organisation/strategy – this can add to your credibility and allow you to reflect with the audience on what’s just been said.

Comedy doesn’t come naturally to everyone and there’s certainly a time and place for it, but integrating an element of humour can make leadership communications more engaging and memorable. It could be something as simple as incorporating a humorous visual into a presentation, grabbing the audience’s attention so they’re more receptive to the message you’re about to land. Or if you’re feeling braver, and the situation suits it, you could go as far as creating a sketch featuring you and maybe some of your top team. This can help foster a sense of unity and shared experience for those involved in the process and make key messages highly memorable for an audience. A good example of how we helped one company to do this is here.

Effective leadership communication is all about embracing the authentic you and telling great stories to connect to your audience at a deeper level. It’s about finding a communication style that feels genuine and authentically you. The best communicators prepare early, and rehearse compelling content thoroughly to help ensure that, on the day, they are as prepared as possible, allowing them to focus on their performance.

So, give yourself some time to plan well in advance and make that next moment in the spotlight really memorable.