Communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. And that’s especially true for the leader-teammate relationship. How well leaders communicate with their subordinates affects how motivated and productive they are. And how well leaders communicate with their entire team affects how the team members communicate with each other…as well as how motivated and productive they are.

So, if you want to be effective as a leader, you’ll need to communicate effectively at work.

But a big obstacle to achieving that is misunderstanding the nature of communication itself. Effective communication isn’t one problem to solve. It’s two.

There’s effective asynchronous communication and effective synchronous communication. And the rules for each vary just like the method of communication varies. In this article, we’ll outline the difference between the two, and how to be effective at each one.

0:00 Introduction

In both forms of communication, and both tips for each form, there’s a common thread. None of these tips are about using your preferred methods or styles of communication. Instead, they’re about playing to the preferences of the receivers—your teammates—or at giving everyone a chance to receive via their preference some of the time. Effective communicators know it’s not about them, it’s about the receiver of the information. In doing so, they send some of their best communication ever—and that allows their team to do its best work ever.

//DO YOUR BEST WORK EVER

//ABOUT DAVID

He is the best-selling author of four books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, the Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and CBS This Morning. Since 2017, Burkus has been ranked as one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He’s worked with leaders from organizations across all industries including Google, Stryker, Fidelity, Viacom, and even the US Naval Academy.

A former business school professor, Burkus holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University.

//SPEAKING

//CONNECT

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