Communication ­– the backbone of any team – is how goals get accomplished. But communication is only half the story. Teams often communicate, but their words can be unimpactful or even insecure. Mild suggestions and passive reflections can slow progress to a crawl, especially if hard decisions need to be made.

Thankfully, there’s a solution: crafting communication goals that emphasize and condition confidence into a team dynamic. Selena Rezvani, a consultant, speaker, and author of the book Quick Confidence: Be Authentic, Create Connections and Make Bold Bets on Yourself, due out in May, has some tips for fostering confident communication through effective and strategic goals.

What are confident communication goals?

“Many workplaces today use project management or messaging tools to streamline project and task-related communication, but so many don’t have communication goals when it comes to how teams come together,” Rezvani says.

Unfortunately, ignoring the importance of communication can create unhealthy patterns. Being nervous or apprehensive about potential conflict or blockers when trying to get goals accomplished is totally normal. This renders communication goals ineffective, as teams are too busy beating around the bush to get to the root of relevant topics.

“Unconfident communication happens all the time, often without people meaning to do it,” Rezvani says. “The issue is when a speaker shares an idea without confidence; people can’t read how “bought-in” the speaker is on what they’re sharing. So when in doubt, the audience might assume the speaker is either highly nervous – or not “sold” on what they’re sharing.”

To Rezvani, the solution for this problem is simple: creating confident communication goals that teams can execute.“Communicating confidently has the effect of perking up people’s ears,” Rezvani adds. “We may not realize it at the moment, but when someone speaks with conviction and self-assurance, we pay closer attention and listen like it matters.” 

The importance of confident communication

Building confident communication isn’t just about intentionally making your team more connected. It can create a ripple effect that facilitates a positive organizational culture boost. 

“One example is from Microsoft,” Rezvani says. “After the pandemic, they discovered their virtual meetings had multiplied in number and weren’t always focused. They developed a virtual meeting framework called CHARMS, which stands for Chat, Hand-raising, Agenda, Recording, Moderator, and Support. This shorthand became an internal communication mechanism allowing employees to facilitate and communicate with purpose and intention. It also encouraged everyone to participate in meetings, even if their contribution wasn’t verbal.”

Examples of confident communication goals

For those having trouble setting communication goals, try these confidence boosters out for size – because for Rezvani, all you need to do is try. 

“Being a confident communicator does not mean every idea you recommend or statement you make needs to be totally perfect or bulletproof. Not at all. Part of being a confident communicator is knowing that not every idea will be embraced or accepted, and that’s okay.”

1. Every meeting, strip the filler

Getting into the habit of confident communication means getting rid of filler words like “like,” “um,” or “uh.” Also, make a habit of getting rid of filler conversation, the kind you’d use to avoid talking about a difficult topic.

“It also requires getting in the practice of using more surefooted, decisive language – the kind that tells people where you stand,” says Rezvani. “Using tentative language when in fact you have a strong position: “We could interview another job candidate” versus “I think we should interview another job candidate”.”

2. Start making assumptions 

Next, rather than using conjectural language, Rezvani recommends throwing out expectations. This paints a picture of what the future could look like in very specific terms so that your team can begin to believe that results can occur.

“Don’t use hypothetical language rather than assumptive language: “If we get approval from executive sponsor…” versus “When we get approval from our executive sponsor…”.”

3. Test out five recommendations in one week

There’s an old saying: “ask for forgiveness, not permission.” And in the workplace, you can begin to cultivate a sense of leadership by requesting rather than asking, as it’ll make your desires known in a more convincing way.

“Stop using permission-seeking language when we actually have the recommendation to make: “Can we accelerate the launch timeline?” to “I’d like us to reconsider the launch timing and accelerate the timeline.”

4. Hold regular round robins

Lastly, Rezvani recommends that teams lead with the human element to make their relationships stronger. Before every meeting, she says, hold a round-robin to start things off right. 

“Building round robins into your meetings can make a huge difference,” she says. “You can ask people to share balanced feedback on a project or direction – for example, one thing they’re excited about and one thing they see as a concern. That makes it safe to air an issue. Another thing teams should strive for is shared airtime. As the meeting facilitator, it should be your goal to curb over-talkers and to build spaces and moments for those who are more reserved or quieter to contribute.”

5. Share wins every time

Lastly, rather than passively letting accomplishments go by, make a concerted effort to celebrate, share, and appreciate team wins. Hive Goals makes sharing wins easy, as the platform will let you know when milestones have been accomplished.

“People can share one win that’s happened in the last week and one thing they’re doing for their self-care, as examples. Not only do you end up getting to know each other better, you develop a mutual cheering section among teammates.”

Use Hive to reach your communication goals

Are you ready to start setting some goals with your team? You’re in luck — Hive’s newest (and most exciting) feature is Goals. Everyone wants to know how they’re moving their organization forward, and your team is more than just a project. With Goals, you can set various goals, visualize progress, and keep everyone aligned in one centralized dashboard. You can also:

• Create one, ten, twenty, or more goals for your team, so everyone understands what they’re contributing to.
• Centralize and automate your goal tracking and reporting.
• Pull data from other systems into Hive to streamline operations and reporting.
• Share your goal or goals, assign the goal to relevant teammates, track activity, and give yourselves a deadline.
• Understand how your team and organization are pacing towards an individual goal or a set of goals.
• Color-coded designations allow an easy understanding of “on-track” items.
• When it’s time to review progress, accomplishments, and achievements, easily export all relevant information.

Get started, today!