Hi Laura,
I can see you're an English speaker, so I presume language is not the difficulty.
Communication skills don't feel natural to some people, but luckily are probably one of the simplest skills to develop. The way to develop them is to practice. Most of all, know your subject yourself, with knowledge comes confidence that you know what you want to communicate.
Then there are lots of different ways to communicate. Learn about and practice each one.
1. Newsletters
There is a lot of source material within the SFI website - SFI News, Ask SC, training pages, forum, etc. - which you can use as the basis of your newsletter. Think about what you most commonly get asked about by your team, or what is a Hot Topic or issue currently active at SFI.
You may want to paraphrase but, in most cases, you don't need to re-invent the wheel. Just state the issue you are addressing and then link to a useful page or forum post, which already contains the information you want to relay. Talk around it a little in your own words with your own experience and advice.
Keep a store of your newsletters, you can use them on a fairly regular basis if they are generic topics that will often be needed by new or existing affiliates. Your newsletters are conveniently stored for you now in your genealogy mailer. Make sure to give them a meaningful title you will recognise in the list. Remember this is the title of the email and will be seen by your team, so make it attractive and readable too.
2. One-to-one communications
Personal emails, ecards, SFI chat, Skype etc.
Always respond quickly when one of your downline contacts you for help. It may often be as simple as directing them to a help page you can find for them using the search box at the top of your homepage. Gently encourage them to use this search tool for themselves.
A simple ecard congratulating them on an achievement will go a long way in demonstrating your support.
If you feel comfortable with verbal/face-to-face communication, you could let your team know that you will be available for Skype/Google Hangout chats at a certain time if anybody would like to schedule a chat with you, or they can request one at any convenient time for you both.
Always be friendly, and show interest in your team members personally, whilst remaining professional.
3. Encourage use of the forum
Isn't this where you would go if you needed help or advice? Teach your team to do the same. I always say I am happy to help them, but I think they would get more varied answers to their questions, that they may understand more easily, in the forum, and by more experienced team leaders than I.
If their intention is also to become a serious team leader, then they need to use this most valuable resource. Using the forum for posting advice, asking and answering questions will also improve your, and their, own communication skills.
4. Stream posts
Very short posts to let team members know you are active and supporting them all regularly.
For congratulating team members.
For keeping them informed of news announcements.
For providing links to useful pages, forum posts, Ask SC topics.
Also, looking at the bigger picture, if you asked your question with the intention of helping those for whom English is not their first language, I would draw attention to translation tools. There is a Translate button on every page at SFI and TripleClicks.
There are also free online translation services at Google Translate and Babelfish.
Again, the forum will be useful as there are regional categories there where affiliates may communicate and seek and give help in their own language.
To recap, though, the most effective way to develop your communication skills is to
a) know your subject yourself, or know where you can find it
b) practice as much as you can
All the tools are available at SFI.
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