Communication On: Leadership

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal

There are thousands of articles written on Leadership, this “Communication On” series focuses on the importance of where and how communication fits into the subject of Leadership.

Stephen Covey: “communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.”

Peter Drucker : "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers." To gain followers requires influence

John C Maxwell "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."

Warren Bennis : "Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential."

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester : "the process of influencing the behaviour of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom." The emphasis on respecting their freedom is an important one, and one which must be the hallmark of Christian leadership. Jesus influenced many diverse people during his ministry but compelled no-one to follow Him.

As you can see from those who study and teach Leadership they all summarise using the skills of Communication and Influence.

Leadership requires the aptitudes of a number of skill sets, not limited to:

· Courage

· Focus

· Planning

· Excellence

· Attraction

· Support

· Monitor

· Reward

· Confidence

· Positivity

There are skills that can be taught such as planning, monitoring and rewarding, even the ability to become more focused can be taught, but areas such as Attraction, Confidence and Courage are developed by having Effective Communication Skills.

By becoming a skilled communicator and communicating positively, people will pay attention to you. By becoming a skilled listener you will grow your ability to influence people. This naturally will build your confidence and give you the courage to move forward with the knowledge that you now have the support of your people and the organisation behind you.

Communication skills are invaluable to a leader and therefore when planning your leadership training a strong focus should be made in this area, else you will be at the risk of diminishing any leadership programs you have in place.

Without the ability to effectively communicate your goals and visions your efforts will go in vain.

Research:

In the 2002 research 'What's Working™, The Mercer Survey of People at Work', Mercer asked a broad base of US and UK workers to share their attitudes and perceptions on a range of workplace issues including leadership communication.

A key finding of the survey was that among those employees who said their organisation does a good job of keeping workers informed; only 15 per cent said they were seriously considering leaving their organisation and 6 per cent said they were dissatisfied with their organisation. On the other hand, among those employees who said their organisation does not keep them informed, over 40 per cent were considering leaving and 42 per cent said they were dissatisfied.

Irrespective of whether an organisation chooses to have the 'hands-on' expertise of a communication professional, it is vital that leaders build a bridge of understanding through effective communication and develop communication skills to support this. Interestingly, the survey showed communication professionals believed that 81.6 per cent of senior managers recognise the importance of communication; however, only 35 per cent of respondents believed that senior management recognise that communication was a key element of their job. Additionally, not one respondent indicated that they strongly agreed with the statement that 'senior managers (in their organisation) are highly effective communicators' and only 37 per cent of respondents from top performing organisations agreed.

Even more significant, 80 per cent of respondents from poorly performing organisations indicated that managers from their organisation were not rewarded for communicating effectively, highlighting a lack of commitment from these organisations to developing critical management competencies. Top performing organisations fared better with 26 per cent of respondents indicating that their managers were rewarded for communicating effectively, but there is still room for improvement. This is a call to action for business leaders as we all know that what gets rewarded gets done.