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The role of communication in effective leadership
The role of communication in effective leadership
Explain the skills and attributes needed for leadership
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To be an effective leader the person has to have skills and qualities in them. It is hard to quantify the value of interpersonal relationship but without this relationship the productivity can suffer a lot. The leader should be able to create a good employee relationship which ultimately helps to create an enjoyable work environment. If the employee feels threat of communicating what they want to communicate then their behavior will be defensive. Employees use these mechanisms by not providing response on their assigned task and ignore the leader. (Moshavi, Brown & Dodd, 2003)
It is a different approach to explain a situation to the employees. It is very important to a success leader; sometimes the employee may not perform well, so instead of telling that you are not doing well at your project, the leader can explain the findings and how to improve in future. The leader needs to make sure that the employee does not get frustrated and not do well in future. It is always better to motivate instead of discourage an employee. Supportive communication is a good tool for it. (Moshavi, Brown & Dodd, 2003)
The best ways to communicate to your employees are to make sure the environment and place is right for the communication. The leader needs to emphasize on the important parts, focus on the body language and keep eye contact. To be able to success in a project there should be a good communication between the employee and leader, project leader cannot just make a decision because they thinks it is the best decision to make. The majority of the employee has to agree with the decision, so that there is no dispute. (Palmer & Walls, 2001)
The leaders use reflection to allow their employees to express the feelings and what the employee wants to communicate to the leader. Leaders show that they understand what the employee is trying to convey to the leader. If you cannot use the right term or the right word it can mean totally different what you wanted to express. English language can play a vital role to confound and confuse a communication. Probing means asking for further information, not just make a decision without making sure you got all the information that is been delivered to you. (Palmer & Walls, 2001)
The communicator is responsible in making sure they are reaching to their audience. The listeners are not responsible what has been delivered to them.
ideals of leadership which could apply in a general case. This model emphasizes the fact that most leadership occurs in interpersonal interaction over an exposition to a large crowd. According to Scholl who performed a study at Jr. Labor Research Center, because leadership is constantly being evaluated by organizational members, superiors, and the public, there are always groups involved in the process as opposed to having a “formal leader” take charge (Scholl, 2003, pp. 2). He goes on to state that even though leadership assigns value to the individual role, there is never a point where the leader in that specific role exerts an absolute sphere of influence without competing claims (Scholl, 2003, pp.3). The process of exercising this type of leadership is inclusive and ethical because it gives an agency to everyone who is a part of the organization (Komives, 2007, p.74). Each person is a part of the leadership process because just be being a follower under a leader there is a relationship attached to oneself. This model is not descriptive but rather prescriptive. It tells one how to act and how to effectively lead rather than simply describe a process which can be observed in nature. The components of leadership involved include inclusivity of others views, the empowerment of those involved, being purposeful with one's goal and aligning others with that goal, and being ethical with good morals. As part of this model each component of this model must be part of a process which includes knowing, being, and doing (Komives, 2007, p.76). Knowing, being, and doing is an interrelated process which influences the leaders thinking and behavior. Knowing i...
Leadership is an important attribute in individuals such as managers, academic experts, and researchers. The topic of leadership continues to gain popularity and importance in almost all sectors. The way leaders in managerial positions communicate determines their effectiveness and success in achieving high levels of performance and success in their organizations. There are numerous books that provide an insight into effective leadership and communication. One of such books is by Atwater and Waldman (2012). This paper provides a summary, contextual analysis and critique of the book.
There are many definitions with regards to leadership, but what defines 'effective leadership' and how is it evaluated? Chemers (2000) explained that effective leadership is "follower satisfaction and group performance." (p. 28) G. Yukl expalined "there is no correct definition of leadership; it is only a matter of how useful it is increasing our understanding of effective leadership."(Yukl) How does an organization establish effective leadership? While some leaders of organizations direct considerable resources to find, train, and mentor managers to be effective leaders, many leaders of organizations put little research into the subject of effective leadership. Whatever the organization's policy on selecting the leadership group is, such as to promote from within or to hire from outside, most organization's leaders make decisions without a full understanding of leadership theories. The missing aspect that many leaders and developers of leaders ignore is that the construct of leadership is not an individual endeavor, but rather one that must include the organization as a whole. Leadership is not just the sum characteristics of an individual (leader) but should include the leaders, the followers, dyadic relationships, and group relationships. Hogg and Terry (2000) explained that "organizations are internally structured groups that are located in complex networks of intergroup relations..." (p. 121).
...s for today’s leaders would begin with strong oral and written communication skills; the most effective way a leader communicates with the employees is by e-mail, since employees check their e-mail often they can communicate with them quickly but the employees also feel that the leaders are directly addressing them which can be motivating.
A leader influences people. In business as specific, in order to be a successful leader or manager, one must understand his employees, especially understand why those employees behave the way they do. It is irrational for a leader or manager to expect their employees to do accordingly to their orders because everyone is unique. People are influenced by their leader and will have different behavior towards the leader. Mentioned by Clawson, understanding of other people would make one more powerful leader with more options, more potential tools.
To become a truly effective leader, one must encapsulate the various behaviors related to the aforementioned course learnings in his/her persona and demonstrate such behaviors daily. This course has allowed me to identify four behaviors that all leaders must portray to be effective. The first of which is that a leader must be inspirational. To do so, a leader must set the appropriate vision and direction for the organization and provide a path to achieving defined goals. Additionally, a leader must induce the proper levels of motivation so that each employee has sufficient incentive to work towards the organization’s goals. As discussed in the class, motivation can be accomplished by factors such as rewarding hard work and providing the correct opportunities to employees. While these are motivating in that employees desire to be fairly compensated and to be doing work they deem valuable, inspiration comes more from organizational culture. A leader will be inspirational by setting a tone that appreciates each employee’s contribution, no matter how small in scale it is. Further, employees are inspired when they work collaboratively in a group setting and can capitalize on individual strengths to drive organizational goals.
The ways employees connect to the leader are important. If the employees do not like or trust the leader, this can impact the outcome of the job and create future hurdles. If you work for someone, you have to be able to relate to him or her. There has to be a formal relationship in order for the formal authority to be respected.
Leadership is essentially the ability to motivate. An effective leader can motivate others toward reaching a common goal. Leaders are different than managers in that leaders inspire others to do the work needed while managers generally tend to manage the tasks associated with completing the goal.
8. Collaborate: Studies show that, when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships. Great leaders are team builders; they create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. Surveys indicate that being cared about by colleagues is a strong predictor of employee engagement. Thus, a continuous challenge for leaders is to rally individuals to collaborate on organizational, departmental, and group goals, while excluding individuals pursuing their self-interest.
A manager needs to be in constant communication with his staff. The lack of communication can lead to misunderstandings and dissatisfied employees. “Communication is the single most important skill of any manager.” (About.com) I believe this is statement from about.com is absolutely right. In order to lead, a leader must communicate his orders to his followers.
It is this capability of the management to cultivate communication that is important towards effective engagement with the employee (Albrech, 2011). It is not just a one-sided affair of a company engaging employee, but also mutual loop where the employee is also engaging the company. After all, it takes two hands to clap. “Voice must be approached in a genuine and authentic way, and treated as more than just a cosmetic exercise. An authentic use of voice means that when the employee is invited to speak up, the company in return will both listen and will respond to what the employee says, even if just to explain why they cannot carry out a request for change. Feedback is vital and action must be seen to follow.” (Dromey et al, 2012, p.17).
...r staff and colleagues and not only give orders. This involves giving feedbacks, constructive and positive. Constructive feedback guides the employee in the right direction or path. Positive feedback praises and encourages the employee when they complete a task well. Above all we have seen the importance of interpersonal communication in the form of one-to-one basis. This serves as a greatest opportunity for an effective two way dialogue or discussion. All these characteristic allow open and free flow communication which results in employee engagement and critical thinking among them. Another important aspect of a good leadership communication is that they think about the message from the team’s perspective. Above all, good listening is a major attribute of good leadership communication. These are some of the important traits of a good leadership communication.
Being in a position of management, it is your responsibility to ensure that your team of associates are well informed on what they need to accomplish. With poor communication, there may be a lack of understanding of what is expected. This creates a domino effect in which every step down the way is performed. Beyond the consistency of strong work production, the morale in the workplace may be affected. It can be disheartening to an individual to put so much effort into what they are being paid to do just to find out that because of poor communication their work may have all been for nothing. Being a good leader doesn’t only require that you have the ability to communicate, but to be able to listen. Taking in the information and comprehending it is the first step to conveying what you are looking to accomplish. Getting to the point with people immediately with a task at hand can prevent the inability to finish any given responsibility in a timely manner. Sometimes change in the workplace can bring out a side in someone that you wouldn’t normally face with a normal interaction. People become comfortable with how things go on a day to day basis. When changes in management occur or policies change after a longer period of time, the most loyal of employees can take an offense to a change and have it not sit well with them. This ties in to not only being able to effectively
Communication is a very important aspect in leadership. It involves the ability of managers and other leaders in an organization to engage employees through effective listening and understanding of any issues that may be making it difficult for them to realize their full potential. The need for good communication capabilities in the workplace is to make sure that leaders give employees enough time to air their opinions before any binding directions are made. It is always necessary for leaders to remain mindful of the manner in wh...
By allowing for employees to be increasingly engaged in workplace activities, they are then given the opportunity to develop new skills. Most leaders also encourage for employees to participate in team building activities so that any employee would be more comfortable and have stronger chemistry when working with other members of their respective departments, and with other employees in the company as a whole. Leaders are capable of motivating their subordinates through a series of actions, such as words of encouragement, acts of appreciation, and allowing for employee involvement in key decision making processes in the company. For instance, leaders who appreciate, constantly encourage and assist in the improvement of the tasks performed by their subordinates will be able to build a strong and healthy employer-employee relationship. This good relationship instils the traits of confidence in employees and motivates them to enhance their performance. Excellent leaders commonly try to develop a dialogue or establish open communication with their subordinates. Employees who are well