Susan Tardanico's Lack Of Effective Communication

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Leadership and Communication Warren Bennis once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” In order to accomplish this “translation,” a leader must first be able to successfully inspire and encourage his or her team, necessitating effective communication. A lack of communication can make it nearly impossible for a company to join together and accomplish any of their goals. However, if a leader focuses on employing effective communication strategies and overcoming communication barriers within the workplace, his or her team will follow suit, ready to undertake any goals set before them.
Effective Leadership Although it is difficult to measure leadership, many of our most effective leaders have shared similar traits. …show more content…

As Susan Tardanico states in her Forbes article, it is necessary for leaders to set the tone for the office, remaining accountable to any rules put in place. Basically, it is important for a leader’s actions to align with his or her words; otherwise, people will not apply the standards that the leader has set because even the leader is not conforming (2012, para. 4). Tardanico also frequently mentions language as a means to effective communication. Rather than sending emails or making speeches that are unnecessarily former or filled with technical jargon, a leader should focus on sending out shorter messages that are clear, focused, and get the point across. Keeping memos simple allows employees who are “being bombarded 24/7 by information” to hear and understand the point quickly (Tardanico, 2012, para. 5). One of the easiest and often overlooked communication strategies is simply listening. As Simon Sinek once said, “There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.” Whether it be listening to upper level management or hearing an employee’s concerns, listening is an important aspect of communication. Actively listening to employees could boost work satisfaction levels as well as allow the leader to solve problems easily and quickly before they grow out of control (Rittiman, 2015, para. …show more content…

Requiring employees to take a personality inventory, such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), could aid the process of learning to work with other personalities. For example, if an employee had a preference for Thinking and another had the opposite preference, Feeling, then the Thinking employee could focus on not being so critical as well as pointing out the positives before the negatives. The Feeling employee could then practice using brief and concise language as well as finding logical ways of explaining, including the use of cause and effect (Bakker, n.d., p. 1). When a leader knows his employees’ personalities, he or she can focus on utilizing that knowledge to find common ground among employees and avoid interpersonal relations problems (Feigenbaum, n.d., p. 1). In companies with multiple locations or who use outside contractors, it can be difficult to communicate accurately via email due to the lack of nonverbal cues. This physical separation barrier can be remedied by video chatting regularly instead of emailing or attempting to meet in person, depending on the distance of separation (Lombardo, n.d., p. 1). Conflicting messages can also hinder effective communication in the workplace. If emails to employees are unclear or confusing, they might either decide to just not do the task or they might complete an entirely different task than what was originally

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