Management takes responsibility of an organisation and most importantly lead organisation’s way to future. Key expectation from Leadership is to establish a common vision for all organisation to follow and it’s obvious that this cannot be achieved without effective communication.
A famous line by James Humes Describe this perfectly, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
Why communication described as one of the defining attributes of leadership let us explore.
Imagine a meeting room filled with area managers and CEO comes in 10 minutes late in that meeting. He starts his speech on his area of concerns with top of his voice as soon as he enters the room and then ask all area managers to give immediate solution to the problems he raised just now. Without much of a wait he suggests few measures. What will happen next, I suspect that nothing will happen, the verbal (speech in top of his voice, pushing his agenda without listening to others, etc) as well as nonverbal communication (Late to the meeting, raising voice, and “no room for suggestions” manner) indicates that most area managers will nod their head and will not put their best foot forward due to fear of humiliation OR lack of trust. Meeting will end without any constructive discussion or meaning full action plan.
There are Three important attributes about communication of leaders,
Honest and Authentic leadership gets better reception: people want respect and honesty in their leader, an authentic communicator will develop ardent followers in no time.
Non-Verbal Communication is important too – Anyone cannot expect everyone else to come early for a meeting when she/he is late for all meetings. A person at top level who always shout will have either no two-way communication or will receive only flattery & deception, both ways she/he going to fail as a leader.
Listening is Extremely important. – When someone listens well, he/she will have clear understanding of things, that is why it is always observed that good communicators are good listeners too.
Communication is utmost necessary leadership function and successful leaders are always able to communicate their vision, directions and actions to employees, communities and sometimes to global audience. If a leader is not effective communicator, then problem does not stop at not being able to drive motivation and action level of teams, but it goes beyond that and often effects teams in negative way, like lack of trust on leadership, misalignment with organisational vision and mission & Detrimental effects on business. A leader must motivate their teams to perform better and to remain engaged & connected during workhours to maximise smooth function of organisation but achieve this at first place leader must communicate clearly to employees about what is expected from them. Basically, maintaining effective Leadership communication can lead organisations into becoming thriving businesses.