By Prof. Sattar Bawany

Great leaders are good communicators

Leadership Communication

“Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter.”

— Gilbert AmelioFormer President and CEO of National Semiconductor Corp.

If you take a look at the life of great leaders in any path of life including sports, politics, business, or even the military, you will be surprised to find that all great leaders are good com-municators. To achieve extraordinary success in leadership, you not only need a clear vision regarding your goals and objectives, but you also know how to communicate these objectives to your subordinates. In order to achieve your success at the highest levels, you must learn the art of communication, because when your team knows about your goals, it becomes easier for them to work, and you can motivate your team through effective communication channels.

Hence, effective communication is an essential element of leadership. Leaders are communication champions who inspire and unite people around a common sense of purpose and identity. They lead strategic conversations that get people talking across boundaries about the vision, key strategic themes, and the values that can help the group or organization achieve desired outcomes. Effective Communication Practices

Think about it … how do the best leaders motivate and inspire their people? Four elements necessary for strategic conversations are:

1) an open communication climate2) active listening3) discernment, and 4) dialogueOpen communication is essential for building trust, and it

paves the way for more opportunities to communicate with fol-lowers, thus enabling the organization to gain the benefits of all employees’ minds. However, leaders must be active listeners and must learn to discern the hidden undercurrents that have yet to emerge. It is through listening and discernment, both with followers and customers, that leaders identify strategic issues and build productive relationships that help the organization succeed. When active listening spreads throughout a group, a type of communication referred to as dialogue can occur. Through dialogue, people discover common ground and together create a shared meaning that enables them to understand each other and share a view of the world.

Leader communication is purpose-directed, and an important element is persuading others to act in ways that achieve goals and accomplish vision. Four steps for practicing the art of persua-sion are to establish credibility, build goals on common ground, make your position compelling, and connect with others on an

emotional level. Leaders use rich communication channels, com-municate through stories and metaphors, and rely on informal as well as formal communication. Electronic channels can be very advantageous if used appropriately, but their use increases the potential for communication errors, and these channels are not very effective for complex or sensitive messages. Leading Strategic Conversations

Leadership means communicating with others so they are in-fluenced and motivated to perform actions that further common goals and lead toward desired outcomes.

Strategic conversation is communication that takes place across boundaries and hierarchical levels about the group or organiza-tion’s vision, critical strategic themes, and values that can help achieve desired outcomes. Leaders facilitate strategic conversations by:• Actively listening to others to understand their attitudes

and values, needs, personal goals, and desires• Setting the agenda for conversation by underscoring the

key strategic themes linked to organizational success• Selecting the right communication channels and facilitat-

ing dialogue. Inspiring someone without effective communication is almost

impossible. You have to keep in mind that all the good organiza-tions achieve their goals through effective communication at all levels of organization. To achieve this they have an organized system of communicating at different levels of the organization.In Conclusion

As a change leader, communication is the primary and most important tool. There is no substitute for good judgement, and change leaders need to be reflective and thoughtful about the ways they communicate.  There is also no  substitute for ‘Active Listening’, and receiving feedback from the staff and colleagues about how the leader communicates. A leader may make communication mistakes, but the mark of an effective change leader is that these mistakes are quickly identified through feedback and discussion, and corrective action is taken. LE

31leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 09.2014

Prof Sattar Bawany is the CEO & C-Suite Master Executive Coach of Centre for Executive Education (CEE Global). CEE is a premier network for established human resource development and consulting firms around the globe which partners with our client to design solutions for leaders at all levels who will navigate the firm through tomorrow’s business challenges.Visit www.cee-global.comEmail sattar.bawany@cee-global.com

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