Management and leadership are hollow without effective communication. A research study, “Effective Leadership is All About Communicating Effectively: Connecting Leadership and Communication,” states that communication skills are imperative to get a leadership-based job.
In the research report published in the International Journal of Management & Business Studies in 2015, it is highlighted that the effectiveness of communication affects the outcomes of leadership, both directly and indirectly. Many previous research studies support the claim; an American executive, Gil Amelio, says, “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.” The research says that leaders have to develop a particular set of attributes to attain the epitome of influence on others. According to a report by the Project Management Institute (PMI), leaders and managers should spend about 90 per cent of their overall time establishing communication with and among their subordinates. It is also reported that several projects failed due to a lack of communication. It happens because employees do not clearly understand what they are supposed to do with their assigned tasks and, therefore, fail to succeed in their performance.
The research study affirms that leaders should be confident and influential enough to motivate other employees. Evidently, no manager or leader can accomplish mutual organizational and business objectives without involving and inspiring other employees. So, communication plays a key role in encouraging the leaders in their workforce through oration and verbal charisma. And, of course, communication is essential to declare the rules and regulations of a particular organization. A business cannot operate smoothly in the absence of a set of clearly defined rules and goals, and such objectives and policies are subject to be perfectly communicated to employees.
It is not possible to summarize all the communication skills a leader requires because the scope of business is vast, and the sky is not the limit. The subject research study underlines a few traits that are indispensable for the seamless communicational dexterity of leaders. Availability, reliability, trustworthiness, comprehensiveness, and affability are a few characteristics that should be tightly interwoven within the persona of an effective and successful leader. It is also important to keep the delivered message accurate, unambiguous, and clearly understandable to evade the peril of any miscommunication that could impede the progress of a project.
The same study also elaborates on the crucial need to establish a communication system within an organization and throughout all the business channels. In this way, managers and leaders do not have to deliver messages to every employee individually; a systematic communication approach helps to fulfil managerial responsibilities more effectively in a shorter amount of time. Along with different communicational skills and traits, the research study also elucidates several leadership styles that could be adopted by leaders according to unique situations and cases. The most considerable leadership styles are the directive, goal-oriented, and people-centric styles. Other styles include behavioural and action-based leadership. Thomas Kohntopp says that there is a common debate about which leadership style is most effective, and “the answer, of course, it all depends.”
However, “The problem in communication arises from the disturbances or barriers in the transmission, either by the leader or by the receiver,” the study says. Noise, diversity, various levels of comprehension and perceptions and disturbance can cause obstacles to the communication process. Proper planning and accurate and smart selection of tools and techniques can eradicate the risk of miscommunication or misunderstanding while delivering a message or communicating the organizational goals, the study says.
References
Beckham, D. (2015, April). How Clear Communication Defines Leadership.
https://www.hhnmag.com/articles/3532-how-clear-communication-defines-leadership
Communication – the key to successful project management Project Management. (2014,
October 16). http://2020projectmanagement.com/2014/06/communication-the-key-to-
successful- project-management/
Luthra, A. (2015, September). Effective Leadership is all About Communicating
Effectively.https://www.mcgill.ca/engage/files/engage/
effective_leadership_is_all_about_communicating_effectively_luthra_dahiya_2015.pdf
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