COACHING
Leadership
Communication
By Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia
T
he year 2019 has zoomed by
and as we get to the end of this
year, I can’t help but reflect on a
topic that I have written about several
times: Communication. From the various
definitions of communication to the fact
that non-verbal communication accounts
for a greater part of communication
than verbal communication, to the
observation that communication needs
a lot of listening to happen to ensure
understanding takes place.
In particular as a student of the discipline
of leadership, the question of leadership
communication has come to fore. Can
one be a good and effective leader if they
are not good at communication or must
the two work together? According to
Deborah Barrett in her book Leadership
Communication, “effective leadership
depends on effective communication.”
For communication to be effective, there
must be a relevant medium of transmission
of the message, there should be a sender, a
receiver of the message and minimal noise
and/or distortion of the message. The
choice of medium is dependent on the
message being transmitted and the target
audience as well. One of the media that
has revolutionized the sharing of messages
is the digital platform with plenty of new
options including use of social media to
communicate to audiences.
Barrett focuses on what she calls a leadership
communication framework where a leader
by virtue of the role he plays, has to think
about various layers of communication.
There is the core of communication,
organizational
communication
and
corporate communication. Each of
these layers requires competencies and
Barrett emphasizes that the core of
communication requires a mastery of
basic skills around writing and speaking.
Leaders must be able to write out content
that is simple and understood, and they
must also be able to deliver messages or
presentations that motivate and inspire
Leaders must be able to write out con-
tent that is simple and understood,
and they must also be able to deliver
messages or presentations that moti-
vate and inspire audiences. The use
of power point tools and graphics
to make presentations becomes very
useful.
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audiences. The use of power point tools
and graphics to make presentations
becomes very useful. Being able to speak
extempore also is a skill that a leader must
develop. Voice, speech, tone and diction
all play a role in communicating the right
message in the right way.
The next layer which is organizational
communication focuses on emotional
intelligence and interpersonal skills. An
appreciation of cultural diversity becomes
useful as does the skill of leading teams.
The concept of emotional intelligence
was popularized by the author Daniel
Goleman in 1996, when he elaborated
that an understanding of self and
understanding of others is the basis of
emotional intelligence.
A leader has to understand how his actions
and emotions impact those around him
and in order to do this, he must first have
a deep understanding of himself. Goleman
says that a leader who is self-aware is more
likely to be successful at self-management
of emotions.
The outer layer is corporate communication
which broadly speaking has its focus on
stakeholder management. Both internal
and external stakeholders need to be
included via communication and the leader
is most times, the face of the organization
responsible for the corporate reputation
and corporate brand equity.
Many PR agencies when advising their
corporate clients, advocate for the-one-
face of the organization, tying the leader
and corporate together very closely. Every
action, every communication from the