The Role of Leadership in Communication - Essay Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Introduction Superficially, communication seems deceptively simple; writing e-mail, sending memos, or giving a brief. In the actual sense, it is a quite complex process requiring an address from various angles to be effective. This implies that effective leadership has to understand and consider all the communication-process components and apply them in an effective manner. This is despite the speed and the volume provided by technology using email or intranet being erroneously assumed to be effective communication. While these are significant considerations in effective leadership, they are unfortunately not often implemented due to the leadership in place. In this paper, I highlight the role of leadership in communication as I reflect on my experience with two groups Role of leadership in communication I believe leadership is among the most studied group-communication aspects. According to me, scholars in various disciplines including business, psychology and communication have massively written on the leadership qualities, leadership theories and leadership skills relevant in leading a group and communicating with groups effectively. During the beginning of the semester, I was elected a leader of a group in my institution. I pondered on the potential reasons for my choice, however, I came to realize that I have mixed qualities, and that could have significantly led to my choice as a leader. First, I exhibited strong interpersonal skills, good communication skills, and partook in group activities zealously, activities that engage members of the group. As a result, I was often considered by the group members as a potential leader. Most of my group members often thought that this was associated with the leadership traits I had, as Zaccaro (2007) describes. My team consisted of students of various backgrounds and varying performance levels. It was a really cool deal since the group had the opportunity to share and engage in the activities that I organized, and especially where the institution gave us massive support in terms of providing resources, materials and any other support that was required. A particular striking thing about the group that I was leading was that it was pretty well-balanced and the students were much more comfortable with my leadership, actually two member of my group kept referring to me as a democratic leader. Since it’s been sometime now since I was the leader of the group, I thought I should share my general thoughts on what this has been like. During my leadership in the group, I was responsible for coordinating and managing various group activities including planning, managing, preparing schedules and meetings, solving conflicts, representing the organization, communicating goals, and delivering organizational messages, as supported by Marquis et al (2009). I therefore fulfilled various group roles that were associated with power and position in the group. According to my experience, I realized that one of the most essential yet challenging roles was decision making, as Yukl (2006) also highlights. While a leader may make crucial decisions concerning an issue within the time required for the others to comprehend the question, most people never realize how this is demanding. I did find making decisions quite challenging, especially that I was more of a democratic leader who seeks inputs from group members. It would take more time before all the group get satisfied as everybody’s interest had to be considered. In terms of task completion, I would argue that my group was best at delivering. The group itself was highly motivated by the fact that I came down to their level when communicating the goals and expectations with them. This meant that the message was understood and that any potential problem related to the group’s ideas was eliminated. On the other hand, it is only on one or two occasions that I encountered difficulties associated with task completion among given individuals. To be straightforward, some group members exhibited lack of seriousness in accomplishing their tasks, while others took much time in accomplishing their responsibilities. To this end, I realized that it is not all the time that participative leaders will be successful, but rather some situations would call for performance-oriented or democratic leadership. It also highlighted the fact that, in order to propel the group towards the set goals, success or task completion, leaders have to tap on various forms of power, as Martindale (2011) also argues. In the second group that I led during the semester, I really found my leadership roles to be quite effective and at ease with them. This follows after I realized that the group was quite different, corporative, and the communication exchanged between me and them was much in sync and appreciated. This group was easier to handle as I had already handled the previous group and learned much from it. The group members were fully engaged and participated actively, a factor which allowed me to represent the institution’s goals effectively, reach out to other students, and share with other leaders effectively. If asked, I would argue that leadership is not just about presenting briefs and delivering messages, but it is rather a complex task requiring competent principles and effective communication. Time commitment sometimes become heavy but being a leader in a learning institution adds much color to my life in campus. Based on the above leadership qualities and traits, I view myself as a participative/democratic leader since I appreciate views from all sides and collaborate with all parties involved to come up with effective decisions. Just as the participative leaders engage the group members throughout the process, my decisions are often informed by the synthesis of information from other concerned parties. On the other hand, if I was to emerge anywhere as a leader again then I would do so through the referent power and on the grounds of communication competence and interpersonal skills. Not only have strong interracial skills and effective communication skills been my dominant strengths, but I also have strong interpersonal skills that are backed by my confidence. With these qualities I believe in my ability to make an excellent leader who plans and executes strategies with the corporation of team members to reach at suitable conclusions Conclusion Communication is the basis of understanding in human societies. Leadership and communication are key factors at play in better interpersonal relationships within work settings, hence effective leadership skills are integral in group communications and overall performance. In modern organizations, emphasis on the role of leadership in communication has been stressed by scholars and theorists who have further identified how leadership types, like mine, execute various roles impacting on the team performance. To impact significantly on communication, leaders must therefore plan and manage communication carefully while also ensuring message consistency. Reference Marquis, B. et al., 2009, Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: theory and application, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Martindale, N., 2011, "Leadership Styles: How to handle the different personas". Strategic Communication Management 15 (8): 25–34. Yukl, G., 2006, Leadership in Organizations, Prentice-Hall: New Jersey Zaccaro, S., 2007, Trait-Based Perspectives of Leadership, American Psychologist, 61, 5-14 Read More