Effective Communications
for Better Leadership
Community College Workforce Alliance
June 20, 2007
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Learning Objectives
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Describe the role and importance of
communication in the role of a leader for
better leadership
Identify the basic forms of communication in
organizations
Discuss informal communication, including its
various forms and types
Describe how the communication process
can be managed so as to recognize and
overcome barriers
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Communications
Communication
 The process of transmitting information from
one person to another
Effective communication
 The ability of a leader to transmit a message
to the receiver such as a follower, where the
message has the same understanding to the
receiver as the sender. This message can be
verbal or non-verbal
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Communications
Steps in the Communication Process
 Deciding to transmit a fact, idea, opinion, or other
information to the receiver.
 Encoding the meaning into a form appropriate to the
situation.
 Transmitting through the appropriate
channel or medium.
 Decoding the message back into
a form that has meaning to the
receiver.
 “Noise” is anything disrupting the
communication process.
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Communications
How to Improve Communications
 Individual skills
 Encourage two-way communication
 Be aware of language and meaning
 Be sensitive to sender’s and receiver’s perspective
 Develop good listening skills
 Organizational skills
 Follow up
 Regulate information flow
 Understand the richness of media
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Communications
Feedback
 The receiver becomes the sender and the
sender becomes the receiver. This is
required to verify meaning and complete the
effective communication process
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Types of communications
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Oral Communication
Written
E-Mail
Non Verbal
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Barriers to Communication
Individual barriers
 Conflicting or inconsistent cues
 Credibility about the subject
 Reluctance to communicate
 Poor listening skills
 Predispositions about the subject
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Barriers to Communications
Organizational barriers
 Semantics
 Status or power differences
 Different perceptions
 Noise
 Overload
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Characteristics of Information
 Accurate
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A valid and reliable reflection of reality
 Timely
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Information delivered in time for managerial action
 Complete
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Information that tells a complete story, rather than being
incomplete or distorted
 Relevant
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Meets the needs and circumstances of the individual
manager
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The Communication Process
Noise
Sender
Start
Receiver
2
Encoding
3
Transmission
through channels
4
Decoding
1
Meaning
Noise
5
Meaning
8
Decoding
7
Transmission
through channels
6
Encoding
Receiver
Sender
Noise
The numbers indicate the sequence in which steps take place.
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Informal Communications
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May or may not follow official reporting
relationships and/or prescribed organizational
channels and may have nothing to do with official
organizational business.
Common forms of informal
communications are the
grapevine, management
by wandering around, and
nonverbal communication.
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Informal Communications
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Grapevine – an informal communication
network that can permeate an organization.
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E-Mails
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When are they Appropriate?
When are they not Appropriate?
Legal implications of e-mails
Privacy Issues
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Communications By Telephone
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Telephone conversation conduct
Inappropriate conversation
Privacy issues
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Nonverbal Communication
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Any communication exchange that does not use
words, or uses words to carry more meaning than
the strict definition of the words themselves.
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Much of the content of a message
may be transmitted by facial
expression alone; other
message content is derived
from inflection and tone of
the voice. Only a small portion
of the message content is due to
the words in the message.
Words in
the message
7%
Inflection
and tone
38%
Facial
expression
55%
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How Leaders Should Communicate
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Leaders communicate in three ways according to
John Baldoni in his book, Great Communication
Secrets of Great Leaders”. These ways are:
Develop the leadership message by determining
what you want to say and do.
Deliver the leadership message by getting the
message across verbally, mentally, and
methophorically.
Sustain the leadership message by keeping the
message alive, fresh and meaningful.
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How Effective Leaders Communicate
Effective communications is essential in the
practice of leadership. Through out the
Cuban Missiles crisis in 1962 President
Kennedy continued to communicate with the
Russians despite the level of disagreement
and tension.
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Breakdown in Communications
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Breakdown in communication many times
are the result of the lack of face-to-face
communication.
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Poor Communications
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When leaders are not clear with their
communications they lose the effectiveness
of their message. There other times, when
the leader makes the assumption that his or
her followers are on the same plain of
thought he or she is operating.
When this happens the leader becomes
ineffective and fails to complete the mission.
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Failure to Listen to Others
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During the time of the Challenger spacecraft
disaster in 1986 management failed to listen to
engineers warnings about the safety of launching
the spacecraft because of O-ring seals problems.
Unfortunely these warnings proved later to be true
with the crashing of the spacecraft and the loss of
life of all its members on board.
When a leaders fail to listen to others he or she
ultimately only hearing him or herself which usually
is not an objective opinion.
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Insensitivity to others points of view
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When leaders are insensitive to others point
of view it discourages feedback which in turn
places a leader on an Island to himself or
herself. This barrier between the leader and
followers eventually lead to ineffectiveness
on behalf of the leader.
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