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What is involved in communication?
“Leaders communicate to share the vision with
others, inspire and motivate them to strive
toward the vision, and build the values and
trust that enable effective working
relationships and goal accomplishment.” (Daft,
2008, p. 259)
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Technology in communication:
Good & Bad?
 Missing…
 Affect outcomes?
 People as ‘whole’ people?
 Personal?
 Quality of communication?
 Lazy communication?
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As followers we like to give feedback so why
when we are leaders do we no longer want to
hear feedback?
Why don’t coaches ask for feedback?
Feedback from assistants?
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Top-down paradigms vs. inverted paradigms.
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Encoding & Decoding
Individual differences
 Knowledge.
 Values.
 Attitudes.
 Background.
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Goal: Transfer information WITH shared
meaning.
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Management Communication: directing the
traffic of communication. Collecting pieces of
the puzzle and determining who gets to see
which pieces at which time.
Leadership Communication: using the ‘whole’
person approach and ensuring everyone can
see the vision (the picture on the box of the
puzzle) while striving to promote upward
communication links. High use of purpose,
ultimate vision and stories / metaphors.
Purpose Directed
Internal and
external
sources
Strategic
Conversation
Open climate
Listening
Discernment
Dialogue
Leader
as
Communication
Champion
Direct attention to
vision/values, desired
outcomes; use
persuasion
Methods
Use rich channels
Stories and metaphors
Informal
communication
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Sharing all types of communication across job
descriptions (horizontal) and hierarchies
(vertical).
Surveys show employees want good and bad
information. Why don’t we, as leaders, give
open and honest information?
Ownership in the text is akin to autonomy as
we discussed in Motivation & Empowerment.
An open climate is essential for cascading vision, and cascading is
essential because:
Natural Law 1: You Get What You talk about
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A vision must have ample ‘air time’ in an organization. A vision must
be shared and practiced by leaders at every opportunity.
Natural Law 2: The Climate of an Organization is a
Reflection of the Leader
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A leader who doesn’t embody the vision and values doesn’t have an
organization that does.
Natural Law 3: You Can’t Walk Faster Than One Step at a
Time
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A vision is neither understood nor accepted overnight. Communicating
must be built into continuous, daily interaction so that over time
followers will internalize it.
9
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Conditioned to have right answers and only
give right answers.
Problems need answers… leaders must have
and provide the right answer.
Think of school…
Ripple effect of a leader asking questions is…?
Leader centered vs. follower-centered.
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Think about categories of leadership…
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Most folks are thinking of what to say next
while they should be listening to what is
actually being said.
Average retention rates of auditory
information is around 25%.
Can listening be draining?
Keys
Poor Listener
Good Listener
1. Listen actively
Is passive, laid back
Asks questions;
paraphrases what is said
2. Find areas of interest
Tunes out dry subjects
Looks for opportunities,
new learning
3. Resist distractions
Is easily distracted
Fights distractions;
tolerates bad habits;
knows how to
concentrate
4. Capitalize on the fact
that thought is faster
than speech
Tends to daydream with
slow speakers
Challenges, anticipates,
summarizes; listens
between lines to tone of
voice
5. Be responsive
Is minimally involved
Nods; shows interest,
positive feedback
Keys
Poor Listener
Good Listener
6. Judge content, not
delivery
Tunes out if delivery is
poor
Judges content; skips
over delivery errors
7. Hold one’s fire
Has preconceptions;
argues
Does not judge until
comprehension is
complete
8. Listen for ideas
Listens for facts
Listens to central themes
9. Work at listening
No energy output; faked
attention
Works hard; exhibits
active body state, eye
contact
10. Exercise one’s mind
Resists difficult material
in favor of light,
recreational material
Uses heavier material as
exercise for the mind
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Utilizing nonverbal and situational cues not
verbalized during communication.
We are taught to be PC and speak words that
are less likely to offend. Most of us aren’t
taught how to behave while we are speaking.
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Remember only 25% of our words are retained!
People watching… full time and not as a
boredom quelling activity.
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Finding that shared meaning in the message
and building upon that base layer by layer with
a lack of right vs. wrong and judgments.
Discussions are taught and encouraged.
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Debates, position statements, right vs. wrong.
Sports are huge for this. Sometimes called ‘bar room
debates’.
 Best 3rd baseman of all-time is…?
Conversation
Dialogue
Lack of understanding,
disagreement, divergent points
of view, evaluate others
Reveal feelings
Explore assumptions
Suspend convictions
Build common
ground
Result
Long-term, innovative
solutions
Unified group
Shared meaning
Transformed mind-sets
Discussion
State positions
Advocate
convictions
Convince others
Build oppositions
Result
Short-term resolution
Agreement by logic
Opposition beaten
down
Mind-sets held onto
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Establish credibility: knowledge, expertise,
relationships, track-record and demonstrating a
‘we’ mentality.
Build goals on common ground: show folks
how what they do impacts the overall picture
and that the overall picture benefits them.
Make your position compelling to others: use
emotion to your advantage through symbols,
metaphors and stories.
Connect emotionally: EQ and adapt to the
situation to ensure followers are ready to listen.
Electronic
mail, IM,
Web, intranet
Disadvantages
Impersonal
One-way
Slow feedback
Formal report
Face-to-face
verbal
High
channel
richness
Disadvantages
No record
Spontaneous
Dissemination
hard
Low
channel
richness
Advantages
Provides record
Premeditated
Easily
disseminated
Advantages
Personal
Two-way
Fast feedback
Memos,
letters
Telephone
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The ability to handle multiple cues
simultaneously.
The ability to facilitate rapid, two-way
feedback.
The ability to establish a personal focus for the
communication.
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The goal is to further emphasize the emotional
connection.
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Must consider the communication process still.
Information must be congruent with listeners
abilities, knowledge base and/or experiences.
Select stories carefully as listeners only
remember 25% anyway and the story is more
likely to be in that 25% than the remainder of
your verbalized information.
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Part is the nonverbal communication (weighted
higher than verbal) and the goal as the leader is
to have our verbal and nonverbal match to
enhance our credibility and further emotional
connections.
Part is the setting. Informal conversations can
dramatically influence the openness of an
environment and the transfer of information.
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Think school…