Winston Churchill once said that the striking difference between leadership and mere management is communication. The concepts of management and leadership go further than communication but communication skills are core to effective leadership. Having impeccable communication skills at the same time will not make an effective leader. The ability to communicate therefore is a critical factor in the development of a successful and efficient leader (Gamble & Gamble, 2013) . Professional success can be enhanced if managers are effective communicators with the ability to convince. Leaders and their teams must learn effective communication in order to enhance the productivity of organizations. Leaders should be able to take charge, stimulate, direct and encourage employees. This paper looks into the concept of communication and leadership in addition to suggesting an appropriate way that William should use in order to communicate effectively.
Communication Strategies Associated with Effective Leadership
Effective leadership communication strategies are hinged in the understanding of the purpose of the communication and the best approach to make that purpose clear. Communicators , therefore, understand the purpose and the procedures in order to develop effective communication strategies. Communication is intended at informing, instructing or persuading the audience. Leaders must formulate their communications with the three in mind (Gamble & Gamble, 2013) . However, there are other reasons for communicating but they also overlap with the three. Leaders must define the expected outcome for each specific purpose.
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Effective leaders must understand the procedures associated with the communication. They should keep such communications as brief as possible. Similarly, they should understand the audience and then listen to their feedback. The leaders should then share their perspectives. According to an article in Fortune magazine, effective communication is one of the five critical success factors (Tabak & Lebron, 2017) . Leaders, therefore, must be effective communicators since the skill is not only essential but also non-negotiable and required in daily encounters. Effective leaders know the purpose and the outcome of their communication.
Leaders can use different communication methods to pass a message. The four major types of communication used include interpersonal, nonverbal, written and oral communication. Each style employs different strategies in order to pass the appropriate message and to achieve the desired outcome (Gamble & Gamble, 2013) . Some of the strategies that can be used for effective communication include developing organization transparency where information can easily be shared. Another way is to engage in the active listening of the words and the message. An additional strategy is to cultivate emotional intelligence where the communicator tries to understand, interpret and even respond to the emotions of the listeners. The last strategy is to ask good questions which create an opportunity for better understanding as well as information exchange.
Case Scenario
According to the case scenario, the CEO noticed from the survey that the employees are unhappy with the level of communication from top to bottom. William communicates with the employees once there is a problem or in case there is a need for change. He tells the employees what is needed to be done and does not give the rationale for the need to do it. The staffs are unlikely to be involved in a new project and end up finding of them when they are already progressing. The CEO dislikes electronic communication and thinks that meetings are useless.
According to the case, the employees are unhappy with the current communication.ion strategies employed by the company. The staffs are unhappy because the top down structure makes it difficult for the information to reach them similarly, the structure does not support feedback. The employees feel that they are not part and parcel of the organization since their contribution to decision making is disregarded, the CEO is unable to effectively communicate to the organization and in the actual sense he dictates what the staff should do when he wants something done. The CEO does not seek the feedback of the employees because he simply tells them what needs to be done and does not offer any compromises as to why the action should be done. The case further states that the employees are unaware of some projects. Such cases imply that the CEO does not recognize their input as well as contribution to the success of the entire organization.
Suggestions for William
Based on the case scenario, William should improve his communication skills to ensure that employees receive the intended information and can act on it to enhance the performance of the company. The CEO should be able to promote two-way communication by encouraging feedback from the employees in order to make them feel that their contribution is valued by the company. The CEO should also ensure that the company promotes frequent communications using different channels like memos and briefs. The CEO should embrace information technology and its ability to convey information in a timely and affordable way (Tabak & Lebron, 2017) . He can also employ a communication manager who will be responsible for all communications throughout the company. The communication manager should coordinate activities at the strategic, functional and .operational levels to ensure that all communications are done in a timely manner. Accurate information should be sent to all employees of the company to avoid any form of communication breakdowns and gossips.
This paper looked at communication and leadership by identifying appropriate communications strategies that can be used for effective leadership. The paper further recommended the best approaches that the CEO should do in order to communicate effectively. The paper dealt with the critical elements in communication and what each communicator must understand effective communication. Of importance was the purpose of the message, the intended audience, the message itself and the intended outcome. The paper also identified the different communication approaches that can be used for effective leadership.
References
Gamble, T., & Gamble, M. (2013). Leading with communication . Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Tabak, F., & Lebron, M. (2017). Learning by Doing in Leadership Education: Experiencing Followership and Effective Leadership Communication Through Role-Play. Journal Of Leadership Education , 16 (2), 199-212. doi: 10.12806/v16/i2/a1
