CHAPTER 9
Leadership Communication
Chapter Outline
How Leaders Communicate
Leading Strategic Conversations
Communicating to Persuade and Influence
Selecting the Correct Communication Channel
Nonverbal Communication
Current Communication Challenges
In the Lead
United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM)
Kevin Sharer, Amgen Inc.
John Chambers, Cisco Systems
Duke University
Summary and Interpretation
Communicating effectively is a crucial skill for leaders. Leaders are communication champions
who inspire and unite people around a common sense of purpose and identity. They lead
strategic conversations that get people talking across boundaries about the vision, key strategic
themes, and the values that can help the group or organization achieve desired outcomes. Six
Leader communication is purpose-directed, and an important element is persuading others to act
in ways that achieve goals and accomplish the vision. Four steps for practicing the art of
persuasion are to listen first, establish credibility, build goals on common ground and make your
position compelling to others. Leaders select the appropriate communication channels, send
redundant communications to reinforce important messages, and use nonverbal as well as verbal
Your Leadership Challenge
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
• Act as a communication champion and a “sensegiver” rather than just as an information
processor.
• Use key elements of effective listening and understand why listening is important to leader
communication.
Key Terms and Concepts
Communication: a process by which information and understanding are transferred between a
sender and a receiver.
Communication champion: a person who is philosophically grounded in the belief that
communication is essential to building trust and gaining commitment to a vision.
Listening: the skill of grasping and interpreting a message’s genuine meaning.
Dialogue: active sharing and listening in which people explore common ground and grow to
understand each other and share a world view.
Candor: honest, forthright expression of a leader’s thinking.
Channel: a medium by which a communication message is carried from sender to receiver.
Introduction
In April of 2010, a Transocean oil rig digging a deep-sea well for BP exploded in the Gulf of
Mexico, killing 11 workers and spewing oil into the sea for months. Why didn’t anyone see that
there were problems in safety procedures and flaws in equipment that could lead to such a
disaster? The sad answer is that people did see, but they were too afraid to speak up. A survey of
workers found that many people were concerned about overlooked safety practices, delayed
If ever there were an illustration of the dangers of poor organizational communication, it is the
BP–Transocean catastrophe. No one likes to hear bad news, but leaders have to know about
problems or they cannot solve them. When people are afraid to speak up, don’t care enough to
speak up, or find that no one is listening, the organization and everyone associated with it is hurt.
As a leader, you will define your team or organization’s communication climate, whether things
are discussed openly or suppressed, whether people know and care what is going on in the
organization or do not, and whether listening is valued as a key part of the communication
process.
Annotated Lecture/Outline
Leadership Challenge #1: Act as a communication champion and a “sensegiver” rather than
just as an information processor.
I. How Leaders Communicate
Leadership means communicating with others in such a way that they are influenced and
motivated to perform actions that further common goals and lead toward desired outcomes.
Comunication is a process by which information and understanding are transferred between a
sender and a receiver, such as between a leader and an employee, an instructor and a student, or a
Exhibit 9.1: A Circular Model of Interpersonal Communication
Encoding and decoding can sometimes cause communication errors because individual
differences, knowledge, values, attitudes, and background act as filters and may create “noise”
A. Management Communication
The traditional role of a manager is that of an “information processor.” Managers spend some
80 percent of each working day in communication with others. Managers scan their
environments for important written and personal information, gathering facts, data, and ideas,
New Leader Action Memo: Networking is a vital part of leadership information sharing.
Answer the questions in Leader’s Self-Insight 9.1 to learn whether you network with other people
similar to what successful leaders do.
B. The Leader as Communication Champion
Leaders often communicate the big picture—the vision rather than facts and pieces of
information. Leaders can be seen as a communication champions. A communication
champion is a person who is philosophically grounded in the belief that communication is
essential to building trust and gaining commitment to the vision and strategy. Leaders use
Leaders are sensegivers. Sensegiving refers to the process of influencing how others construct
meaning and make sense of the organization and their place in it. Good leaders not only use
communication to inspire people with a vision and instill the values that are necessary for
achieving it, they also communicate to help people understand the larger purpose of their own
Exhibit 9.2: The Leader as Communication Champion
Consider This: Communication Starts in the Mind and the Heart
The thought manifests as the word,
The word manifests as the deed,
The deed develops into habit,
And the habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its way with care,
And let it spring from love
Leader communication is purpose-directed in that it directs everyone’s attention toward the
vision, values, and desired outcomes of the group or organization and persuades people to act
in a way to help achieve the vision.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can be a communication champion and a
sensegiver. You can use verbal, nonverbal, and symbolic communication to unite people around
a common vision, facilitate strategic conversations, and build trust.
Discussion Question #2: What does it mean to say that leaders use communication to act as
“sensegivers”? How do you think this differs from conventional management communication?
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Leadership Challenge #2: Use key elements of effective listening and understand why listening
is important to leader communication..
II. Leading Strategic Conversations
Strategic conversation is communication that takes place across boundaries and hierarchical
levels about the group or organization’s vision, critical strategic themes, and values that can help
achieve desired outcomes.
In the Lead: United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM)
When the U.S. Department of Defense announced the establishment of USAFRICOM as a
Geographic Combatant Command (GCC) that would assume responsibility over Department of
Defense activities on the continent of Africa, most leaders knew it could provoke suspicions and
misunderstandings.
They also asked questions of stakeholders, particularly their African partners, whom they
considered the most important stakeholder group. The approach “was to give them the voice that
they wanted and to know that we were there to listen and understand.” The goal was to support,
This example illustrates the six key components for facilitating strategic conversations: an open
communication climate, asking questions, active listening, dialogue, candor, and using stories for
communication. These six elements are described in the following sections.
A. Creating an Open Communication Climate
Open communication means leaders sharing all types of information throughout the
company and across all levels. Open communication runs counter to the traditional flow of
selective information downward from supervisors to subordinates. Good leaders want
personal relationships that keeps organizations thriving. New voices and continuous
conversation involving a broad spectrum of people revitalize and enhance communication
Exhibit 9.3: Why Open the Communication Climate?
An open communication climate helps alleviate tension and conflict between departments,
builds trust, reaffirms employee commitment to a shared vision, and makes a company more
competitive.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can create an open communication climate by
sharing both good and bad information, and you can facilitate communication across groups,
departments, and hierarchical levels.
Discussion Question #3: Board members at some companies are opening the lines of
communication so shareholders can voice their concerns about executive compensation and
corporate governance. Do you think this is a good idea? What might be some risks associated
with this type of open communication?
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B. Asking Questions
Managers typically think they should be the people with the right answers. Leadership,
though, is more about being the person with the right questions. Many leaders—indeed, most
people in general—are unaware of the amazing power of questions. Very young children are
What Questions Do Leaders Ask?
One purpose of questioning is leader-centered, in that it seeks to inform the leader about
what is going on in the organization; investigate specific issues, problems, or opportunities;
Benefits of Asking Questions
Asking the right kinds of questions benefits both leaders and followers in many ways:
• Questions encourage people to think and empower them to find answers, helping to
build positive attitudes and follower self-confidence.
C. Listening
Just as important as asking questions is listening to the responses. Listening involves the skill
of grasping and interpreting a message’s genuine meaning. Message reception is a vital link in
Exhibit 9.4: Ten Keys to Effective Listening
New Leader Action Memo: Evaluate your skills for listening and asking questions by
completing the questionnaire in Leader’s Self-Insight 9.2.
Effective listening is engaged listening. Good leaders get out of their office and mingle with
others, ask questions, set up listening forums where people can say whatever is on their
In the Lead: Kevin Sharer, Amgen Inc.
Kevin Sharer admits that he was a terrible listener for much of his career. He didn’t mean to be;
he just wanted to get ahead in life and believed that meant convincing others of his point of view.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can learn to be a better listener. You can focus
your total attention on what the other person is saying and work hard to listen—use eye contact;
ask questions and paraphrase the message; and offer positive feedback.
Discussion Question #4: A manager in a communication class remarked, “Listening seems like
minimal intrusion of oneself into the conversation, yet it also seems like more work.” Do you
agree or disagree? Discuss.
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D. Dialogue
In most organizations, there are some issues that are characterized by strong emotions and
extreme uncertainty and that can’t be resolved by resorting to facts and logic. When hot topics
involve whole groups of employees, a type of communication referred to as dialogue can
help.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can use dialogue to help people create a shared
sense of meaning and purpose. You can enable people to express their hopes and fears, suspend
their convictions and explore assumptions, and become motivated to search for common ground.
One way to understand the distinctive quality of dialogue is to contrast it with discussion.
Typically, the intent of a discussion is to present one’s own point of view and persuade others in
the group to adopt it. A discussion is often resolved by logic or by “beating down” opposing
Exhibit 9.5: Dialogue and Discussion: The Differences
Both can result in organizational change. However, the result of a discussion is limited to a
specific topic being deliberated, whereas the result of a dialogue is characterized by group unity,
Discussion Question #5: How does dialogue differ from discussion? Give an example of each
from your experience.
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E. Communicating with Candor
A communication approach that can limit the potential for workplace misunderstandings,
incivility, and ill will that turn into hot topics is candor. Candor refers to honest, forthright
expression of a leader’s thinking. Communicating with candor means being direct, honest,
and clear about what followers need to do to meet objectives, while also expressing respect
for others and not making people feel slighted, controlled, or exploited. Unfortunately,
communicating with candor is a problem for many leaders.
New Leader Action Memo: Complete the questions in Leader’s Self-Insight 9.3 to learn how
effective you are at communicating with candor.
In an organization where candid communication is the norm, everything works faster and
better. Candid communication also limits common problems such as meaningless meetings,
rancorous silence, or ineffective teamwork.
F. The Power of Stories
Telling stories is the foundation of sensegiving. Storytelling goes hand in hand with listening.
Leaders listen to the stories of employees, customers, and others and tap into clues about how
to construct their own stories to unite people with purpose and meaning. Stories can help
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, use story and metaphor to help people connect
emotionally with your message and the key values you want to instill.
Everyone can learn to use stories, and stories need not be long or carefully constructed to have
an impact. A story can be a joke, a simple example illustrating an idea, a historical incident,
Discussion Question #1: Why do you think storytelling is such a powerful means of
communicating for a leader? How is active listening related to storytelling?
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Leadership Challenge #6: Communicate in a way that persuades and influences others.
III. Communicating to Persuade and Influence
Stories are particularly useful tools for persuading and influencing people. Leaders don’t
communicate just to convey information. They use communication skills to sell others on the
vision and influence them to behave in ways that achieve goals and help accomplish the
vision.
Leaders can follow the following four steps in the art of persuasion:
• Listen first. When people feel that they have been listened to by someone trying to
influence them, their liking of, trust in, and commitment to that person increases. Good
leaders know that being attentive to others’ needs and emotions is the first step toward
influencing them.
• Establish credibility. A leader’s credibility is based on the leader’s knowledge and
expertise as well as his or her relationships with others. When leaders have
Persuasion is a valuable communication process that individuals can use to lead others to a
shared solution or commitment. To be persuasive and act as communication champions,
leaders must communicate frequently and easily with others in the organization. Yet for some
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can increase your influence by listening first to
build trust and find common ground and by establishing your credibility based on knowledge
and skills. You can show how your plans will benefit followers to gain their support.
Discussion Question #8: How do leaders use communication to influence and persuade others?
Think of someone you have known who is skilled in the art of persuasion. What makes this
person an effective communicator?
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Leadership Challenge #5: Select an appropriate communication channel for your message and
effectively use social media and nonverbal communication.
IV. Selecting the Correct Communication Channel
One key to effective communication is selecting the right channel for relaying the message. A
channel is a medium by which a communication message is carried from sender to receiver. A
A. The Continuum of Channel Richness
Channel richness is the amount of information that can be transmitted during a
communication episode. The channels available to leaders can be classified into a hierarchy
based on information richness.
Exhibit 9.6: A Continuum of Channel Richness
The richness of an information channel is influenced by three characteristics:
• 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.
Electronic messaging through e-mail, text messages, and social media such as Twitter is
increasingly being used for communications that were once handled over the telephone.
Although these channels lackboth visual and verbal cues, they allow for rapid feedback and
reduced costs and can be personalized. Blogs provide a way to get information to a wide
audience and also permit rapid feedback
Leaders should select a channel to fit the message. Many leaders, not knowing what to say,
send out a written notice and hide in their offices. Good leaders, on the other hand, know
face-to-face communication is the way to keep morale and productivity high.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can choose rich forms of communication, such as
face-to-face or the telephone, when an issue is complex, emotionally charged, or especially
important. For a routine, straightforward message, you can use a written or electronic form of
communication.
Most leader communication by its very nature is composed of non-routine messages.
Although leaders make good use of all channels, they don’t let anything substitute for the rich
face-to-face channel when important issues are at stake.
In the Lead: John Chambers, Cisco Systems
John Chambers knows that effective organizational communication happens when leaders talk
with employees, not just to them. To transform communication into a two-way conversation,
Cisco implemented several innovative strategies using state-of-the-art technology.
Discussion Question #6: Some senior executives believe they should rely on written information
and computer reports because these yield more accurate data than face-to-face communications
do. Do you agree? Discuss.
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Discussion Question #7: What communication channel would you choose to communicate an
impending companywide layoff? News about the company picnic? New corporate quality goals
that will require significant changes in how your subordinates perform their tasks? Explain your
choices.
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B. Effectively Using Electronic Communication Channels
New technologies provide highly efficient ways of communicating and can be particularly
useful for routine messages. Text messaging, which allows people to share shorthand
messages instantly, has rapidly grown in use and has become more common than e-mail in
some organizations. Many of today’s leaders also use blogs to keep in closer touch and
Another equally disturbing concern is that the growing use of technology for communicating,
particularly social media has created hidden problems for both individuals and organizations
by depriving people of the “human moments” that are needed to energize people, inspire
creativity, and support emotional well-being. Electronic communication is here to stay, and
the key for leaders is to benefit from the efficiencies of new technologies while preventing
their unintended problems. Following are some tips for effectively using electronic
communication:
• Combine high-tech and high-touch. Never allow electronic communication to take the
place of human connections.
Exhibit 9.7: Dos and Don’ts of Electronic Mail
V. Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is messages transmitted through actions, behavior, facial
expressions, and tone of voice; it accounts for over one-half of the entire message received in a
personal encounter. Even the selection of a communication channel can convey a symbolic
message. In other words, people attach meaning to the channel itself.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can symbolize important messages through your
appearance, body language, facial expressions, and daily actions. You can be more effective by
using management by wandering around. You can get out and mingle with followers and
customers to learn about their ideas, problems, and needs through informal observation and
conversation.
Leaders strive to be aware of what they signal to others in addition to verbal messages. Research
suggests that if there is a discrepancy between a person’s verbal and nonverbal communication,
the nonverbal is granted more weight by the interpreter. Moreover, judgments based on
Leadership Challenge #7: Effectively communicate during times of stress or crisis.
VI. Current Communication Challenges
Two current challenges facing leaders are using social media and developing skills for
communicating in a crisis.
A. Leadership via Social Media
Social media refers to a variety of Internet-based applications, including social networking,
wikis, blogs, and so forth, that allow the creation and sharing of user generated content. When
leaders at Internet shoe retailer Zappos realized the economic downturn was hurting their
B. Being Crisis-Ready
Communication is a key part of a leader’s job, but at no time is it more crucial than during
times of rapid change, uncertainty, or crisis.
To be prepared for communicating in a crisis, leaders can develop four skills:
• Stay calm. Perhaps the most important part of a leader’s job in a crisis situation is to
absorb people’s fears and uncertainties.
• Be visible and supportive. Being a leader means stepping out immediately, both to
In the Lead: Duke University
Duke University was thrust into crisis when three members of its lacrosse team were charged
with beating, strangling, and raping an African-American exotic dancer the team had hired for a
party where team members were drinking heavily. Duke’s reputation had already been tarnished
by previous incidents where leaders had failed to respond quickly and appropriately, so handling
this crisis could determine whether the university recovered its good name or sank further into
the mud.
New Leader Action Memo: As a leader, you can learn to be an effective crisis communicator.
By remaining calm and focused, you can acknowledge people’s concerns and fears, provide