Welcome to the fourth post for this nine-week period, and it continues to be interesting in understanding strategic communication that may have an impact on our daily lives. Communication and listening are something that we do whether we know it not. In every organization, there is a leader that have the skills to be an effective communicator, and then there are leaders that aren't good communicators that will listen. Sometimes people should learn how to be a leader that can listen and have good internal communication with individuals or employees. This week's post will focus on leadership and internal communication and the ability to listen.
After reading a few articles about leadership and internal communication, this information will give you a better understanding of how organizations operation. A leader with experience can provide internal communication by memos, emails, and policies and procedures that will give employees a grip on how top levels can communicate. Dr. Kline stated that a leader should encourage feedback, listen effectively, and reduce communication misunderstanding. These ideas are ways to break down many barriers that may present itself. Internal communication in an organization is the lifeline that keeps providing the necessary information for individuals.
When I look at a leader and the internal communication aspect of this blog, this leads back to when I was coaching youth football a few years. The coaches and I as leaders had to communicate with each other through meetings and phone calls in order clarify a misunderstanding for an upcoming game. Each coach had to listen effectively to make sure everyone was on the same page. It doesn’t matter what your occupation, organization, or activity, leaders are needed to make things function. Dr. Kline also indicates “responsible leaders work hard to prevent bottlenecks and keep channels open up, down, and throughout the organization by (1) establishing an appropriate working climate and adjusting their communication behavior to fit the situation and (2) practicing techniques to improve communication in their organization”. Being able to bring about a change in others behavior is something that many would like to accomplish, and sometimes you might not get through to a lot of people, but putting forth the effort is what makes a great leader.
Whether a person may know it or not, internal communication is provided daily, when utilizing Facebook, emails, and Instagram to send a private message to reach an individual or group of people. Sounds familiar now once you think about it, never thought about internal communication. Good internal communication can:
- Provide people the information they need to do their jobs effectively
- Make sure they know about anything that concerns them
- Provide people with clear standards and expectations for their work
- Give people feedback on their performance
- Provide them emotional support for difficult work
- Suggest new ideas about both their work and their lives
- Allow them to take the pulse of the organization and understand its overall situation
- Help them maintain a shared vision and a sense of ownership in the organization
Listening and communication should never be one-sided and all parties should be involved and once an understanding is a reached, then the effectiveness of an organization will prosper. When you think about communicating, it can be verbal or non-verbal, but at the end of the day, they both can relay a good or bad message. It’s up to the leader to make sure everyone is always informed to avoid any negative outlook that displays a fracture within an organization.
Just imagine when if you never check your email or never listen in staff meetings at your job that indicated all staff would be able to come in two hours late for work. Everyone else got the memo through listening at the staff meeting and checking their emails, but you were in a zone by not paying attention, then the next day you came into work while you normally do. Then you realize that you’re the only one there, looking around going to the supervisor and asking where is everyone, then your supervisor asked, weren’t you in the meeting or check your email? He states that the department heads gave him permission to let everyone come in two hours late, then you finally realize that you weren’t paying attention or checking emails. The moral of the story is, the leader did his job by utilizing internal communication to inform his employees of the schedule change. Providing information is what a good leader will do when taking more than one step to remind people of what staff meetings are.
Every week as I expound on media and leadership strategies with knowledge that you may haven’t know before can be very useful in our everyday lives, as I have excepted the information along with you. Leaders and communication go hand in hand and to provide success within an organization you will need both to survive. No matter how much a person may think they know, there will always be something that will humble you in that aspect. Never be afraid to ask for feedback or needing help to solve a problem, a leader’s position is also to advise and to make sure the climate is right for an individual setting. Once a leader promotes internal communication the openness and flow of communication will flow smooth like a river.
If you want to continue expanding your knowledge on media and leadership strategies, then I look forward to you coming back next week and searching for more great knowledge that will change your thought process. Maybe this information can be helpful when trying to communicate within your organization or provide other leaders with better ways to listen and properly use the power of internal communication.
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