Communication is defined as interpersonal acts that exchange meaning and information (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2013), and Leadership Communication consists of those messages from a leader that are rooted in the values and culture of an organization and are of significant importance to key stakeholders (Toastmasters, 2020). In my opinion, this is missing the emphasis on the actions that leaders bring to the table to make the influence. My definition would be more along the lines of leadership communication is the actions and efforts that show how the leader will influence the group to a common goal. I focus more on the actions because the leader must be a chameleon and recognize each person’s traits, and nurture them to bring forth the best work to assist the team.
For example, I work for a small company where there are 8 total people. We are very siloed in each of our departments, but each of us has been selected for our different traits to make one whole team. When a new person is hired, they go to both established levels of our programs, and in one level we get a session from Tracy Spears with the Exceptional Leaders Lab. Tracy’s session is about temperaments, and how teams interact and communicate with each other. Once going through this session, we can then as a team know how to best communicate with one another to get the results we desire. For example, my coworker, Marissa, is a connector, so she focuses on relationships to get her places. I know she is very passionate and know that if someone is in need and she cannot help, that it will overwhelm her. So in order to work best communicate with her if I need her help with one of my tasks, I know not to go to her on the week of a program, as the message and decoding of the message could be misunderstood, and to either ask her earlier or later to get the best results. This session has enabled our team to lead each other, but it also allowed our boss insight on how to get our best results, because leadership communication is not the same for a global organization consisting of many cultures. With these different temperaments, we can see each problem from a different perspective, which allows us to tackle challenges more easily.
A country that our company travels to frequently for programs is The Netherlands. According to Cultureatlas.com, in comparing the communication styles of The United States and The Netherlands, both styles appreciate verbal direct communication where getting to the point quickly is common and enjoy the ability to keep their personal space in a non-verbal communication style. However, when looking at the speaking style more in depth, the Dutch generally avoid over exaggerating on compliments, and the Americans tend to speak on their own behalf and compliment themselves. With these different communication styles just between Dutch and American communication, as a team we need to be very aware of how we are treating our program participants, so we do not offend anyone. As a company, we often bring in regional speakers, as opposed to keeping our American based speakers. When we bring our American speaker set to some European and Asian cultures, it is seen as us trying to teach them the American culture. When we bring other speaker sets to different cultures, this allows the participants of each program to feel that they are custom creating each program to them.
Relating temperaments to global communication is certainly a high task, given each culture has its own specific communication styles, but what is common throughout most cultures is maintaining personal touch, so each person, regardless of culture or communication style, feels recognized in your organization. Industrytraining.com states “Employees need to feel not only accepted, but valued, in an organization. By attentively listening to the concerns and viewpoints of others, employees will start to feel confident in the workplace. Active listening means paying attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues.” While we can’t always ensure that people will decode our message properly, if we remember that people from all cultures have feelings, we have a good chance to build a relationship in the business world or personal setting.
References
Evanson, N. (2016). American Culture – Communication. Retrieved from https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/american-culture/american-culture-communication#american-culture-communication
Neo, S. (2019, April 3). Strategies for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication within the Workplace. Retrieved from https://trainingindustry.com/blog/performance-management/strategies-for-effective-cross-cultural-communication-within-the-workplace/
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2013). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.
Scroope, C. (2017). Dutch Culture – Communication. Retrieved from https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/dutch-culture/dutch-culture-communication#dutch-culture-communication
Toastmasters, W. (2020). Chapter 1: What is Leadership Communications? Retrieved from https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/communication_secrets/ch01.html
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