All leaders have to be able to communicate effectively. Close your eyes and think of three leaders, either political, business, academia, religious or sports. Is there a common characteristic that the three individuals share? Odds are that each of these individuals is inspiring through verbal communication. Waldman at al. (2011) suggest that the ability to inspire is fundamental in instilling confidence and motivation in followers and that they are able to do so in large part to their communication abilities. Recalling that leadership can be defined as a process by which an individual influences others towards a common goal, we can see that the most important part of leadership is communication. Communicating effectively is both a trait and a learnable skill.
Leadership as a construct is difficult to define. There are many different approaches to defining leadership and while they all have strengths, they also have weaknesses. The trait approach “restricts leadership to those who are believed to have special characteristics” (Northouse, 2022, p. 25) which are said to be inborn qualities. This view is problematic as it alludes that leadership is not a learnable skill. Other approaches, such as the skills approach, view leadership as a process by which “skills and abilities can be learned and developed” (p. 56). However, in order to apply those skills and abilities to leadership, the individual must possess certain traits. Both approaches are interdependent on each other.
Proponents of the trait approach to leadership will point to the five major leadership traits that Northouse (2022) lists; self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability (p. 32) as crucial components that make a good leader. Additionally, there are the Big Five personality factors; neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness (p. 35). In communicating with others, individuals must have sociability and self-confidence traits. A person that is shy and is adverse to crowds would have a bigger obstacle to being a good public speaker. Self-confidence and extraversion are the two qualities that every leader who is a great communicator has to possess. Self-confidence is the individual’s ability to project to others that they know what they’re doing and gives them confidence in the individual’s leadership skills. Self-confidence in the individual is critical because leadership “involves influencing others” (p. 33). Extraversion, the ability to be sociable and assertive, is the personality “factor most strongly associated with leadership” (p. 35). A leader that sounds and looks confident is inspirational.
The traits previously mentioned, self-confidence and extraversion, by themselves don’t make a leader. Similar to people born with exceptional physical gifts, to become an athlete that person needs to develop athletic skills. They have to have the motivation, or determination, to succeed. The three-skill approach proposes that leadership “depends on three basic personal skills: technical, human and conceptual” (p. 57). These three components can be learned and taught. An inspirational leader has to develop his human skills, the ability to work with others and effectively communicate their vision to them, more than the other two, but all three are essential. First, to have the ability to sound genuine, the leader must have even a little of the technical skills. Self-confidence alone will not earn trust. Second, an inspirational leader is essentially selling a vision of how he or she sees the process. Conceptual skills is the “ability to work with ideas” (p. 58). Inspirational leaders excel at this skill, which is a learnable skill. Conversely, a person that is genetically deficient in athletic abilities will have a more difficult path to becoming a professional athlete, no matter if they master all the necessary skills.
Leadership requires both skills and traits. Imagine for a moment that you’re in a school assembly and are about to hear two students give speeches on the importance of recycling. You know both students fairly well since you share at least one class with them. Student A is quiet, reserved and generally keeps to himself. He rarely speaks up in class and makes little to no effort to get to know his fellow students. He is extremely intelligent and although he speaks in a low, deliberate manner, you trust that he knows what he is talking about. From a skills perspective, he has the technical skills and is good at understanding concepts but is not very good at human skills. Student B is outgoing, jovial and is quick to introduce himself to everyone. He is not the smartest in the class but he is extremely motivated to succeed and has a positive energy about him that the other students respond to. From a traits perspective, he as the components of a good leader. Their speeches contain basically the same core information but the delivery is different. Student A is more technical in his approach to solving the recycling issue and his proposals are tangible but his voice is monotone and some would say boring. Student B does not offer technical detailed solutions but he is passionate and moves around the stage, raising and lowering his cadence, which is a skill he started to develop from a speech class he took the previous semester. He implores the student body to act and communicates his vision of how the school can become a leader in recycling processes. He challenges the students and faculty to become the beacon of green policies for other higher education institutions. While Student A received mild applause for his detailed and attainable plan, Student B received a standing ovation. Student B had the traits and developed the skills that made him the leader that day.
Great leaders are great communicators that can not only influence others, they can inspire others. Mastering the art of communicating effectively can transcend a good leader into an inspirational leader. Inspirational leaders have these effects on followers and organizations . . . primarily because of their visionary communication abilities” (Waldman et al., 2011, p. 61). Communication proficiency is impacted both by traits and skills.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.
Waldman, D. A., Balthazard, P. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2011). Leadership and neuroscience: Can we revolutionize the way that inspirational leaders are identified and developed?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(1), 60-74. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amp.25.1.60