Leadership and Communication - Part 1

Communication is a key ingredient in leadership. Communication is a much talked about subject in leadership. The question is how does it affect leadership? It is a serious matter in leadership, because we can’t lead effectively without effective communication. In simple terms communication means the act or ability to pass an intended message. Most time the crises in leadership is that we assume we’re communicating, but surprisingly many of these times we do not. We only talk. It can never be a team thing until we can effectively communicate our ideas, intentions, believes and thoughts. It is important we analyze and measure our communication tools and diligently apply them. People's needs are different therefore communication does not come easy. And again we can’t do without it because it’s an everyday thing. Leadership is responsible for moving everyone in a team from one point to the other, and until this responsibility is accepted and understood it can’t work as we desire. It is not the problem of the followers as it is of the leader, that some in the team are weak, others strong, some gifted, and others are not. Leadership must seek to move all of this class of persons around; begin to develop and bring out the best in them. Except a leader is prepared to achieve such feat he should not seek a team because everyone on a team cannot measure shoulder to shoulder. What he does is build a balance team. The leader should be able to harness the strength of his followers and help them against their weaknesses. Leadership builds men; this makes it a more strenuous task than any form of human building job. Leadership skill is not one that comes by sudden flight. it comes by training and experience and ever developing. 
The first step into effective communicating is listening. First let me assure you that you don’t need to be a Lincoln or a Mandela. Anybody can be a great leader. As it is, those that learn good leadership skill fast and best are those who have been affected by a negative leadership – this is not always true except the person desires to be a good leader.
Listening is a slippery skill to learn. It is not difficult yet it is slipery. It is not difficult yet it is not easily understood. This is because is because of the continuous talking nature of the human mind and it short attention span. Inclusively, the human nature is suspicious. This makes listening difficult. A great percentage of people do not listen. They pretend they do but don’t. Listening does not mean to be silent while someone talks, and it does not mean hearing. Both are part of it but they are not. What then is listening? It is the act or ability to maintain quietness and stillness of thought while someone speaks.
The ability to delay judgment, enter the other person’s head and get their thought and message. It doesn’t necessary mean to agree with them. Seek to understand people when they talk. Listening is an act we must learn in order to communicate effectively. Due to the rush of wanting to talk or reply back we fail to listen. Leaders sometimes can be consumed with their own thoughts and because of the business of their work their minds gets clouded. Take away the inner noise and hear your followers out – it is key. It is a crisis in leadership for people to be left behind. Actually, it is not of the leader that some fall behind. Some just naturally drag and slow the team. If you are a leader who just booth  away, you will  not be able to build a great team. You may achieve speed with few person who are always ready and on the go.
One of the way we fail to carry people along is building the team around one person or few gifted individuals. It is subtle and mostly the case that the leader inclines to the most responsive team member or follower, and this consequently leads to that person being the focus of the team – sometimes it baffles us how the weakest turns to become the pillar of the team. To combat this phenomenon it is essential to share the duties or responsibilities uniformly among the every member of the team; though this may not be equal. No matter how we try the leader will always be tilted but don’t let this be obvious. If it becomes noticeable that the leader is inclined to an individual the others in the team will begin to fall away gradually.
One of the strategies of great leadership is building what I call the ring system. This system permits the followers to fall in a circle of relationship level. Here I would use three circles: the outer circle, the middle circle and the inner circle. Anyone can access information on the outer circle but not anyone can on the inner circle.
As an example, Christ had the seventy two, the twelve and three (Peter, James and John). We should understand that this apply when majorly it comes to disseminating information and not duties. When it comes to being involve in the team everyone should. Christ didn’t permit information meant for the inner circle to be made public or others in the team of twelve. It is vital a leader has those he builds a strong inner life with, and yet do not impede the overall team progress. Those in the inner ring are likely to assume leadership in absence of the leader. The ring system works best but we must be careful not to misunderstand things and quench team spirit.
A leader should also be able to evaluate his leadership style and allow for open assessment. “Who do men say I am … and who do you say I am?” is one such questions.