In this book, the author discusses leadership as it relates to communicating with subordinates. The author gives examples of how leaders make mistakes in leading. There is the leader who tends to be ambiguous in laying out the vision but reprimands the subordinate when the plans were not carried out to the satisfaction of the leader. There is the leader who is incognito in which the subordinates feel disconnected because all communication is based on a chase to get in touch with the leader to talk. Unless the team is full of self-starters this could be disastrous. There is also the leader who has an open door policy no matter what. This could result in burn-out for the leader if the congregation is large enough to where it is next to impossible for the leader to connect with everyone. Then there is the hovering leader who wants to know everything prior to any decisions are made not giving the team any room to breathe which could result in creativity being smothered and a team that feels inadequate to do the job. Then there is the unilateral leader who is amongst other leaders but makes the decisions without consulting with any of them because they believe they are somewhat more intelligent and wiser than the rest of the team. Finally the book mentions leaders who seem to be constantly negative. They only give feedback when a situation is negative resulting in a stressful team who avoids the leader. The essence is good communication is essential in leadership.
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ReplyDeleteAs an organizational communication major in undergrad, I especially found your summary of the leadership-subordinate communication described in this book interesting. Although I haven’t had experience with all of the mistakes mentioned, I can see why they were problematic. We are constantly communicating (intentionally or unintentionally, verbally or nonverbally), placing it at the heart of all we do. As a result, poor communication can be particularly detrimental to organizational operations.
ReplyDeleteI once worked with a leader who was “ambiguous when laying out the vision…” and “want[ed] to know everything prior to any decisions are made…” He would say that he wanted to empower others and delegate responsibilities, but would give insufficient instructions regarding projects and then get upset when things weren’t done to his satisfaction/preference. As a subordinate, this was frustrating because you never felt like you could do anything right even though you were diligently trying. Additionally, he would want you to report to him every step of the way. This micromanagement slowed the process of things and limited subordinates’ creativity and enjoyment. Perhaps most significant was the fact that he didn’t realize any of this. So, the poor communication (mixed, mutually-exclusive messages) continued, leaving people angry and burnout in its wake and even causing some to leave.