Reflection on Leadership Communication as Citizenship by Burtis & Turman

Leadership Communication as Citizenship explains the communication skills needed to help construct effective experiences for an organization, team, or community, whether in the role of doer, follower, guide, manager, or leader. As the researcher discovered throughout the book, this concept articulates the important role that communication plays in helping to co-construct group, organizational, or community direction. This maybe nothing new considering all of the   other books that we have read on leadership, except for the fact that the authors focus on ways to develop as an effective leader and how to take advantage of situations as they arise.  Effective leadership communication is explored in the context of citizenship, emphasizing the opportunities and responsibilities we each face for helping groups that matter to us, whether a business, a religious institution, or a government entity. Everyone is a leader in his or her organization. Even if you don't hold a titled leadership position, such as supervisor, manager, human resource director, or CEO, you still have many opportunities every day through your actions and behavior to model "leadership" qualities. In fact, all employees must be able and willing to assume a leadership role when the need arises, regardless of their job title. That is why many organizations have eliminated titles like foreman, supervisor, and department manager to reinforce the belief that each employee is a contributing member of the team with leadership potential and opportunities depending on the task at hand.  In the following review Leadership Communication as Citizenship will be compared and contrasted to Glasser’s Control Theory Manager as the two styles of leadership have many similarities and can be used in tandem to build a management style.

            In Glasser’s book he focuses on what he calls his 5 basic needs.  Survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun are the needs he discusses as motivations or guides for how each individual reacts or communicates.  Identifying individuals’ needs can help a leader determine what groups to place workers in and how to motivate each group to success.  A strong leader will determine what motivates his/her employees and in turn use this to drive performance.  Burtis and Turman’s book also talks about grouping and giving direction by using one’s communication skills to determine which people will work well together.  These two concepts, while discussed by two different authors in separate texts, can be used well together to build cohesive groups and positive working environments.  

            As a manager or leader, one must be able to wear many hats.  In this book that concept is described as being a doer, a follower, guide, manager, and leader.  Most young leaders are doers.  They would rather do it themselves rather than letting someone else take the lead or delegate and hope the goal gets accomplished.  More practiced leaders are able to find situations in which they empower others to lead and then personally take a follower position.  A great example of this is how an education administrator might pose a problem to his staff of teachers, give some examples of the problems and some possible solutions but then stepping back and letting the group become invested in producing a solution.  This empowers the teachers as individuals and creates a culture of investment in the outcome that might not occur if a plan is just presented and the expectation to follow is put in place. 

            There is a difference in managing people and leading people.  Every business or organization has managers.  McDonalds has them and so do major universities.  Managers are important for getting things done. Burtis and Turman define a manager as a “person in a position vested with formal authority over some grouping resource.  The manager marshals the entrusted resource for use in service to the group.”  These resources can be personnel, time, money, and many other things essential to the job.  “Any lead management can be accurately defined as the skill to persuade workers without using threats or coercion to accept the managers agenda, work hard at it, and do a quality job (Glasser 1994).   Management exists as a need to organize and create formal process.  These are necessary in most organizational structures for its lasting success. Leaders are important for the same thing but in a broader sense.  Those who lead, and not just manage, have a vision and means of translating that vision to those they empower.  This elevates their status above that of manager to a person that people want to follow, someone they trust and admire.  People follower strong leaders, not because they are good at affecting structure but because they foster greatness.  Greatness of mind and spirit.  An individual doesn’t have to be at management level to be a leader.  One must only possess the unique traits and the desire to lead to actually be a leader.  Often these “leaders,” those that aren’t in definable leadership roles are not even aware that they are leading others.  This lack of awareness comes from not understanding how their skills as a nurturer or organizer affect those around them.  It is often from these individuals that great leaders are discovered. 

            In this book the most beneficial section was that which discussed storytellers.  Using constructed stories to bind the group together and establish set goals. Storytelling can be beneficial because personal stories tend to make an individual more relatable.  Telling stories about personal success or failure can foster an environment that creates a real example of situations that are similar to those currently faced by the group.  The most successful way to do this is to story tell of successes that some other individual in the group has had.  Making these examples about others empowers those that are succeeding to continue their work and those that are not to follow the footsteps of others.

The authors focus a majority of the middle of the book on followership with a direct-giver’s efforts. The follower can be many things within the organization, but to find certain loyalties or partners within an organization can be good or bad for the social context. Understanding your communication preference as the authors discussed— visual, auditory or kinesthetic — and those of others allows you to improve communication and understanding. When a leader understands that people learn and communicate differently, they can change your communication style to capitalize on your interactions. By improving corporate communication, the leader can create mutual trust and understanding, thereby strengthening teams, improving productivity and fostering ingenuity.

The leaders that have been observed must create an instant rapport with someone. Typically this seems to happen on an unconscious level as someone starts a good rapport, they model and mirror the body language, then rhythm and tone of another individual.  An observant person can also learn to create rapport on a conscious level, opening yourself up to the synergy you create with another person and building mutual trust and understanding, as well as, opening the flow of communication. When a leader creates rapport on a conscious level, they can connect with anyone at any time, thereby taking responsibility for your communication. This is the essence of effective communication.

An effective leader knows how to build good relationships so that individuals care more about the good of the entire team than about themselves and their own personal glory. In the workplace, employers need employees who can "run with the ball" by themselves when necessary, as well as build and maintain good team relationships. The question becomes do leaders work actively to build good team relationships?  Hopefully one does this effectively, as it is an important part of being an effective leader. Equally important are good relationships with clients and customers. In today's world, many companies do business with people they barely know, sometimes people they've never met. But the most successful and rewarding transactions, more often than not, involve parties who have developed a solid business relationship. Good leaders understand the importance of building good relationships with their colleagues and their customers.
            The authors spend chapter’s discussion the point that as a leader, they have endless opportunities to receive valuable information from both inside and outside your organization. When a leader truly understands the messages being given, they understand the employees, the business needs, the market demands and the vendor requests. When a leader listens to understand, they can decide how it fits with the mission/vision. When a leader focus in the moment and listen to understand, they build a culture that allows for sharing of ideas, and build trust and foster teamwork as the co-workers feel valued and heard.

While leadership may come naturally for some, for others developing strong leadership skills takes thought, practice, and hard work. But it's definitely worth the effort, because these skills will benefit all of your personal and professional relationships. Leadership skills are life skills.

Being a good leader is a 24-hour a day job. If these are skills a person may have been neglecting, start developing them now. Today's organizations need employees who are ready and willing to lead at a moment's notice. Your leadership skills and abilities will help determine your present and future employ-ability.

References

Burtis, J. & Turman, P. (2010). Leadership Communication as Citizenship, SAGE Publication Inc.

Giuliani, R. (2002). Leadership, New York: Miramax Books.

Glasser, W. (1994). The Control Theory Manager, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., New York.

Israel, S. (2009). Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, Portfolio- Penguin Group