#4 – Quality of a Leader – Effective Communication

Communication is the key to understanding any issue between two or more parties. An efficient leader must never stand in front of his people without the skill of effective communication.
President Gerald Ford once said, "Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively." This is because without the ability to communicate, a leader cannot effectively cast his vision and call his people to act on that vision. Just imagine how a group of people could make a decision if their leader cannot even direct the flow of conversations.
In many ways, effective communication begins with mutual respect. It should bring out inspirations, encouragement, or instructions for others to do their best. When you respect people, you will never appear rude to them. Consequently, by treating them with respect, you get cooperation, enthusiastically given instead of forcefully given. Respected individuals are going to work harder to become peak performers, wanting to do more and more.
If people like you, they will work harder for you. Otherwise, they might be working just to keep their jobs, but not really giving their best efforts. People might perform to keep their jobs because duty and responsibility demand that they do a job well. However, love and encouragement enable people to do work remarkably. When you communicate to people that you genuinely like and respect them, and follow that up with consistency of action, you establish rapport with and confidence in your people that will make a difference.
Communication is not necessarily an easy skill to learn, but it really begins with seriously listening to what other people say. By listening with respect, you will learn things that can make a difference. Consistency will be the result, and consistent performance is the key to excellence.
Bringing out the Effective Communicator in You
Effective communication is not about what we want to say, but what we want the people around us to understand about the things we say. In the 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People by David Niven, Ph. D, the success secret of Newsman David Brinkley is revealed. He credits a teacher's simple advice for much of his success, He said to me, The faster you speak, the less people will understand you. Take that to heart, And I did.