LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS

SESSION 10

Leaders and organizations: it’s hard to talk for very long about either topic without mentioning the
other.

Interest in organizational leadership is not surprising when you consider that leaders are extremely
important to the health of organizations and that we spend a good deal of our time in organizations.

Important communication tasks of leaders in Organizations.

a). The Leader as Culture Maker

Organizations are formed through the process of communication. As organizational members meet
and interact, they develop a shared meaning for events. Communication is not contained within
the organization. Instead, communication is the organization.

Culture in an organization is used to explain how organizations create shared meanings.

From a cultural perspective, the organization resembles a tribe. Over time, the tribe develops its
own language, hierarchy, ceremonies, customs, and beliefs.

Because each organizational tribe shares different experiences and meanings, each develops its
own unique way of seeing the world or culture. Anyone who joins a new company, governmental
agency, or nonprofit group quickly recognizes unique differences in perspectives.

New employees often undergo culture shock as they move into an organization with a different
language, authority structure, and attitude toward work and people. Even long-term members can
feel out of place if they change positions within the same organization. Each department or branch
office may represent a distinct subculture.

b) The leader as a strategist

Setting the overall direction of the enterprise is an important responsibility for many organizational
leaders, whether small business owners, entrepreneurs, senior corporate officers, managers of
business units, board members, or nonprofit executives. Setting the wrong direction is the cause
of many organizational miscues.

Strategic leadership is concerned with the performance and future of the entire organization over
an extended period of time.

c).The leader as a Sensemaker

Strategic plans act as maps, identifying possible routes for the organization to follow as it travels
forward. However, a number of scholars argue that leaders should navigate by a compass instead
of a map. Because the organizational environment is turbulent, they contend that leaders have to
interpret conditions while on the go, making adjustments as events unfold.

Compasses are therefore more useful than maps because they provide leaders, like travelers, with
a general sense of direction in the face of ambiguity. Leaders using compasses act as sensemakers,
helping followers interpret or make sense of events and conditions.

Delivering and Receiving Feedback in Leadership

One function that provides ample opportunity for us to use our emotional intelligence to develop
others is by providing feedback.

Providing constructive feedback is one of the leadership communication skills needed to guide
others.

It is through feedback that people develop, particularly if the leader providing the feedback
recognizes its potential value and uses it as a way to bring about the receivers’ improvement.

Feedback should include both praise and criticism. For feedback to be useful to the receivers, the
feedback provider must be as specific as possible and use words that will motivate the receiver.

For instance, to say, “Your presentation was not very effective” does not tell them much. They
certainly would not walk away with anything specific that they could change. Instead, you might
want to say, “Your presentation would have been easier for your audience to follow if you had
stated your main message very clearly at the beginning, listing your main supporting topics, and
then going through each of them in order.”

The goal in feedback should be to connect with the receivers in such a way that they are receptive
to what we have to say and leave with the specific information they need to perform differently in
the future.

Planning a feedback session requires the same effort in strategy development and audience analysis
that we would apply for any communication situation. The following steps should work effectively
when providing feedback in most professional settings:

1. Be well prepared for the feedback session. Develop a strategy and analyze your audience.
Then, have all of your facts and unbiased appraisal information at hand. Be aware of any cultural
differences that may have influenced the person’s performance or the way he or she may respond
to your feedback. Also, think about all of the other communication strategy components: strategic
objectives, medium, timing, messages.

2. Create a receptive environment. Depending on your primary objectives and the type of
feedback you are providing, you may want to meet the receivers in their office or at neutral
locations. If your office seems most logical and you do not see any reasons for the receiver to be
uncomfortable there, then at least come from behind your desk to welcome them into your office.

3. Assume a comfortable demeanor. Establish eye contact but not in a challenging way, smile,
and exchange some small talk, if appropriate. Use the pronoun “I” instead of “you.” For instance,
instead of saying “You are not carrying your load on the team,” say “I have noticed some
distancing on your part from the team. Is there anything I should know? Or can I help you in some
way?”

4. Start by setting the context for the meeting. If it is a yearly performance review, say so. If
their performance has been below standard or their behavior has been disruptive, perhaps in a team
situation, then start off briefly explaining the situation, focusing on the facts only.

5. Move quickly into your main objectives, which should not be so numerous they overwhelm
(usually three to four at most). Have them organized so that you can move through them, pausing
between each main point to allow the receiver to respond or ask questions. Throughout, you should
focus on behavior rather than the personality of the receiver, and you should be objective and
specific.

6. Ensure throughout that the receiver understands your points. Do not take understanding
for granted. Ask for questions or whether the receiver needs any clarification.

7. Finally, close with next steps, being very specific about the actions you expect the receiver to
undertake as a result of this feedback session and the timing for completing them.

Any good feedback session depends on listening and doing more asking than telling. We should
always go into a session well prepared with specific facts and fair assessments. The goal should
be to help the employee, to serve as a coach and mentor. If we display that attitude, the receiver
will be much more receptive to our feedback.

Finally, a note on feedback from the other perspective. When others give us feedback, again
listening is important. We do not want to be defensive. Instead, we should listen attentively and
show interest in what they are saying. If we feel they are being vague, ask for examples, but do
not appear to be challenging them.