How Does Your Communication Style Reflect Upon Your Leadership Ability and Style?

Your communication style does reflect on your leadership capacity and style.  It also is a reflection of the organization that you work within.

This past month I had two meetings with high level "leaders" on separate topics. One official represented a high profile state agency while the other individual represented Portland city government (City Council).

I have been reflecting lately how markedly different the communication styles were with each person and how each left me feeling upon conclusion of our brief encounters.

The state agency representative ended up being an extremely poor communicator. His body language reflected indecisiveness, immaturity, close mindedness, and an obvious reluctance to make a decision. And, when I spoke to learn more about some of his comments he raised his voice and "over talked" to cut off any dialogue. One may have concluded that the "over talking" was inadvertent yet it happened several times more during our meeting. Very strange (and rude). The colleagues I had invited to attend the meeting with me were stunned at this bureaucrat’s behavior and comments. As was I (actually, I was embarrassed being a former state bureaucrat myself).

At any rate, the poor communication style was so obvious to me and my colleagues; I made judgments as to this individual's leadership capacity and image of state government. From what I observed, it appeared this person is not comfortable with high level leadership responsibility and is unable to make a decision either out of fear of failure or fear of crossing the culture of the organization that doesn't support decision making. Not sure which. I have made contact with the Director of this organization out of an ethical duty to provide my impressions. I figure that if he isn't advised, he may never know what he has representing his organization. And, we all want individuals to be successful, especially those serving in government.
The City of Portland representative was the complete opposite. And the topic of discussion for this meeting was of a nature that could be stressful or potentially viewed as confrontational. However, the meeting was wonderful and very productive! The Commissioner demonstrated EXCELLENT listening and verbal skills. His body language reflected maturity, compassion, understanding and empathy. Eye contact was right on and this individual did more listening than speaking.

Of the two examples briefly discussed here, which reflect upon the government in the best light? Which one reflects the individual that is an Authentic Leader: mature, empathetic, in touch with themselves, reflective, and serving the greater good?

So, a closing question: How do we develop effective communication skills (listening, talking, writing) in our leaders? How do we foster a culture of decision making?

Someone once said:  "God gave us two ears.......that tells me that He meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking!" May it be so.