Effective communication competence is vital for any leader to have and has many different facets and skills that require mastery, such as dialogue, information sharing, giving feedback, and practicing participative decision making, and narrative (Johanson, 2013, p. 155). Leaders who have a positive attitude toward communication are often more effective leaders due to their dedication to developing their communication skills through devoting time to practice, purchasing resources to develop further communication skills, and growing accustomed to the environments they are more frequently communicating in, such as a presentation stage, board room, production floor, or one-on-one evaluations (Johanson, 2013, p. 156).
Narrative is a vital skill in a leader’s repertoire of communication skills, and leaders who are skilled in narrative communication can impact followers by helping them gain self-realization (Denning, 2009, p. 44) This takes a level of intentionality on the part of the leader to consciously plan communicated messages and adapt communication to individuals and teams (Johanson, 2013, p. 156). But, despite the benefits that come from using narrative, it must not be overused or become the only form of communication from a leader to followers. Most education and business settings focus on the use of presenting empirical data, which is vital to the health of a successful organization, and is difficult to communicate purely through narrative (Denning, 2009, p. 44). Communication competence has three components to it: motivation, skill, and knowledge; of the three, motivation is the only one that can be accomplished purely through narrative, while knowledge and skill requires passing on empirical information in a form other than narrative (Payne, 2005), such as explaining instructions and policies, listening to suggestions and complaints, passing along information, and explaining the ‘why’ behind policies (Johanson, 2013, p. 155).
References
Catrin Johansson, Vernon D. Miller, & Solange Hamrin. (2014). Conceptualizing communicative leadership. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 19(2), 147–165.
Denning, S. (2007). The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative (1 edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Payne, H. J. (2005). Reconceptualizing Social Skills in Organizations: Exploring the Relationship Between Communication Competence, Job Performance, and Supervisory Roles. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, vol. 11(iss. 2), pp. 63–77.
