Having study a psychology of language, I always pay lots of attention to both verbal and non verbal communication. This time I would like to focus on the issue of poor leadership as a result of poor communication…
It is believed that effective leadership is the key to achieve positive organisational outcomes such as organisational consistency, high productivity and employee engagement.
Leaders ought to inspire teams, motivate performance and provide a clear direction where the company is going to. Employees experience leadership through the support provided by management and the quality of this support dictates the quality of their work (Simonton 2014).
Unfortunately, there are many leaders who seem not to fulfil their role properly, which can bring about some serious issues. Poor leadership can lead to a number of negative consequences on both organisation and the workforce. It can damage the company’s reputation and cause serious problems such as limited employee input, low productivity or debts.
Simonton (2014) characterizes poor leadership as an attempt ‘to control employees through orders, policies, rules, goals, targets, reports, visions, bureaucracy, and changes all designed to almost force employees to work and to create and deliver what management considers to be satisfactory products and services’.
One of the major struggles is ineffective workplace communication. Poor leaders seem not to value communication with their employees, as mentioned by Leviticus in his article entitled ‘The Top Signs of Poor Leadership’. It is important to listen to employees’ complaints, opinions, ideas and concerns, since every person wants to be heard and respected.
Apparently, if the staff is pleased with the way their supervisors communicate, there is higher job satisfaction, improved employee commitment, better management and employee relations and consistent approach and strategy across the business due to provision of accurate information and guidance (Pincus ‘Communication satisfaction, job satisfaction and job performance’, 1986).
Even though it is the responsibility of a leader to provide necessary tools to bring in change and transformation, still some leaders are unable to adapt to rapidly changing conditions of business environment. If employees perceive instability of the workplace, they lose their belief in the company’s vision and become demotivated, and therefore, underperform.
It is recommended for managers to implement such leadership style that will be endorsed by the workforce. What is important for employees to meet the objectives is to clearly know what is expected from them and what the organizational strategy is. Moreover, employees look for appreciation, empathy and understanding from their bosses.