By Ben V. Sumog-Oy
Issues and views

(Part 2)

HOWEVER, the success or failure, or in some cases the collapse, of leadership is shaped by how effectively a leader communicates with his or her people.

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Leadership, like management, means producing results through people or with the people. Consequently, producing results through or with the people depends upon on how effectively a leader interacts with those who are indispensably responsible in producing the desired results.

Meaning of communication is encompassing

Mr. Webster's definition of the word "communication" appears very simplistic, but it is not as simple as we think it is. The phrase "sending and receiving messages," innocent as it appears, has actually an all-encompassing meaning. It, in fact, intrudes into almost all social domains and across various principles of our social life.

The phrase "sending and receiving messages," as we will discuss later, has a larger implication and application in our day-to-day experiences.

In management and organizational development arenas, communication is used to enable the people to understand given realities (which are basically the internal and external conditions of the organization), their aspirations (as defined in the organization's VMGO), and the process through which these aspirations are attained (which are basically outlined in well-defined organizational strategies).

Communication is not purely a matter of the intellect

However, that type of communication that satisfies only the needs of the intellect is not enough to produce results through people or with the people, in accordance with our definition of management or leadership.

Communication, therefore, should also result to internalization or conscientization, which is largely an emotional process that stirs and sways people into action or to achieve certain aspirations that their intellect ordains them to pursue. The common terms used for this is "fervor" or "inspiration." Fervor or inspiration is not only a matter of the mind but also a matter of the heart -- a happy marriage of intellect and emotion or of rationalization and intuition.

Due care needed in communication

Communication carries in it various impacts and effects, which are not necessarily desirable. In many instances, communication, like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, falls into its undesirable place, making life harder or, at times, regrettable for us. Therefore, it is very important that we use this instrument with attendant responsibility and with utmost care and precaution.

Communication defines our success

If used correctly and effectively, communication could define the success of our every endeavor, leadership, and organization. It could be instrumental -- and nothing else -- for the attainment of our personal and organizational goals and for the effective discharge of our varied social responsibilities.

Communication -- in conformity with our nature as a social being (meaning that it is only with others that we live, and it is only by our relationship with them that our success is shaped and our humanity is defined) is an indispensable instrument for our self-fulfillment and self-satisfaction.

Communication preserves our well-being and shapes our future

Communication preserves, serves, and advances our well-being. By well-being, we mean not only our enhanced political and economic life but also, and most importantly, our well-celebrated cultural values and self-worth that give meaning to the philosophy of our human existence and enrich our character as people.

These abstractions, in the ultimate sense, are the ones that shape the future of our leadership, not wealth and material possessions. These same abstractions lend sustaining power to our leadership. Wealth and material possessions can be recovered after they are lost.

Skills and knowledge, which are conditions sine qua non for the acquisition of these material possessions, can be easily acquired. But the moment our believability is tarnished and, in effect, we lost the trust and confidence of our superiors, peers, subordinates, acquaintances, or friends, they are lost forever; reacquisition, if at all, is next to impossible.

There are only very few who succeeded to gather and reassemble the scattered debris of their integrity, after it crumbled and, eventually, disintegrated.

(To be continued)