0:03 so you want to Excel and become a voice
0:06 of influence in your community in your
0:09 organizations or in your company how do
0:12 you do it well I would argue you do it
0:14 through effective communication but
0:16 that's a pretty simplistic way to say it
0:19 so let's get into it in some more detail
0:23 in his Ted Talk on leadership corporate
0:27 lecturer Simon sck discussed the primary
0:30 idea that great leaders above all make
0:33 you feel safe that an organization is
0:37 very much similar to a tribe from years
0:39 and years and years and years ago and
0:41 that tribes looked out for one another
0:44 and that members of that organization
0:45 knew that they could count on one
0:47 another to be safe as long as that
0:49 organization was working properly and so
0:52 he argues that leadership is the same
0:54 idea that a leader is the one that
0:56 everyone counts on to create the
0:58 conditions in which people feel safe to
1:02 operate to think to work to thrive to
1:04 experiment and of course to communicate
1:06 with one another so if you're looking
1:08 for a place to start in becoming a
1:11 strong leader perhaps consider the idea
1:14 of making others feel safe welcomed and
1:17 supported in that environment there are
1:19 a number of different qualities uh and
1:22 variables in what makes for a good
1:24 leader that notion of support is
1:26 certainly involved and support is
1:29 something that needs to be communicated
1:32 so when we interact either as a leader
1:34 or as a member the communication of
1:36 support should be a key component of
1:39 that equation there is a theory in
1:41 communication that deals with these
1:43 unique interactions between leaders and
1:46 members and it's exchange leader member
1:48 exchange theory so it's explained pretty
1:50 simply in its name but the focus in this
1:52 theory is on the interactions between
1:54 leaders and followers and how those
1:56 interactions can shape an organization's
1:59 entire culture the key premise here is
2:01 that the leaders and members have
2:03 relationships and those relationships
2:06 are based on trust and respect and are
2:09 often emotional in nature in ways that
2:11 exp extend beyond the scope of
2:14 employment some of these relationships
2:16 are better than others obviously but
2:19 they all affect how the subordinates in
2:21 that organization behave and perform and
2:23 we know this because you can probably
2:24 think of someone who was a leader of an
2:26 organization you've been part of or even
2:30 just a boss who was really good at this
2:31 and fostered good relationships and you
2:33 can probably think of someone who
2:35 fostered really bad relationships and
2:38 how quickly that can influence the
2:40 entirety of the organization of the
2:42 group of the company of the workspace
2:44 you name it so leader remember exchange
2:47 theory then talks about characteristics
2:48 of leaders and characteristics of
2:50 followers and how they can shape the
2:52 entire Dynamic so let's think about the
2:54 leaders first the leader characteristics
2:56 are things like what they expect of the
3:00 followers how and whether they reward
3:03 good behaviors or bad behaviors is their
3:04 leadership transformational are they
3:06 focused on making change or is it more
3:09 of a just sort of hold the fort type of
3:12 leadership are these leaders extroverted
3:14 are they outgoing are they agreeable do
3:16 they communicate in ways that are
3:18 welcoming and carry Charisma that make
3:20 others want to contribute now on the
3:23 other hand as the theory explains
3:24 leaders have these characteristics but
3:27 members have characteristics as well so
3:28 what are the characteristics of members
3:31 that can affect this dynamic well
3:32 whether or not the member is competent
3:33 in what they're being asked to do in
3:36 that organization are they agreeable or
3:39 are they maybe a little combative is
3:41 this a conscientious person who pays
3:45 attention to details are they open about
3:46 what they're thinking and feeling at
3:48 different points in time are they
3:50 neurotic do they have particular
3:52 peculiarities about how they communicate
3:54 that can make things harder and how much
3:56 do they experience positive and negative
3:57 AFF effect when functioning in the
3:59 organization or just in general as a
4:02 person ity trait so these things come
4:04 together and they mix and that's why
4:06 these two circles overlap and they
4:08 create relationships and within each
4:10 relationship is a unique dynamic between
4:13 the leader and that given member so
4:15 these relationship characteristics are a
4:17 key component as well perceive
4:20 similarity uh do these two people think
4:22 that they're alike is there affect and
4:24 liking between them how much
4:27 ingratiation is involved we can politely
4:30 refer to ingratiation as kissing up to
4:33 the person in a superior position how
4:35 about self-promotion are these two
4:37 people trying to tell the other how
4:39 important and how good and how great
4:41 they are U or is that something that
4:43 doesn't really get involved as
4:46 much are each of these people assertive
4:48 do they try to be aggressive in these
4:50 conversations and assert themselves or
4:53 are they more passive in nature and when
4:55 it comes to the memb level of leader
4:57 trust how much is that a factor and I
4:59 think if you can think about bosses that
5:01 you trusted versus distrusted you can
5:03 imagine that that inherent feeling of
5:05 trust can shape the ways in which you
5:07 communicate and interact and then
5:10 finally as always context is key so
5:12 there are contextual factors that can
5:15 shape things as well so the work setting
5:17 can matter what are we doing and how are
5:20 we doing it the location can matter the
5:24 actual space can dictate to some degree
5:25 the ways in which the communication can
5:27 flourish or can suffer speaking just as
5:28 a college professor I can tell you that
5:30 different classroom have shaped the ways
5:32 in which the learning environment Works
5:35 in my experience and then there are
5:37 cultural Dimensions to this as well
5:39 including whether the organizational
5:41 culture shapes these relationships and
5:45 whether the individuals cultures shape
5:47 the ways in which they communicate if
5:48 they're from the same cultures or
5:49 different cultures that can add
5:52 variables as well so leader member
5:53 exchange theory tries to capture this
5:56 broader complex process by talking about
5:57 how there are things about the leader
5:59 things about the member and things about
6:00 the way in which the leader and member
6:02 interact that can all shape the
6:04 communication taking place in this
6:07 workplace type setting now one other
6:09 theory that is useful to think about in
6:12 the frame of leadership is communication
6:14 accommodation Theory so this applies in
6:15 all forms of communication but I think
6:17 it's particularly Salient in in these
6:20 sorts of situations have you ever
6:22 changed your accent a little when
6:24 speaking to someone or just change the
6:26 ways in which you emphasize words why'
6:28 you do it often times we do it to identify
6:30 identify
6:32 with these people so communication
6:34 accommodation Theory talks about this
6:37 phenomenon that if you find yourself
6:38 working with somebody and you find
6:40 yourself maybe going visit your boss in
6:42 their office you might start to speak in
6:45 patterns that mirror how they speak you
6:46 might actually notice that your boss or
6:49 leader does something like that to you
6:50 that they start to mirror the way you
6:52 are speaking or the words you are using
6:53 have you ever noticed that before
6:55 sometimes people will start using words
6:57 that you just used almost in a in a sort
7:00 of obvious way well this is part of
7:02 communication accommodation theory that
7:04 we adjust our Styles when interacting
7:07 with other people uh we do this to
7:09 reduce the social distance between us
7:11 and other people and so from a
7:12 leadership perspective it can actually
7:14 be a very effective strategy to make
7:15 followers as we talked about at the
7:18 beginning feel safe feel supported feel
7:20 welcome uh there are two different
7:22 things that happen though right
7:24 convergence is where we start to mirror
7:26 one another and that's a way to say hey
7:28 I'm just like you or I'm on the same
7:30 page as you or we're we're okay we can
7:32 communicate safely with one another and
7:34 that's obviously generally a good thing
7:36 but sometimes people go in the other
7:38 direction we call that Divergence and
7:40 that's where we change our communication
7:42 to signal that we are very different
7:44 from the person we are talking to have
7:48 you ever seen this happen to you where
7:49 maybe you go talk to somebody about a
7:51 problem you're having and they sort of
7:54 change their behavior and go hm well and
7:55 now they're kind of way off the same
7:57 page as you that's Divergence to
8:00 highlight differences in the context of
8:02 leadership think about anytime you've
8:04 ever seen a leader try to connect with
8:07 you and identify you uh and maybe how
8:09 they use those convergence behaviors to
8:11 mirror your communication style how
8:13 about a different time where a leader
8:15 tried to create distance between you and
8:17 them have you ever seen a leader try to
8:20 act all buddy buddy with you or maybe to
8:22 talk down to you every now and then we
8:24 see people in leadership positions start
8:26 to use jargon and complex communication
8:28 terms to remind people that they're
8:30 smarter than us are more detailed than
8:33 us so are more knowledgeable than we are
8:35 so convergence behaviors to mirror and
8:37 get on the same page and Divergence uh
8:39 behaviors to signal that we're not quite
8:41 the same communication accommodation
8:43 Theory applies to all our interactions
8:45 but it's specifically useful in a place
8:47 where there's power dynamics like a work
8:50 or leadership based environment finally
8:53 as we try to understand leadership I
8:55 think we can all think of people who've
8:57 approached leadership situations in very
9:01 different styles maybe some folks worked
9:03 uh for you pretty well in these cases
9:04 and others maybe didn't it's I think
9:06 it's important to think about how these
9:07 different styles can all be effective
9:10 with the right leaders in in position
9:12 and how different people may really take
9:15 to certain Styles and not so much to
9:16 others we're going to call this the four
9:18 framework approach this is from Bowman
9:20 and deal and it talks about these four
9:22 different types of leaders the first one
9:24 is the structural leader so their focus
9:26 is on building the structure the
9:28 strategy we're going to get every little
9:30 detail right we're going to treat the
9:31 situation like a system and we're going
9:34 to do our best to build the system the
9:37 machine if you will and it will run and
9:40 when it runs it will be successful um
9:42 this is a great leadership approach when
9:44 it's done well because people view that
9:45 person as kind of a brilliant architect
9:47 who's created something that everybody
9:49 can operate in and it it it just works
9:52 etc etc on the other hand when things
9:54 don't go so well a structural leader can
9:55 be looked at kind of like a tyrant like
9:58 a micromanager who's controlling
9:59 everything and kind of
10:01 kind of overly obsessed with these
10:03 little details and missing the bigger
10:04 picture and the people involved so
10:06 there's pros and cons and that's true of
10:08 all these framework approaches the next
10:10 is the human resource leader if you've
10:12 ever had somebody tell you constantly
10:14 that hey my door is always open if you
10:15 need me I'm here for you my job is to
10:18 empower you you've probably encountered
10:19 a human resource leader so that's a
10:21 belief in people trying to be accessible
10:23 making sure everybody feels heard making
10:25 sure everybody feels like they can do
10:27 the best work they can do and most of
10:30 all making sure everybody is supported
10:32 now when this style of leadership works
10:35 it's considered to be sort of a catalyst
10:37 a person who puts people in positions to
10:39 succeed and really just helps everybody
10:42 shine and everybody's happy and when it
10:43 doesn't work so well what usually
10:46 happens is people with uh certain
10:48 personalities tend to take advantage of
10:49 that human resource leader and treat
10:52 them like a pushover so a person who's
10:54 all about whatever you need I'm here for
10:56 you can sometimes be laughed at or
10:58 mocked or taken advantage of U by
11:00 certain people in organization so it can
11:03 work both ways once again the next type
11:05 of leader is the political leader so
11:07 these people know how to work the system
11:08 they are clear in their wants they're
11:10 very persuasive they use their
11:12 networking their connections and they
11:15 definitely try to wield power and signal
11:18 that they have power and do those things
11:20 to get what they want when it works
11:22 really well they're considered an
11:23 advocate this is a a leader who's
11:25 fighting for us and doing what has to be
11:28 done Etc when it doesn't work so well
11:29 they're kind of treated like a Hustler
11:31 like a grifter who's trying to take
11:33 advantage of things and isn't always
11:35 doing things above board they can be
11:38 looked at as kind of shady so again both
11:40 pros and cons to this F this style
11:43 finally there's the symbolic leader the
11:45 symbolic leader is all about the vision
11:47 I want you to dream with me and think
11:49 big and and imagine things so they're
11:51 creative and they're very interpretive
11:54 uh they talk a lot in Theatrical terms
11:56 about how great and amazing things are
11:58 we want you to Envision and imagine
12:01 things and so on and so forth and often
12:02 times when they're effective with that
12:04 communication other people see them as
12:05 these Visionaries so they're kind of
12:07 like a profit they they they see the
12:09 future and we're they're going to help
12:11 us get there and then when it doesn't
12:13 work so well this personality can be
12:15 looked at as kind of a fanatic someone
12:16 who's kind of out there and not very
12:18 clear and and maybe a little strange and
12:21 hard to work with so the four framework
12:22 approach shows you these four very
12:24 distinct styles of leadership they you
12:27 can see that it can be good or it can be
12:29 bad and again it's worth pointing out
12:30 out that the each of these four Styles
12:32 can work but different people tend to
12:34 prefer different ones so if you think of
12:36 yourself in a leadership position
12:37 imagine which one of those speaks more
12:40 to your approach and imagine which one
12:42 of those you'd rather work for or with
12:45 going forward at the end of the day it
12:47 really is all about communication as
12:49 this quote from research from 1985 says
12:51 successful leaders we found are great
12:53 askers and they do pay attention in
12:56 other words they're fantastic listeners
12:58 because at the end of the day to be a
13:00 great leader and to make people feel
13:02 safe means you have to listen to them
13:03 and their wants and their needs and
