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Leadership and Non-verbal Communication

It is indeed true that a lot has often been written and discussed about non-verbal communication across many fields of life. it is an area that has received much attention, but as Mokhtari (2013) affirms, one that has not been pursued in depth when it comes to its connection to leadership. Leaders, like other groups of people with responsibility, have the task of reinforcing their message through nonverbal aspects of communication. These nonverbal aspects help to improve the understanding that exists between leaders and their followers, and consequently contribute in making communication easier. This analysis looks at emotions and communication in leadership, congruence in communication and then tone of voice and communication. These ideas are presented by Mokhtari (2013) as central to communication but above all, as having vital connections to leadership too.

Emotions and Communication

The major reason why I find this area of research within this article as vital is because people usually communicate in a given manner depending on what their emotional statuses are at that very moment or may change depending on how well they can emotionally adapt to the emerging demands of every communication context. Anger, anxiety, disappointment, depression and stress all determine how one not only speaks but also makes nonverbal signs.

Mokhtari (2013) admits to the assertion that emotions are the underlying cause of non-verbal communication. What this means then is that even as leaders, we only express that which we feel, and this expression can either be in the form of verbal communication or non-verbal communication. In this article then, it is not true that rationality is the only measure through which people make day to day decisions—those decisions also rely on a phenomenon referred to as emotional intelligence.

For a display of the appropriate non-verbal signs, a good leader then has to possess emotional intelligence. I have worked with a number of leaders whose only non-verbal mechanism of dealing with their own anger for example is to remain silent. It is because they believe that once they begin to speak while the anger emotion is still with them, then they may end up saying regrettable things that may not be good for a leader. This then meant that silence is a good way of displaying emotional intelligence among leaders, and is an important element of non-verbal communication in leadership. Emotional intelligence gives them the advantage of not only being capable of understanding others but also having empathy for them.

Congruence in Communication

Congruence presupposes perfection. My interest in this aspect is spurred by the fact that in every human endeavour, the ultimate desire is to be perfect. Man spends each waking day striving for perfection. In communication as well, the intention is to create an environment in which the manner, content and frequency of communication border on perfection. The overall intention in communication, even for leaders, is to provide an environment in which message can be passed and reinforced in the simplest but best way.

There are various dimensions of non-verbal communication.  Scholars settle on five major ones. Mokhtari (2013) agrees that for perfect communication to occur, these five dimensions alongside the words that a person speaks have to be in harmony. Elements like body language, tone of voice, all measure up to the verbal communication one uses, so that all that a person says are effectively reinforced by those non-verbal signs that they also use.

One person I have witnessed use congruence to a great effect is the former president of the United States, Barack Obama. When it comes to non-verbal communication, Barack Obama understands both the audience he wants to talk to and thus gauges the appropriate of the spoken and unspoken code. When he is speaking to a group of young people who need a sense of urgency, he gestures more, points much often and generally does those things that appeal to the culture and life of the younger people. When addressing a much more formal and older audience, he gets reserved and only sparingly moves about. This means that the former president sought to balance the messages he had with the non-verbal communication. In other words, his words and action are examples of congruent communication.

The Tone of Voice and Communication

For one to succeed at communicating what they fully intended, the tone of voice has to be adapted in such a way that it is in line with the message that the person wants to communicate. A leader is a person who undergoes a whole lot of scrutiny—from their conduct, priorities, unusual behaviour and even the manner in which they talk to people. This area is important to me because I get to understand why people may take offence in case they believe their leaders are intentionally adopting a particular tone of voice to deal with them. Consequently, then, a change in tone may portend a change in attitude and thus signal better means of communication.

Mokhtari (2013) admits that a large percentage of the conversation that people have all over the world is deeply affected by tone of voice. What the tone of voice does is to give words that one speaks some particular context. Depending on how one talks, their voices can either be angry, seductive, harsh, final, compromising, assertive, firm, gullible, unsure, hesitant and so on. What one communicates with the tone of voice would determine the reception of their message, and this is an area that is essential for all leaders to learn.

The only time I joined a go slow was when my colleagues were protesting a supervisor whom they argued, was too harsh. This was a man who always spoke with a tone of finality, and his conclusions did not sound like they left any room for discussion. Slowly, his tone of voice contributed in the image we ultimately built about him, and the perceived behaviour based on his voice. When he changed this, the perception about him changed totally. He became a new man with a new personality, thanks to the change in the tone of his voice. What had nearly contributed in making him fall had raised him up again.

As discussed above, non-verbal communication in leadership is a novel area, at least in terms of the research available. While most scholars have assessed non-verbal communication in other fields, knowing how this non-verbal communication is essential for leaders is a critical step. These aspects improve communication by enhancing verbal messages and clearly communicating the intention that the leader had in mind. As a result, it is easier to persuade, guide, warn or educate without people feeling that their leaders have missed the plot.

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