Volume XX Number 8

October 2007

Leadership Is a Relationship

By Linda L. Oestreich, STC President

During Leadership Day at this year’s Technical Communication Summit in Minneapolis, I gave a brief overview of some leadership tips. As a former director-sponsor for Region 5, I have grown accustomed to presenting leadership workshops for chapter leaders. This year, as STC president, I continue to receive requests to lead such workshops. I enjoy doing this because I believe we are all leaders. Some of us find leadership roles in our paying jobs, some in our church or community groups, some in families or hobby activities, and some in STC.

Definition of Leadership

One definition of leadership that I like is “the ability to cause other people to act in desired ways for the benefit of the group.” Those of us who are managers often have the authority to make other people act for the good of a group, but that power doesn’t make you a leader—it makes you a boss. The people who choose to follow you decide if they want you as a leader and thus want to achieve the goals of the group. In the long run, folks in a volunteer organization follow a leader because they believe it’s in their own best interests to do so.

Those interests could be recognition, advanced career possibilities, learning a new skill, altruism, or any number of other personal perks. Good leaders know how to tap into an individual’s personal interests and feed those interests so the person both enjoys and gains from helping the group reach a goal.

Develop a Communication Plan

As a community leader, you can do many things to support your members, but, above all, I recommend that you develop a communication plan. Talk to your team; decide together how you will communicate with each of them and how they will communicate with you. Who has veto power? How will you come to decisions? How will you resolve conflict?

Leadership is a relationship, and it requires clear communication to thrive. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that sending a mass e-mail is communicating. Communicating requires at least two active participants. If you throw a ball and no one catches it, you are not playing ball . . . you’re throwing something away. To communicate, someone must “catch” the message and provide feedback.

Years ago, Marshall McLuhan stated that “the medium is the message.” (He was commenting on something much more complex than the words proclaim, but, for our purposes, the simple words ring true.) What medium do you prefer? When faced with so many choices—e-mail, phone calls, group meetings, Web-based meetings, snail mail, conference calls—you must pick the right communication medium. And by thinking about the best way (or ways) to communicate, you exhibit leadership and increase your chances of really communicating.

So, remember, leadership is a relationship based on communication. If you can understand this point and use it wisely, many will follow you gladly.

“In organizations, real power and energy are generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.”
—Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science