Leadership Through Effective Communication
Effective Leadership Through Effective Communications
Opening Remarks made at Disability Awareness Week panel
By Duncan Matheson
Lord Beaverbrook Hotel, Fredericton, June 3, 2003
When I was invited to attend here and talk on Effective Leadership Leading to Effective Outcomes from a Communications perspective, I jumped at the chance.
The reason I didn't hesitate is because I have a passion for communications. I appreciate the Power that lies in being able to effectively communicate - and how this skill is absolutely fundamental to effective leadership.
I spend 20 years in the media, most of it here in Fredericton, at what was then CFNB Radio, and later with CBC - but it wasn't until I left the media and started my second career as a communications consultant that I really learned what communications was about - and the power of how effectively being able to make your case and persuade people to your point of view is crucial to a successful outcome - whether you are selling a product or service, a political philosophy, or your point of view.
We spend much of our time helping clients do just that - including courses of how to deal with the media. And I'd like to share something we tell people in those courses, because it lies at the crux of public communications.
When you boil it down, much of what you see in the news media is really a battle between two sides. One side that wants something - and another side that's against it - be it a smoking by-law, or gun registration, Sunday shopping, a war in Iraq, a public insurance system, whatever - it is a battle for public support, and to whatever extent you win that public support is usually directly proportional to how successful you are in communicating your messages on the issue.
The journalists job is this to report both sides - and for the most part the media tries to do that as best they can. But what I found, quite often, was that one side could effectively present its point of view - but the other, even though it had a legitimate point of view to present too, couldn't do so effectively - either because they didn't know how, or they were intimidated at the thought of dealing with the media, or simply didn't understand how important it was - or for whatever reason, only one side would effectively get their messages out - and inevitably, that side would win the day.
Is this fair? Doesn't matter. It's not about fairness. It's about your ability to communicate.
How important is this? Very. With advocacy groups, for example, public support is a crucial step toward desired political change. And you don't get the public's support unless you're good at communicating why they should give you that support. Ask Randy Dickinson about that. He'll tell you. He's a veteran of these battles. And quite good at it I might add.
But how does communication relate to leadership?
It's no exaggeration to say it is at the root of it. Think of the great communicators. It's said that Winston Churchill defeated the Nazis with his ability to communicate. Because in communicating, he inspired - imagine being in the British House of Commons on June 4th, 1940, just as Britain was heading into the height of the war - and Churchill knew it was crucially important to rally the troops, and the public - and so he took the floor -
"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"
It was great communication, but it was even greater leadership.
Jesse Jackson said "Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together."
Leadership is very much about bringing people together. That's what Churchill was doing with his famous speech.
Taken a step further, leadership is about getting the job done. More specifically, leadership is about finding a way to get the job done.
And effective communication is very often that way - whether it is used to inspire, like Winston Churchill, or simply to convince, like so many more people are doing every day.
I find that often effective leaders are effective because of their ability to successfully communicate a combination of the passion they hold for their convictions, and solid arguments that support that conviction.
I think of Linda Wilhelm, a lady who lives in Midland, down in Kings County. Linda has Rheumatoid Arthritis, an especially debilitating arthritis condition. I met Linda about a year ago after we were approached by the Arthritis Society. to help them pressure the government to include two particular drugs on the provincial drug plan. For people with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, these drugs are the only ones that offer any relief from the pain, and they work very well, but they are expensive. The Society had reached the end of its rope in trying to get any satisfaction from the government, so they came to us.
One of the first things we did was meet with Linda. I'll never forget it. We met in a tea room in downtown Sussex. It was easy to tell from her gnarled joints as she struggled with both hands to lift her tea cup that arthritis had taken its toll. But that was only the half of it.
She told me she had been diagnosed at 23, and for the following 20 years the disease systematically destroyed just about every joint in her body. She had multiple joint replacement surgeries, and was bedridden for more than a year. But then, this new drug came along, and because of it, she got her life back. She's mobile - she goes camping with her family, and she became relatively pain free. She got this effective drug through her husband's drug plan.
Now no one appreciates more than she does how lucky she was to be able to access this drug. She was so grateful, she threw herself into fighting for others who needed it but couldn't get it.
But what made this unlikely person an effective leader in leading this battle? In short, it was her ability to communicate the combination of her passion and her logical arguments that the government needed to change its policy.
We developed the strategy to make it happen, but it was Linda who was there for every interview, and writing letters, and getting on talk shows, and persuading others to speak up publicly. She didn't let up, and her message was clear and strong and focused - even though the drugs are expensive, their cost pales in comparison to the cost of not making them available - costs in increased hospitalization and operations and lost productivity plus the whole "quality of life" humanitarian argument.
In what we do, we talk about the strategy of "putting a human face" on an issue, and this is what she did, by talking about her experience, and helping find other people tell their stories, about what they were going through in the absence of this drug.
Because she was a good communicator and she used the media well, she got these messages out so effectively, that the government found itself coming under increasing attack for being on the other side of this. Whatever argument they offered as to why they couldn't OK the drugs, she would effectively challenge, with passion, and logic, and the support she was gathering was making it increasing uncomfortable for the government. Which of course was the whole point. And it is why about two months ago, they finally made the announcement we were waiting for.
While I doubt she sees herself as a leader, in many ways, what she did was very effective leadership in promoting this issue - and leadership that led to the desired outcome.
Linda though, is but one example. Of course there are lots of leaders. But those who are most successful are those who understand that effective communication is a key to their success.
Look at the objectives of leadership - winning people over, building cooperation, getting the right people involved. Communication is the key to meeting every one of those objectives.
So is communication important to effective leadership? Absolutely. Martin Luther King Junior used communication to move mountains. Terry Fox used it to rally a country. And Linda Wilhelm used it to bring relief from pain to a hundred or so New Brunswickers.
I used my time for opening remarks to talk about the power of communications in leadership, as opposed to the mechanics. I'd love to talk about that too - because the mechanics are important to making your communications efforts work. But you can read about that stuff in books. The passion is much more interesting.
Thank you.
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