Leadership has evolved from a top-down demand for obedience into a
dynamic process focused on achieving shared outcomes. Similarly, our
understanding has shifted from a simple, one-way transmission of information to
a more complex, interactive, and meaningful process that is deeply embedded in
relationships and systems. This is significant: as communication has become
recognized as constructed and relationship-building, the focus has moved beyond
rigid command-and-control models toward more adaptive, participatory, and
context-sensitive approaches. That is my first takeaway.
The second takeaway is understanding how message-attention, message-processing, and message-retention interact with people’s needs, attitudes, beliefs, and values is essential for leaders who want to communicate effectively. Each individual person will have different values, even if raised in the same home, same city, same everything. Each person is different and will interpret the communication provided differently.
This knowledge helps leaders design communication strategies that
resonate with their audience, create engagement, and build desired behaviors.
By recognizing how people tend to filter and interpret information through
existing beliefs and biases, leaders can be more intentional about how they
frame messages to expand people’s “zones of resonance.” This is especially
important for leading where success depends on shifting mindsets and overcoming
resistance rooted in deeply held beliefs or cultures.
Thirdly, and closely related but yet different, is that change-leadership, whether for large or small changes, requires deliberate, inclusive, and strategic planning that recognizes the importance of communication, resonance, and cultivation to gain support, enhance acceptance, and ensure proper implementation.
Why does this matter? No change is too minor to overlook the
fundamentals of leadership: analyzing who will be affected, understanding what
will resonate with different people, building a coalition, and genuinely
listening to others' perspectives, even from those who may resist. This
comprehensive approach helps leaders bridge gaps between their vision and the
reality of how others receive change.
The fourth takeaway, and much different than the previous ones, is why people maintain loyalty and support for leaders, organizations, or communities despite corruption or toxic behaviors, by focusing on the powerful role of cultivated identities, cultural norms, and communication processes like resonance, activation, and cultivation in shaping and sustaining loyalty.
It is often found that deeply ingrained cultural identities and
communication patterns create powerful filters that shape how followers
interpret leaders’ behaviors, often leading people to overlook, excuse, or
reinterpret negative actions to protect their sense of belonging and
self-identity. Over time, the processes of connection, ongoing engagement, and
reinforcement of meaning normalize loyalty and make it psychologically and
emotionally costly to question or abandon the relationship, even when faced with
troubling contradictions.
The fifth and final takeaway was understanding the intersection of leadership and communication. The emphasis is on how leadership development programs should balance resonance, activation, and cultivation to develop both leadership and followership in meaningful ways. This attempts to wrap up several of the topics we discussed, all into an interconnected ball of communication.
The Key Learning Point: While many leadership programs focus
heavily on building resonance, activation and motivating people for support,
they often neglect the deeper, longer-term impacts. This includes critically
examining purposes, guiding transformational thinking, and developing the
action items needed for effective leadership and competent followership. The
larger scope of leadership should seek improvement opportunities, consider
sensitivity, and practices that
challenge the depth of patterns and promote growth by using a measurable
process. We cannot improve what we first
do not measure.
References
Ruben, B. D., & Gigliotti, R. A. (2019). An
introduction to leadership, communication, and social influence. In Leadership,
communication, and social influence. Emerald Publishing Limited.
