COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: A VITAL COG IN LEADERSHIP

The author is Head School, Balibago, Angeles City

CAZARINA L. DAVID

Is communicative competence important in being a leader? This question has become the conundrum in the heart of every organization. Communicative competence plays a vital role in managing an organization since they may break or build the entire foundation of an association. The school heads wear different hats and perform multiple tasks which require lucidity in communication. Being the school leader, they perform and ensure proper staffing with teachers which will matched to the school priorities. They also provide instructional support; monitor school activity; and buffer staff from distractions to protect instructional time (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005).

Communicative competence can be tricky concept to master within an organization. Particularly, school heads must not only master the art of written communication but also the expertise of oral communication. When the school head communicate effectively, workflow and overall productivity are being enhanced. In addition these concepts, if the school head constantly make an effort to improve her communication processes, she builds a company that will have staying power in a competitive world.

Since communication entails oral fluency, the underlying context of which must also be mastered- making it more challenging. Thus, in order to maximize the human relations area, effective principals must be compassionate and empathetic. An investigation of teacher and principal perceptions of skills required for principal effectiveness found that human relations skills were typically chosen as the most important skill for administrators to possess (Cavojas, 2012). In similar study the author cited that effective communication skills were the most important hiring criteria identified by the superintendents among principals. With this notion, good communication is always associated with good leadership.

In addition, good leadership style coupled with communicative competence are both imperative in organization’s success and attainment of objective. As cited by Shields (2004),Educational leaders are expected to develop learning communities, build the professional capacity of teachers, take advice from parents, engage in collaborative and consultative decision making, resolve conflicts, engage in effective instructional leadership, and attend respectfully, immediately, and appropriately to the needs and requests of families with diverse cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds which all entails good and effective communicative and leadership skills( Usher, 2014; Shields, 2004).

An effective and efficient communication system requires managerial proficiency in delivering and receiving messages, they are intertwined and inseparable ingredients in the organization. A school heads then must not only focus on his leadership and managerial styles but also discover various ways to improve her communicative competence. Good communication is the very life energy of leadership. Take away communication, and leadership withers and dies. Leaders can accomplish nothing without clear, compelling, credible messages that inform, influence, inspire, and involve people. Moreover, as most of us intuitively know, communication is far more than speeches and PowerPoint presentations. Many of the most important messages in an organization are unspoken, implicit, and behavioral. They reinforce or undermine what the leader is saying verbally. They are also commonly unintended, entirely inadvertent, and therefore unmanaged.

Teacher — oOo—

III/OIC of Rafael L. Lazatin Memorial High