BE AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATOR

Since the essence of leadership is not to be served but to serve, it is imperatively necessary for a leader to build and maintain close relationship with the people so as to render adequate and appropriate service. A leader is expected to stay connected to the people, spending quality time with them by maintaining effective communication channels and the more time they spend with their followers, the more they understand about them and this understanding makes them outstanding in their leadership.

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It is the leader's understanding of his people that make him an outstanding leader. The beauty of communication in leadership is that it helps know deeply the needs, aspirations and demands of the people, thereafter the leader would be in a better position to offer adequate and appropriate service.

Chinua Achebe a Nigerian writer observed that true leaders are not those intoxicated with their Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard degrees, but those who speak the language of the people.

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When a leader fails to recognize this fact, though he may succeed in making policies and developmental plans, without the understanding of the people. Assuredly, failure and frustration awaits his policies and developmental plans at the point of implementation. A situation where people are in need of security and a leader is turning his attention to sport projects or where people crave for uninterrupted power supply and the leader is doing some other project. Talk of when the people need good health care system and a leader is aiming renovation of buildings. The scenarios are too numerous to picture, a situation where people are in need of Agricultural aids and a leader is talking of buying more official vehicles, in such a confused situation where the people feel hopeless or alienated, it takes effective communication to make impact on the people and produce such thing as understanding love, co-operation, confidence, focus, peace and unity of purpose. Indeed it is more blessed to serve than to lord.

And untill you sincerely and passionately stay connected to the people, cataclysm and reproach could rear its head.
As a leader, don't be too pre-occupied with personal business that you become unavailable to the people. Ability without availability is tantamount to disability.