Page 5 - Leadership Basics 5

Foreword

If leadership is about influence, communication is a key leadership competency. To labour the point,
if you can’t communicate you can’t influence people and therefore you can’t lead. In
high‐performing schools, everyone is “singing the same tune” and this requires a strong,
well‐articulated communication strategy.

In our experience school leaders are more than willing to communicate and most have already
mastered the basics of interpersonal and tactical communication. A school leader may have the skill
of talking one‐one‐one with staff, of writing interesting newsletters, succinct emails, and clear blogs,
but often these tactical activities are not part of a meaningful communication strategy. What many
school leaders lack is a strategic approach to communication.

Although almost all school leaders will say that they believe communication should be two‐way
(interactive and transparent), and that communication between the school and their learning
community is just as important as that within the school, many leaders’ communications strategies
suggest that they don’t actually believe this.
This booklet is written for mid‐level leaders to provide insight into how they can develop a
strategic approach to improving communication.

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