Evita Huai-ching Liu, Cassandra Chambers and Professor Celia Moore. Bocconi University, Johns Hopkins University and ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Business School. Published in The Leadership Quarterly, in press.
Problem
Communication is the mechanism through which almost everything else happens. How leaders frame a crisis, signal their values, motivate their teams and shape the cultures around them all happens through words, tone and body language. Without a clear picture of what the research on leader communication shows, organisations are making decisions about how to develop their leaders without the full evidence.
Science
We reviewed 260 studies published over 50 years that use leaders' actual communication as data, including written text, voice recordings and video. We tracked how the methods used to analyse leader communication have changed over time, from manual coding of transcripts to machine learning tools that can process thousands of documents automatically.
Outcome
We found that leader communication is far more consequential than most organisations realise. Charismatic communication techniques can increase follower task output by 17%. In one study, the use of these techniques in US governors' speeches about public health behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with saving as many as 5,350 lives. Leaders' emotional expressions measurably affect follower performance, mood and ethical behaviour. In organisations, what leaders say about ethics directly reduces the likelihood that employees will make unethical decisions.
Change
Our research shows communication is a technical skill that can be measured, tested and improved. Specific verbal and nonverbal behaviours are associated with measurable outcomes at the individual, organisational and national level. Training leaders to communicate more effectively is not a soft intervention. It is one of the highest-return investments an organisation can make in its leadership capability.