Leadership Communication as Citizenship

John O. Burtis (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has taught courses in leadership, management, group communication, argumentation, persuasion, and communication theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been a consultant, trainer, and speaker on related subjects in both the private and public sectors. He has been the director of the Concordia Leadership Center and of the West Central Minnesota Leadership Program and the head of the Communication Studies department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been the Director of Forensics at Kansas State University and Concordia College, where students in the programs won numerous individual and team championships in speech or debate including more than twenty national championships. Paul D. Turman (PhD, University of Nebraska) is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development for the South Dakota Board of Regents. His scholarly research focuses on the role of communication in the coach-athlete and parent-child relationship within a sport context. Prior to his time with the Board of Regents, he taught courses in communication and sport at the University of Northern Iowa. His scholarly work has been published in journals such as Communication Education, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, the Journal of Family Communication, and Communication Studies.

This is exactly the book I was looking for, as I am teaching leadership communication in the context of a nonprofit management degree program and a change management degree program. The citizenship angle fits perfectly with the nonprofit/social change emphasis of our school and the course.

• UNIT I: UNDERSTAND YOUR POWER AS A DIRECTION-GIVER1. So, You Want Other People to Work Well Together?Groups Can Create a Community, Calm a Complex Organization, or Move MillionsGrouping, Group Direction, and Direction-Giving Are Human Responses to ExigenciesDirection-Giving Types Include the Work of a Doer, Follower, Guide, Manager, and LeaderEveryone Has the Obligation to Help His or Her Group to Thrive: The Social Contract of Citizenship2. Distinguish Between Three Direction-Giving Options: Doing, Following, and GuidingSpecific Exigencies, Credentials, and Competencies Frame Each Type of Direction-GiverGiving Direction as a Doer Requires CompetenceCredentialing as a Doer Requires You to Accomplish Something CompetentlyCommunicating Competently Blends Your Act as a Doer Into the Group′s NeedsGiving Direction as a Follower Requires Affiliative ReceptivityA Direction-Giver′s Initiative Creates an Exigency for a FollowerCredentialing as a Follower Requires Showing You Offer an Able and Desirable AffiliationCommunicating Competently Blends Your Followership With a Direction-Giver′s EffortsGiving Direction as a Guide Requires CredibilityEvery Group Needs Direction at Many Points in Time, Creating the Guideship ExigencyCredentialing as a Guide Requires You to Create and Impression of CredibilityCommunicating Competently, Your Guideship Ought to Take Care With a Group′s AttentionsIn Conclusion3. Understand That Other Direction-Giving Options May Be Needed: Managing or Leading WellThere Are Many Names for Leadership: Definitions TooGiving Direction as a Manager Requires the Ability to Marshal ResourcesThe Odious, the Complex, and the Everlasting Provide Exigencies for a ManagerCredentialing as a Manager Is Based in the Stories You and Others Tell of Your ExperienceDoing and Interpreting Your Management Work for the Group Requires a Variety of SkillsGiving Direction as a Leader Requires Articulating a Group-Transformative VisionA System-Threatening Crisis or Opportunity Provides the Exigency for LeadershipCredentialing to Be Seen by Others as a Leader Requires You to Articulate a Salient VisionYour Effective Leadership Is Not Necessarily Tied to Specific Communication SkillsBeware Easy Misconceptions About These Five Types of Direction-GiversIn ConclusionUNIT II: DEVELOP YOUR OWN STRATEGIES FOR GIVING DIRECTION WELL4. Use Leadership Theory and Research to Prepare Yourself to Give DirectionThe Traits Perspective Focuses on Who You Are to Explain your EffectivenessDeveloping Emotional Intelligence and Resilience May Matter More Than Your IQSelf-Monitoring and Rhetorical Sensitivity Orient You to the Resources Around YouSituational, Styles, and Contingency Perspectives Focus on Behavioral Choices You MakeGreat Leaders During Times of Crisis and Hemphill′s Work Show That Situation MattersThe Styles Perspective Says Pick the Right Way to Treat Those With Whom You GroupThe Contingency Perspective Says You Need to Adjust to Recurring "What Ifs" of GroupingThe Functional Perspective Focuses on What You Can Do for Your GroupBenne and Sheats Say Every Group Must Serve Task, Relational, and Individual FunctionsBlake and Mouton′s Managerial Grid Says You Need to Balance Those FunctionsYour Grouping Choices Also Need to Earn You at Least Once Process Prize From GroupingExplicit and Implicit Theories of Effective Grouping and Direction-Giving Are in PlayIn Conclusion5. Develop a Framework and Position Yourself for Giving DirectionA Direction-Giving Framework Should Have a Philosophy, Exemplar Model, and GuidelinesTaylor′s Scientific Management Is One Framework for Giving Direction WellMayo′s Hawthorne Effect Shows the Need for a Different FrameworkDevelop Your Own Effectiveness Framework for Each Type of Direction-Giving You ProvideYour Philosophy Should Put Your Values Into Your Framework and Then Into ActionYour Exemplars Provide Aspirational Stories and a Sense of What "the Best" Can BeYour Guidelines Animate Your Philosophy and Exemplars in Your Own Direction-GivingPosition Yourself as a Key Direction-Giver in the Story of Your GroupA Process of Residues Helps Us Decide on Whom We Will Focus Our AttentionTake Stock of the Credentials You Have and What Can You Do to Help Your Group ThriveRecurring Types of Situations Can Help Put Context to Your Direction-Giving PreparationsSome Advice That May Be Useful as You Position YourselfIn ConclusionUNIT III: DEVELOP YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS TO ENHANCE YOUR DIRECTION-GIVING6. Figure Out How to Communicate EffectivelyCommunication Is a Tool Used to Transfer Information and a Process for Making MeaningAccurate Transfer of Information Requires FidelityMaking Meaning Involves Finding the Utility InvolvedPeople Communicate for Purposes of Inquiry, to Influence Others, and to Build RelationshipsInquiry Is the Imperative to Make Sense of What is Happening to YouInfluence Is the Imperative to Get Others to See Things Your Way or to Do What You WantRelationship Is the Imperative to Have Social Contact and to Get Along With OthersAttaining a Symbolic Convergence of Terms, Meanings, and Stories Requires Effort and SkillCreate Messages That Gain Attention, Enhance Understanding, and Encourage IdentificationReceive Messages Reflectively, Oriented Toward Understanding Ideas and Finding UtilityIn Conclusion7. Shape Effective Experiences and Expectations for Citizenship in Your GroupHelp Shape Stories of Effective Group Experiences for Your GroupA Human Experience Is a Constructed Understanding of What Is MeaningfulStories of Past, Present, and Future Experiences Are How You Give Direction to Your GroupConstitutive Rhetoric Is How You Co-Construct a Sense of Your Group and of "The Others"Help Shape Stories of Experience That Create an Expectation of Citizenship in Your GroupCitizenship Experience Stories Stimulate Participation, Criticism, and Reasoned ConformityHow Groups Perpetuate Themselves Shapes the Experience of Citizen-MembersPlay Your Part as a Citizen of Your GroupIn ConclusionUNIT IV: USE STORIES TO UNITE YOUR GROUP′S EFFORTS8. Help Shape the Story of Your Organization, Team, or CommunityYou Can Use Stories to Unite Your Group and to Give It DirectionFind Coherence in Co-Constructed Stories of Your Group′s ExperienceNarrative Provides a Potent Tool for Shaping Effective Group ExperiencesSeek and Shape Stories That Show or Start Something Special in Your GroupMaking Accounts, Sensemaking, and Defining Stories Are Foundations of NarrativeCharacterization, Ideographs, and Rhetorical Depiction Are Potent Forms of NarrativeThe Master Narrative Is the Overarching Story of Your Group′s ExperienceCreate Coherence in Memorable Messages, Critical Incidents, Teaching Tales, and NuggetsFigure Out What Others Will Hear in the Experience Stories You Tell and Help ShapeIn Conclusion9. Develop the Framing Skills Needed by Every Direction-GiverFraming Is Basic to All Communication: Your Frames Shape Your Direction-Giving AccountsFrames, Like Definitions, Are How We Attach Meaning to ThingsFrames Show Motives, Shape Experience, and Provide Authoritative Weight in the GroupDevelop the Framing Skills You Need to Use to Be Effective as a Direction-GiverNaming, Framing, and Blaming Are Basic Aspects of the Process for Making MeaningsFrame Your Group′s Purgatory Puddle, Way/Process, Vision/Outcome, and Savior ComplexClaiming and Taming Are Elaborated Constructions of What Is MeaningfulIn Conclusion10. Leadership Vision Can Be a Crisis-Based Direction-Giving StoryDo You Need Vision as a Planning Tool or Do You Need a Vision that Transforms Your Group?Are You Prepared to Give Direction During a Crisis?Vision/Outcome Represents All Your Group Products and PurposesConceptions of Vision Range From Low- to High-Intensity Forms of Direction-Giving ActionWhat Is the Relationship Between a Vision and a Direction-Giver?Crisis Is Different Than the Typical Pitfalls and Problems You Face in Every GroupRhetorical Resources (and Your Responses Should) Vary Across the Circumstances of CrisisYou Can Prepare for Crisis That Resemble Fires Needing to Be Put OutYou Should Understand Direction-Giving Communications During Transformative CrisisDo Not Misuse Crisis: From Mistakes to Faux Crisis, False Pretenses, and ManipulationsIn Conclusion