“Let’s talk this over.”

“Will anyone get hurt?”

“Just the facts, please.”

Have you encountered leaders who approach communication in one of these ways? Some leaders learn and work best by talking through information, asking questions, and thinking aloud. Others are influenced by how decisions affect the people involved and pay close attention to the personal impact of ideas and actions. Still others prefer an orderly presentation of facts and practical realities.

These different approaches remind us that communication is more than an exchange of information. It is a leadership competency that influences how leaders establish trust, engage others, navigate challenges, and achieve desired results. Effective communication requires leaders to recognize not only what they communicate, but also how their messages are conveyed, received, and interpreted.

Communication Is Relational

Leaders often devote considerable attention to developing vision, establishing priorities, and achieving organizational goals. Yet accomplishing these responsibilities depends heavily on the quality of the relationships leaders establish with others. Communication provides the bridge between leadership intention and collective action.

Research examining leadership in healthcare reinforces the importance of communication. Interpersonal relationships, teamwork, emotional intelligence and communication are recognized as essential soft skills that contribute to leadership effectiveness.¹ Within healthcare specifically, leadership has significant implications for patient safety, quality of clinical care, and organizational culture.

Communication competency extends beyond speaking effectively or delivering the right message.² It includes active listening, adaptability, empathy, transparency, giving and receiving feedback, negotiating differences, and creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue. These behaviors help leaders understand perspectives other than their own while creating conditions for collaborative relationships.

Relational Leadership Theory further expands this perspective by positioning leadership as a process that develops through interaction, mutual influence, trust, respect, and collaboration.³ From this perspective, effective communication cannot be separated from relationships. Leaders are not simply transmitting information to others; they are continuously shaping the relational environment in which people work, learn, contribute, and make decisions.

From Communication Competency to Leadership Practice

Recent research in health professions education provides additional insight into what communication competency looks like in practice. The Communication Competency Assessment in Health Professions (CCAHP) identifies seven domains: communicating in groups, verbal communication and effective speaking, relationship management, written communication, listening skills, ethical collaboration, and respectful interactions.⁴

These domains offer a useful framework for leadership development because they shift attention from simply asking, “Am I communicating?” to asking, “How effectively and appropriately am I communicating in this situation?” ⁵

Consider a few everyday leadership practices:

• Listen to understand. Pay attention not only to spoken words but also to feelings, concerns, and perspectives being expressed.
• Adapt to the audience and situation. Recognize that colleagues may process information, make decisions, and respond to change differently.
• Communicate with clarity and transparency. Ensure expectations, goals, responsibilities, and desired outcomes are understood.
• Address the problem, not the person. During disagreements, exercise humility and keep attention focused on the issue rather than making the individual the problem.
• Invite and receive feedback. Communication should create opportunities for exchange rather than function solely as a one-way transmission of information.
• Cultivate respectful dialogue. Differences in experiences and perspectives can strengthen collective decision-making when leaders create environments where people feel respected and able to contribute.

These practices become particularly important during conflict, uncertainty, and organizational change. When leaders manage their own emotions, remain attentive to others, and address disagreements constructively, communication can restore focus to shared goals rather than deepen divisions.

Creating the Conditions for Communication to Flourish

An important lesson emerging from relational communication research is that communication competency should not be viewed solely as an individual skill developed in isolation.⁶ The quality of communication also depends on the relationships and environments in which interactions occur.

For leaders in health professions education, the implications are significant. Our environments depend on collaboration among faculty, staff, administrators, learners, healthcare professionals, patients, and communities. The ability to communicate across these relationships is central to successful communication. Leaders have the responsibility for creating those conditions.

Clear information exchange matters, but so do relational sensitivity and collaborative engagement. Trust flourishes when leaders communicate consistently, listen actively, demonstrate respect for differences, and create opportunities for others to participate. These behaviors can reduce nonproductive efforts, strengthen teamwork, improve engagement, and enhance overall work performance.

Take a moment for leadership reflection: How does your communication style influence the people you lead? What communication practice could you strengthen to build greater trust, collaboration, and engagement within your organization?

References

1. Atif S, Fahim A, Chaudhry AR, Dar DN, Syed SA, Rana S. Leadership competencies for dentists: What do undergraduate students think? PLoS One. 2024 Sep 17;19(9):e0310459. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310459. PMID: 39288126; PMCID: PMC11407619.
2. Rony, Z. T., Lestari, T. S., Ismaniah, Yasin, M., & Lubis, F. M. (2023). The complexity of leadership competence in universities in the 21st century. Cogent Social Sciences, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2023.2276986
3. Mancin S., Palomares S. M., Sguanci M. et al., Relational Skills of Nephrology and Dialysis Nurses in Clinical Care Settings: A Scoping Review and Stakeholder Consultation, Nurse Education in Practice. (2025) 82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2024.104229.
4. Rutschke, M., Soles, E. J., Jackson, C., & Peyton, L. (2026). Developing a Reliable Communication Leadership Competency Survey for Graduate Healthcare Students: Validity and Reliability of the Communication Competency Assessment in Health Professions (CCAHP). Journal of Allied Health, 55(2), 251-256.
5. Spitzberg B. H. and Cupach W. R., Interpersonal Communication Competence, 1984, Sage. (p7)
6. Uhl-Bien M., Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the Social Processes of Leadership and Organizing, The Leadership Quarterly. (2006) 17, no. 6, 654–676, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.007.

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Author:

Felicia Tucker-Lively, MPH, PhD
Senior Vice President, AAL