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CHAPTER 9: LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION 281
Indeed, nonverbal communication, that is, messages transmitted through action and Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication
messages transmitted through
behavior, accounts for over one half of the entire message received in a personal messages transmitted through
action and behavior
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encounter. People interpret leader actions as symbols, just as they attach mean- action and behavior
ing to words.
In interpreting a leader’s nonverbal cues, followers determine the extent to
which a leader’s actions correspond with his or her verbal messages. If a leader
talks about customer service, but spends no time with customers, followers would
likely place little value on service. Research suggests that if there is a dis-
crepancy between a person’s verbal and nonverbal communica-
tion, the nonverbal is granted more weight by the interpreter. Action Memo
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Consider how a plant manager symbolized the importance of As a leader, you can be more effective
cost-cutting when he took over at a struggling factory. He noticed by using informal communication and
that when most of the management team had to travel, they fl ew management by wandering around. You
fi rst class. Rather than issuing a directive that fi rst-class travel was can get out and mingle with followers
not allowed, the plant manager always fl ew coach. Soon, everyone and customers to learn about their ideas,
throughout the company was fl ying coach. Leaders use actions problems, and needs through informal
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to symbolize their vision and draw attention to specifi c values and observation and conversation.
ideas.
Informal communication is built into an open communication
climate and includes interactions that go beyond formal, authorized
channels. One example of informal communication is “management by wander-
ing around (MBWA).” MBWA means that leaders leave their offi ces and speak
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directly to employees as they work. These impromptu encounters send positive
messages to followers. In addition, the communication is richer, and therefore
likely to make a lasting impression in both directions. When E. Grady Bogue be-
came interim chancellor at Louisiana State University, one of the fi rst things he did
was walk through the departments on campus. He wound up in the biology build-
ing, where he enjoyed an extended tour of the facility by a faculty member he ran
across. Bogue remarked that he learned an enormous amount about the univer-
sity operations and the strengths, weaknesses, and needs of the biology program
that was “more direct, personal and meaningful than any written communication
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might have conveyed.” Thus, both leaders and followers benefi t from informal
communications.

Communicating in a Crisis

A leader’s skill at communicating becomes even more crucial during times of rapid
change, uncertainty, or crisis. Over the past few years, the sheer number and scope
of crises—everything from terrorist attacks, school shootings, and major natural
disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami, to corporate account-
ing scandals and ethical lapses—have made communication a more demanding
role for leaders. Organizations face small crises every day, such as the loss of

computer data, charges of racial discrimination, a factory fire, or a fl u epidemic.
Moreover, incidents of intentional evil acts such as bombings and kidnappings
continue to increase, with the impact on people and organizations rivaling that of
major natural disasters. 74
Communicating in a crisis has always been part of a leader’s job, but
the world has become so fast, interconnected, and complex that unexpected
events happen more frequently and often with greater and more painful conse-
quences. As a former governor of California put it in referring to California’s
2000–2001 energy crisis, “. . . extraordinary times . . . require extraordinary