100

State Street, Pawnee, IN, 47998

Memorandum
To: Anna Dwyer, Director of Public Relations
From: Mackenna Beckman, Vice President of Communications
Date: November 18, 2015
Subject: Notable Practices for Effective Leadership in Public Relations

Congratulations on your new position as director of public relations of Pawnees
Parks and Recreation. This department not only cares about the city of Pawnee and
its community, but about one another. In doing so, this memorandum has been
created as a resource to help guide you in the right direction to become the best
leader that you can be, not just for our department, but also for your own personal
growth. I hope that this memo can give you insight into effective leadership
practices for Pawnees Parks and Recreation, because as Andrew Carnegie said, no
man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for
doing it. With that being said, let me share the wealth.

Executive Summary

Being a great leader is more than just the description of words after your name.
There is so much good that can come out of being a great leader, and while it has so
much to do with your own success, what is even more important is the idea that you
are responsible for the future success of a business and its employees. Many leaders
simply do not lead. Holding a formal leadership position or position of power does
not necessarily mean that a person displays leadership. Furthermore, Ciulla (1995),
states that you do not have to hold a formal position in order to exercise
leadership. As we know, you are already on the path to becoming an even better
leader than you are as of now. With this memo, you will be able to exercise all the
knowledge that you have consumed and help yourself be the best that you can be.
Even the best leaders have room for improvement and there is nothing wrong with
exploring that further. It is also important to acknowledge this idea so that you can
grow as a leader, an employee, and as a person. This memo gives you all of the tools
that you need to get started, but do not limit yourself to just these:

Be a good communicator
Be considerate of your
followers
Be a mentor
Be inspiring


If you are aware, you are capable of anything. Use these tools that were once helpful
for me and run with them, from one leader to another.

Introduction

Many people have their own ideas about what it means to be a leader, what it takes
to be a leader, and how one should lead. Cory Brooker says that, leadership is not a
position or a title, it is action and example. If you get one thing out of this memo, it
is that being a leader is more than a position or title. Furthermore, leadership is
human (symbolic) communication which modifies the attitudes and behaviors of
others in order to meet group goals and needs (Hackman and Johnson 1991). It is
important to selflessly lead; lead your followers and lead your company together to
create something special between all parties. Being a leader means more than
simply directing people around, it is about knowing how to communicate, being a
mentor, inspiring others, and always being considerate of your followers. By
keeping these ideas in mind, you will gain the following of the people around you
with ease.

Effective Communication
If you do not know how to communicate properly, getting people to follow your
leadership will be difficult. Communication is the base value of compliance, which is
important in leadership. Communicating effectively means that the people around
you are going to listen, which sounds obvious but vital. By communicating
improperly, not only will your messages be unheard, but ineffective communication
can also lead to miscommunication, which is just as inefficient. In an important
position such as director of public relations, messages need to be communicated in a
way that makes them understood. Delegating tasks to fellow employees is crucial in
the success of the company, so make certain that they are clear, concise, and correct.
Another important thing to note is that your communication will go beyond verbal
communication. Often, nonverbal communication can speak louder than the words
that are said. In addition, this nonverbal and verbal communication is going to
influence your followers either negatively or positively. Transformational leaders
play the role of a model for others by their own words and behavior. Their employee
respects them and value their words and actions(Gelard, Boroumand, &
Mohammadi, 2014). We know that this statement can only be true if you possess
transformational leadership characteristics. Gelard, Boroumand, & Mohammadi
(2014), also go on to say that this transformational style of leadership will impress
their followers, ultimately creating a ripple effect amongst them. If you can influence
one person, imagine how many will follow suit. I thought it was interesting when
Reave (2005), said truly listening to others and responding to their needs is
another way to express caring and concern that is universally endorsed by spiritual
paths. The relationship between listening and leadership effectiveness has been
demonstrated by both subjective and objective measures. I found this to be
extremely interesting because it pointed out the other side of communicating, which

is listening. As mentioned previously, you need to communicate properly so that

your followers can listen to the correct message. Further, both you and your leaders
need to reciprocate by listening as well as the other person is communicating. There
are two sides to communication and if someone is either not listening or giving the
correct message, the issue arises. It is apparent that there is a chain reaction caused
by the idea that everything is connected with one another. One misstep can set off
multiple other missteps; avoid any of this by communicating as effectively as you
can and you will be on the right path.
Be a Mentor
It is important to never forget the fact that as a leader you are supposed to create
future leaders, leaders who will eventually surpass you being that that is the end
goal. As I am writing this memo to you, I hope that one day you are able to take over
my position and do the same for your subordinates. It is important to pay close
attention to the things that your employees succeed in as well as their individual
needs because this helps them obtain their goal with help from you being their
mentor (Gelard, Boroumand, & Mohammadi, 2014). When leaders show the
characteristics of a good leader, followers will feel as though they can trust them
and will think of them as role models, and we think of this as idealized influence
(Deinert, Homan, Boer, & Voelpel). In addition Gelard, Boroumand, & Mohammadi
(2014), say that one can define the term 'transformational leadership' as one form
of leadership helping all the members of the organization become aware of their
final objective and hence reach their collective goals. As I spoke about earlier,
transformational leadership contains many qualities that will benefit your
leadership. By teaching your followers the right way to lead, as I am doing, you are
helping everyone reach their own personal goals which in return helps the
companys goals. In doing this, everyone is taking part in success. It is also important
to know that you may not always make the right decisions for everyone, even
though they seem it at the time. This raises an interesting question regarding
whether leaders who reason at a higher level by focusing on the well-being of others
would actually engage in more helping behaviors in the workplace (Sosik,
Juzbasich, & Chun, 2011). As I will soon explain, I think that it is important that
leaders keep their followers in mind because that goes along with being a mentor.
As a leader and a mentor you ultimately want your followers to be the best that they
can be. Remember that the servant leader leads because he or she wants to serve
others. People follow servant leaders freely because they trust them (Ciulla, 1995).
Serve your followers and in return they will serve you.
Consideration for Employees
Everyone in this world wants to feel heard, respected, and cared for, which is no
different in the workplace. Many of us spend a good portion of our day at our
workplace, so our basic needs do not leave us. In addition, leaders need to keep their
personal needs in mind as well because they can affect the rest of the workplace.
The degree of pleasantness that leaders experience at work may influence their

thoughts and leadership behaviors in certain wayspleasantness summarizes how

well one is doing in terms of a hedonic valence of pleasant-unpleasant, good-bad,
positive-negative, or appetitive-aversive (Jin, Siro, & Shapiro). If leaders are feeling
happy at work, in return they will distribute this positivity to their followers, thus
creating an effective work environment. Agreeable leaders are friendly, kind, and
want the best for their followers. They are, therefore, likely to be concerned with
others' needs and interests, which is a characteristic of individualized
consideration (Deinert, Homan, Boer, & Voelpel). As I said before, letting everyone
feel as though they are heard is important. Good communication entails listening to
others and making note of what you can do. Further, listening to others means not
only acknowledging their concerns, but also recognizing and respecting good ideas
(Reave, 2005). I also spoke about respect. Respect can go a long way, and is
necessary for everyone to keep in mind. It is obvious that you as a leader need to be
shown respect, but the easiest way to obtain it is to give it. Leaders are not above
being respectful. Leadership that respects the values of followers creates
empowerment rather than dependency, sustainability rather than short-term
success (Reave, 2005). We always want to empower everyone around us because it
is going to create a more effective work environment that everyone can benefit
from. Finally, caring for others is the best way to maximize the success of your
company, because agreeableness is likely to be positively related to individualized
consideration (Deinert, Homan, Boer, & Voelpel). The degree to which you show
genuine care for your followers can be the defining factor of leader success or
failure (Reave, 2005). Keeping all of these ideas in mind will help you understand
how to best keep your followers in mind, creating a positive and successful
experience for everyone.
Inspire
Being inspirational is an extremely important value for leadership. When it comes
down to it, inspiring others will work in your favor in many different ways. You
might inspire others to be the best versions of themselves, which will benefit you as
well. If you are helping the people around you better themselves, in return you
essentially will be surrounding yourself with the best people to work with. Another
benefit of inspiration might be that you help other people take charge, whether that
is with ideas, getting tasks done, or recognizing what needs to happen in a situation.
Multiple sources attribute inspirational actions to effective leadership. Something I
noticed that seemed interesting was the idea of inspiring or influencing. In regards
to influencing, it carries an implication that there is some degree of voluntary
compliance on the part of followers (Ciulla, 1995). Think about a time at work
when somebody was barking order after order and telling you to do something,
even though you were completely aware that this task needed to be done. Now think
of a time at work when you had a conversation with a peer or your manager and it
compelled you to carry out a task that needed to be done. Which do you find more
appealing? People seem to find the idea of coming up with ideas and tasks on their
own to be more satisfying. A common theme is the transformational leader.
Transformational leaders encourage their followers to assume perspective in a way

to give them motivation to reach their goals (Gelard, Boroumand, & Mohammadi,
2014). Allowing your followers to find motivation and reach individual success is
empowering for both parties. So much research attributes effective leadership with
inspiration. Inspiring people can do so much good in the workplace as well as in
everyones own personal lives. As mentioned, an employee who is happy and willing
to work is going to bring that energy into the workplace. Sometimes a push in the
right direction from a leader can kick-start this.
Conclusion

A great leader is not made in a day, but as long as you try to be one you are halfway
there. It is important to note that simply obtaining the status of a leader does not
mean that you are actually, effectively, or being impactful in leading. If you keep all
of what I mentioned in mind, you will be an even better leader than you currently
are. Also note that all of the best practices in leadership are not contained in this
memo, so do not feel the need to limit yourself to these. Knowing how to
communicate, being a mentor, inspiring others, and always being considerate of
your followers is incredibly important and a great start. Now you can expand your
horizons and become the best leader you can become, starting with Pawnee Parks
and Recreation.

References

Ciulla, J. B. (1995). Leadership ethics: mapping the territory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(1),
5-28.
Deinert, A., Homan, A. C., Boer, D., Voelpel, S. C., & Gutermann, D. Transformational
leadership sub-dimensions and their link to leaders' personality and performance.
The Leadership Quarterly.
Gelard, P., Boroumand, Z., & Mohammadi, A. (2014). Relationship between
transformational leadership and knowledge management. International Journal of
Information Science & Management, 12(2), 67-82.
Jin, S., Seo, M., & Shapiro, D. L. Do happy leaders lead better? affective and attitudinal
antecedents of transformational leadership. The Leadership Quarterly.
Reave, L. (2005). Spiritual values and practices related to leadership effectiveness. The
Leadership Quarterly, 16(5), 655-687.
Sosik, J. J., Juzbasich, J., & Chun, J. U. (2011). Effects of moral reasoning and management
level on ratings of charismatic leadership, in-role and extra-role performance of
managers: A multi-source examination. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(2), 434-450.