Communication Dimension of Leadership As Service in the Church

Two major approaches to the study of communication have been identified by scholars. These are the linear and the convergence or participatory approaches. While the linear is unidirectional, top-down in orientation, the participatory is circular and all-inclusive. The linear emphasizes authority, power, influence and compliance of the receiver to the message as transmitted by the sender, whereas the convergence is more concerned with mutual sharing, understanding and celebration of the message by both the sender and the receiver.

Of course, it has also been argued that both approaches are often intertwined in real life situation. But the fact still remains that, depending on the emphasis and the orientation displayed in the process of communication, it is still possible to distinguish one tendency from the other. Thus, in the communication context where the linear is predominant, the concern is more with influence, persuasion and attitude change. Where the convergence is emphasized, there is a greater concern with the construction and the maintenance of a meaningful and cultural world.

Storytelling: Basic Element of Communication

Let us illustrate our point here with a basic element of the communication process, namely the act of storytelling. John Shea calls it the root metaphor that gives unity and meaning to our lives.[1] Shea further explains that at its full potential, a story can engross both the teller and the hearer to the extent that the teller begins to merge with the story, while the hearer moves from being an observer to a participant. In short, through the type of stories they share, human beings create common beliefs and build their community.[2]

Storytelling constitutes one of the pillars of our African culture, which remains predominantly oral. African stories are down-to-earth, full of humour and encapsulate those values and convictions that make Africa what it is today. Michael Traber notes that there are foundational stories and pseudo-stories. The foundational ones express the heart and soul of the people and socialize particularly the young ones into the values and ethos of the society. Their importance lies in their ability to build up the community. Pseudo-stories are stories that degenerate into propaganda and lead to abuse, manipulation, suppression, oppression, and at times, war.[3] As a medium of communication, storytelling can therefore be linear or participatory. In its linear form it consists of pseudo-stories, while in its participatory form, it comprises foundational stories.

Howard Gardner calls foundational stories “stories of identity”. In other words, they help individuals to think about and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they are headed. This type of stories nourishes the minds of the people and provides them with a feeling of belonging and security. They can direct and guide both the inner circle and the wider polity.[4]

Storytelling and Leadership

Gardner also links storytelling to leadership. He defines leaders as “persons who, by word and/or personal example, markedly influence the behaviours, thoughts, and/or feelings of a significant number of their fellow human beings.”[5] Leaders effectively influence others in two ways: through the stories they relate and by embodying those stories. As he puts it, “people who do not practice what they preach are hypocrites, and hypocrisy mutes the effectiveness of their stories.”[6] Those whose embodiments are clearly perceptible to their followers are called direct leaders and those who influence their followers through their work, like creative artists, scientists and experts, are indirect leaders. To be effective, direct leaders need not only to relate stories, but also to embody these stories in the kind of lives they live and inspire their followers through the examples of their personal lives.

The way they do this determines the type of leaders they are. Gardner identifies three types: ordinary, innovative, and visionary. Most leaders are ordinary in that they simply relate and embody the traditional stories of their group as effectively as possible, without stretching their consciousness. The innovative leaders take a story that has been latent in the population and bring new attention or a fresh twist to that story. The rarest type is the visionary leader who is not content with relating a current story or reactivating one drawn from the remote or recent past, but creates a new story, unknown to most individuals before and achieves a measure of success in conveying this story effectively to others.

Storytelling and Christ’s Leadership

The leadership of Christ fulfills all the prerequisites of the innovative and visionary leadership. Jesus markedly influenced his followers and continues to do so today, not only by the type of stories he related, but also by embodying those stories. He took latent stories in the population and brought fresh twist to them. In addition, he embodied stories that enabled individuals and their communities to attain an incredible synthesis between their past, present and future, stories that help them think about and experience who they were, where they came from, where they were heading, in short, stories of identity, values and meaning, foundational stories.

Ordinary leaders often relate and embody stories of evasion, separation, and exclusion, pseudo-stories that degenerate into propaganda and lead to abuse, manipulation, suppression, oppression, and at times, war. Jesus described this style of leadership as lording it over their followers and making their importance felt.[7] No longer are leaders in the manner of Christ to be the embodiment of pseudo-stories but of foundational stories, servants of unity and inclusion, of communion with God and unity among human beings.

Among the stories Jesus narrated is that of the good shepherd, a story of self-giving and self-sacrificing love, a risky venture that is full of danger, and even the possibility of the loss of life.[8] Another story is the parable of the father of the prodigal son. The reconciliation party to mark the return of the prodigal son is neither complete nor successful until the elder son has been incorporated, brought into the fold and made a part of the celebration.

Jesus embodied these stories by washing the feet of his Apostles during the Last Supper and supremely in the manner of his death. The inclusive story of the innovative and visionary leadership styles of Christ continues to be retold each time the Holy Eucharist is celebrated. “Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes!”[9] No wonder that the social teachings of the Church on communication insist that Jesus is the Perfect Communicator who demonstrates that, at its profound level, communication is more than the expression of ideas and the indication of emotion, but the giving of self in love.[10]

Conclusion: A Challenge and a Prayer

Without doubt, the foregoing poses a big challenge to the leaders of our Church today. This challenge is better expressed in form of questions. What type of stories do those called to the position of leadership relate both internally to the various segments of the Church in Nigeria and externally to the wider Nigerian society? Are they foundational stories or pseudo ones? Do their stories nourish the minds of the people and provide them with a feeling of belonging and security in the Kingdom of Christ ? Do the stories they embody portray them as ordinary, innovative or visionary leaders?

Let us pray that, by the stories they narrate and embody, our leaders may continue to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, “who makes the buds of conversion flower, and makes the fruit of charity ripen”[11] so that they may be servants of communion with God and unity among us.

Rev. Fr. Joseph Oladejo Faniran, Director
Centre for the Study of African Culture and Communication
Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt , Rivers State , Nigeria


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[1] John Shea, Stories of God: An Unauthorized Biography. (Chicago: The Thomas More Press, 1978), 56.
[2] John Shea, Stories of Faith, (Chicago: The Thomas More Press, 1980), 86-87.
[3] Michael Traber, “Stories People Tell: Are They Part of the Democratic Process?” Africa Media Review, vol 2, no. 2, (1988), 115-123.
[4] Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996), 43.
[5] Gardner , 8-9.
[6] Gardner , 10.
[7] Matthew 20: 24-28.
[8] John 10:11.
[9] 1 Co. 11:26.
[10] Pontifical Council for the Means of Social Communication, Communio et Progressio, art. 11 in Austin Flannery, (ed.) Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, 1988 Revised Edition. (Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1987), 297.
[11]See “Message for Year of Priests” by Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana, Secretary, Congregation for the Clergy on www.vatican.va accessed Thursday, September 17, 2009.