Communication Leadership in a Community from the Perspective of a Development Worker: A Rhetorical Study

Abstract

This study is situated under the Rhetorical Tradition of Communication Theory and the research paradigm is Qualitative Communication Research and is supportive of the Philosophy of Development Communication, Participatory Communication Theory, and Theory of Communicative Actions. It attempts to answer two research questions; a) What are the rhetorical practices in communication leadership in a community?, and b) What do the rhetorical practices in communication leadership in a community intend to accomplish? Using autoethnography and rhetorical study, the ten songs I wrote about my work were analyzed to come up with answers to the research questions. The results show that my work as a development worker is to establish community communication and facilitate the community development process within a defined timeframe, in which process local leaders develop communication and leadership skills through experience, which enable them to perform communication leadership. The results reveal a rhetorical model of communication leadership, where communication leadership is central to the participatory communication system. The rhetorical practices in communication leadership of building relations, understanding community problems, conceptualizing solutions, empowering leaders, mobilization/action planning, mobilizing, evaluating, synthesizing learning, and transitioning roles are approaches in communication leadership that intend to accomplish good communicative relations, collective understanding of problems, collective concept of solutions, empowered leaders, action plan, realized solution/s, understanding of strengths and weaknesses and recommendations, collective knowledge, and sustained communication leadership.