Noir (2002) argues that communication is the real work of leadership. Again, the participation of the follower is necessary. Kotter (2002) states that knowing your audience is also essential. As the research has shown, great communicators have an appreciation for position - they understand the people they are trying to reach and what they can’t or can hear (Kotter, 2002). Badaracco (2002) says "knowing your audience is the ability to listen. Communication can’t always follow the top-down model." With the fluidity of the information in business today, leaders need to be masterful listeners; they need to be able to receive as well as send.

As Clutterbuck and Hirst (2002) state, effective leaders are also effective communicators. The more self aware the manager is, the easier it will be to have a two way effective communication. There again, self-and-other awareness on the part of the follower would surely be deemed important. Until research conducted by Savoly and Mayer in 1990 the competency of emotional intelligence constructs such as self-and-other awareness, empathy and active listening skills have not been high priority in measuring leadership effectiveness, whether the focus is on leader, follower or both. Clutterbuck (2002) goes on to say that a major challenge is how to persuade top management to take the communication elements of their leadership roles seriously. Tourish et al (1999: 221) state that "there is nothing mysterious about good communication and within the field of communication studies a great deal of study has been conducted." Nevertheless, active listening and empathy, it would seem, are an oversight on the part of the research community as these constructs could be classed as communication tools, combining emotion with cognition. George (2002) states that investigating how leader capabilities in the emotion domain or their Emotional Intelligence contribute to their effectiveness certainly seems worthy of future empirical research and theorizing within the leadership/follower process.

As communication within the leadership process is essential it could be argued the forgotten side of leadership development and effectiveness evolves around the leaders awareness or lack of it of his own and others styles of interacting within the communication process. Tourish et al (1999) state that "Communicators refer to the people involved. Personal attributes such as age, gender, dress, disposition of those involved influence our own actions and our reactions to the behaviors of others. This it could be stated all add to the message within the communication."

Tourish et al (1999) state that an important attribute of communication is what is termed as Emotional Intelligence: "this attribute is the ability to persuade and to motivate others, to empathize and build relationships, to handle one’s own and other people’s emotion. To give honest feedback sensitively, to form alliances, to monitor one’s own behavior and to read organizational politics. It refers to the core skills of social awareness and communication." Yukl (2002) argues that emotional intelligence is relevant for leadership effectiveness in many ways. For example, emotional intelligence can help leaders solve complex problems and make better decisions. Effective leadership involves communication skills that involve the leader and follower and their perceptions and influences toward each other (Yukl, 2002). Emotional Intelligence means to be able to communicate with awareness.