Situational Communication

Closely related to the concept of situational leadership, situational communication involves selecting the appropriate communications tools given the people and the situation involved.

Leaders use a variety of communication tools— I messages, restatement, inquiry, decoding, summarizing, encouragement, or direct statements—to exchange information at many different levels with team members, peers, and leaders.

Leaders modify communication to engage the listener according to their style, using a variety of means to convey the message: visual, auditory, and written text. Context is important, and leaders continually make judgments about what communication tools to use and when.

[Click here to download a copy of Leading in the Wildland Fire Service.]