It has its leaders, and that's encouraging (5)
I believe the answer is:
cheer
'encouraging' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'it has its leaders' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'cher' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and that's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheer that I've seen before include "Shout hooray" , "Shout of encouragement" , "Merriment" , "Buck up" , "Perk up" .)