As you already know, communication is key when you have a business. No matter if it’s a small, medium, or big business, you want to ensure that you are a great communicator.
One of the things that many people aren’t aware of is that being a great communicator is more than just knowing English perfectly and maintaining a conversation. Ultimately, great communicators share some characteristics that allow them to convince others, get their ideas across, and even maintain strong relationships al through dialogue. These characteristics of great communicators can be learned in some executive MBA programs, for example.
The main goal of great communicators is to ensure that all participants in a conversation feel equally heard, understood, and respected.
Amazing Characteristics of a Workplace Communicator
#1: Listening as a communicator
One of the most important characteristics of great communicators is, without any question, their ability to listening.
Ultimately, no one will talk to you if you don’t care for what the other person says. This means that you should take the time to practice active listening.
Simply put, active listening is the process where you pay close attention to what the other person is saying. But more than this, it also involves asking clarifying questions and making sure that you understand what the other person is saying by rephrasing him or her. This ensures that you’re not only understanding what the other person is saying, as you will also b able to respond immediately.
It’s important to acknowledge that this characteristic of great communicators doesn’t refer to only listening with your ears. It’s also important that you use the correct body language such as eye contact, the right tone of voice, and even hand gestures.
For example, when you use eye contact, the other person will notice that you’re devoting your full attention to him or her. Just make sure that you don’t stare at the person, or he or she may start feeling uncomfortable.
Be aware that you should also pay attention to the other person’s body language or nonverbal signals as you are talking. You will be able to know how the person is feeling.
#2: Be Able To Communicate The Big Vision
Another characteristic of great communicators is that they can easily communicate the global vision of the company.
If you usually hold meetings with your staff to show them the vision you have for your company, it is natural that you tend to include a lot of numbers, percentages, and products in your speech. While you can include some numbers and targets, your speech will be very boring if you only do this. Instead, it would be best if you opted for a different approach to show the targets you have for the company and illustrate what you mean. One of the things that many great communicators use is telling stories. Just show your staff how you can all row in the same direction using stories.
When you are holding a conference with your employees, you should make sure that your communication is:
Clear And Concise:
Ultimately, you need to make sure that you can summarize all the info you need to pass on to your employees. This means that you need to balance where you don’t talk too much or too little. You want to pass your message in as few words as possible. This implies that you need to be clear and direct to the point. No one wants to b stuck in a conference the entire day to hear the same idea repeatedly.
Confidence:
When you are communicating with your staff, you need to be confident about what you are saying. After all, this will show your staff that you believe in what you are saying, and it will be easier for them to follow through.
Notice that this has nothing to do with showing yourself as superior or with a big ego. You need to stand tall, make eye contact, and use a firm but friendly tone.
Friendliness:
A smile or a friendly tone won’t withdraw any authority. They can, in fact, encourage your staff to engage in open and honest communication with you.
One of the things you also need to pay attention to is that whenever you contact your staff with written communication such as an email, you want to ensure that you personalize it a bit.
#3: Bring People Along With You
According to Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” This means that only the best communicators can take you along with them.
Ultimately, great communicators need to make sure they can motivate their staff all the time and be there for them when needed. A simple word, a simple gesture, can make a long and tortuous way a lot smoother.
#4: Learn To Adapt To Different Tools
One of the best things about communication is that you have many different ways to do so with your staff.
In the old days, email was the only tool you had available to communicate with your staff directly. Either from being face to face, you had no other option. While many companies continue to use this way of communicating solely, they should try to evolve in this area.
However, other companies are already using different internal communication strategies instead of relying on a face-to-face conversation or email. These may include online platforms where teams can talk to each other and communicate more easily.
Digital signage is another great way to communicate with your staff. Overall speaking, digital signage is an easy and customizable way to ensure that everyone shares the company’s same vision. This is one of the tools adopted by more and more companies since it’s very flexible and adaptable across all industries.
#5: They Mean What They Say
The last characteristic of great communicators is that they need to be honest.
No one likes to be played, especially in the workplace. You may have already heard a story where you didn’t believe the person was telling the truth. You’re not a magician to know this. You paid attention to the tiny signals that the person wasn’t telling you the truth.
In the workplace, it’s important always to be honest. Since an example comes from the top, when a great communicator isn’t telling the truth, the staff won’t believe him or her. So, they will always feel they are lying about their goals and won’t ever believe in a single word that he or she is saying. So, the communicator loses his or her credibility.
Ultimately, if your signals aren’t congruent with your message, you’ll be heard but not believed.
Final Words: Characteristics of Workplace Communicators
Great communicators are not easy to find. After all, they need to comply with certain characteristics that allow them to be heard and believed. Besides, they also need to keep evolving using different ways to communicate with others. Depending on the situation, great communicators may prefer face-to-face communication, mail, and digital signage. With digital signage, you can quickly communicate across departments and offices,. It is efficient and effective when you use digital signage in updating the latest news; a great tool to be utilized.
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