TRAITS OF GOOD COMMUNICATORS

Traits of Good Communicators 

When you learn how to overcome communication barriers, you become more successful as a business communicator. Think about the people you know. Which of them would you call successful communicators? What do these people have in common? Most probably, the individuals you list, share fine traits.

Following are the traits of good communicators:

• Perception
• Precision
• Credibility
• Control
• Congeniality

Perception:

They are able to predict how you will receive their message. They anticipate your reaction and shape the message accordingly. They read your response correctly and constantly adjust to correct any misunderstanding.

Precision:

They create a ‘meeting of the minds’. When they finish expressing themselves, they share the same mental picture.

Credibility:

They are believable. They have faith in the substance of their message. You trust their information and their intentions.

Control:

They shape your response. Depending on their purpose, they can make you laugh or cry, calm down, change your mind or take action.

Congeniality:

They maintain friendly and pleasant relations with you regardless of whether you agree with them or not. Good communicators command your response and goodwill. You are willing to work with them again, despite their differences.

Effective communicators overcome the main barriers of communication by creating their messages carefully, minimizing noise in the transmission process and facilitating feedback.

Careful Creation of the Message

The best way to create message is to focus on your audience so that you can keep them understand and accept your message. You want to create a bridge of words that leads audience members from their current position to your point of view. If you are addressing strangers, try to find out more about them, if that is impossible, try to project yourself into their position by using more common sense and imagination. Then you will be ready to create your message. 

• Give your audience a framework for understanding the ideas you communicate. Tell your audience at the outset what you expect from your message. Let them know the purpose of your message. Even not revealing controversial ideas at the beginning of your message, you can give them a preview of the topic.
• To make your message memorable:

• Use words that evoke a physical and sensory impression.
• Use telling statistics.
• Balance general concepts with specific illustrations. Most memorial words are those which create a picture in your audience’s mind by describing colors, objects, scents, sounds and tastes. Specific details such as numbers, figures, and percentages can also be vivid.
• The key to brevity is to limit the number of ideas. Keep your message as brief and clear as possible. With few exceptions, one page is easier to absorb than two. In business environment so many messages complete for attention. You’re better off covering three points thoroughly than eight points superficially. 
• Tie the message to your audience’s frame of reference. Show how new ideas are related to ideas that already exist in the mind of your audience. The meaning of the new concept is clarified by its relationship to the old.
• By highlighting and summarizing key points, you help your audience understand and remember the message. You can call attention to an idea visually using headlines, bold type and indenting lists and by using charts, graphs, maps, diagrams and illustrations.

Before concluding your message or even a major section of a long message, take a moment or two to review the points you’ve just covered. Restate the purpose, and show how the main ideas relate to it. This simple step will help your audience remember your message and will simplify the overall meaning of complex material. 

Minimize noise:

The careful choice of channel and medium helps focus your audience’s attention on your message. Even the most carefully constructed message will fail to achieve results if it doesn’t reach your audience. Try to eliminate potential sources of interference. Use an attractive, convenient, formal channel and pay attention to such detail as the choice of proper words and quality of type. 

Feedback

 Make feedback more useful by:

•        Planning how and when to accept it.

•        Being receptive to your audience’s responses.

•        Encouraging frankness.

•        Using it to improve communication.

In addition to minimize noise, giving your audience a chance to provide feedback is crucial. Regardless of whether the response to your message is written or oral, encourage people to be open and to tell you what they really think and feel. Of course, you have to listen to their comment and you must do so objectively. Your goal is to find out whether the people in your audience have understood and accepted your message understanding these aspects will help you improve your communication.