Becoming a Successful

Communicator

INTRODUCTION
Communication
The process of planning, creating, delivering, and interpreting messages
The most important ability in the workplace

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Communication: Why and

What
Why Effective Communication?
Why is Effective Communication
Challenging?
What Characteristics do Successful
Communicators Share?

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Effective Communication: Why

and What

Why Effective
Communication?

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Effective Communicators have a

Competitive edge
Being an effective communicator helps
you stand out in the workplace
Some facts
Most job ads specifically cite communication skills
as a requirement
One third of companies surveyed say their
employees do not write well enough
The top complaint of companies is graduates poor
communication skills

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Good communication skills will

contribute to your success
Communication skills will make you a valuable
employee
Good internal communication can directly affect
employee satisfaction and a companys financial success
Good external communication improves outside
stakeholders satisfaction and expands market outreach

Communication skills can improve your chances of

Promotions
Good communication skills can have a positive
impact on your life outside of work
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Effective Communication: Why

and What
Why is Effective Communication
Challenging?

Barriers and context add

to the complexity

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Barriers and context add

to the complexity
Barriers
Physiological
Receivers physical state (Hearing and Visual Impairment ,
Speech Disorders)

Psychological
Receivers attitudes toward message or sender

Semantic
Language that is ambiguous or difficult to understand

Language
Language differences between senders and receivers

Mixed messages
Conflicts between verbal and nonverbal communication

Context
Circumstances influencing purpose, medium choice, and
interpretation

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Physiological Barriers

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Psychological Barriers

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Semantic Barriers

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Language Barriers

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Mixed Messages

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Mixed Messages

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Multiple audiences pose

additional challenges
When communication
involves multiple
people, they all:
encode and decode
messages differently
have different
contexts,
backgrounds,
concerns, and
agendas

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Cultural Barriers

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The best business

communicators are

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Strategic communicators are

strategic
They plan what and how to communicate to
ensure that the message achieves its purpose

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Strategic communicators are

audience-oriented
Being audience-oriented means
Targeting the communication to a specific audience
Analyzing and actively listening to the audience to
understand what they need and want
Composing the message to address audience
concerns, questions, and needs
Making the message easy for the audience to
understand

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Effective communicators are

professional
They project a business-like image by
being appropriate, clear and concise, and ethical

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Professional communicators
are appropriate to the
situation
Professionalism in writing and speaking
requires etiquette and respect without being overly formal

On Next Slide:
an ineffective
email projecting
an immature,
unprofessional
image and
an effective
email projecting a
professional
image
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Professional communicators are

clear and concise
Clarity
the quality of being unambiguous and easy to
understand

Conciseness
using no more words than necessary for a
message to accomplish its purpose

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Professional communicators are

clear and concise

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Professional communicators are

ethical
Ethicsa set of principles that guide decision
making and leading someone to do the right thing
Following is a discussion forum posting from Amazon
CEO Jeff Bezos, apologizing to customers for his
companys inadvertently unethical action surrounding
the Kindle version of the novel 1984

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Professional communicators are

adaptable
adaptable: adj. capable of adapting (of becoming
or being made suitable) to a particular situation or use;
to succeed one must be adaptable

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Adaptable communicators are

current with technology
As technology options and challenges change,
business communicators must continually address
three issues:
What is the best technology for the task?
How can I use technology to enable more effective
communication?
How can I avoid the technology traps that get in my
way?

Adaptable communicators are

collaborative
Collabora
tion
Working
together
to
achieve a
common
goal