A crash course:
A Leader can be blind. But a leader cannot be a mute. Audience will pass judgment on a leader by observing how they communicate.”
There are 4 types of communicators:
- The Gallery Man: Tells the crowd what they want to hear. Loves the attention they get.
- The Gunslinger: Usually will throw diplomacy into the wind. Courageous, talks a lot of sense.
- The Elegant: Rarely speaks, speak softly. When speaking, does not have good statistics to back up statements. Statements oscillate depending on speaker’s mood and memory.
- The Charismatic: Intelligent. Non-confrontationist. Use witty and positive statements but yet get his points across.
Before communication commence, the speaker needs to anticipate the needs of the audience, separate people from the problems and focus on interests instead of positions. Good communicators have the ability to separate the problems from the relationship by looking into:
- Perceptions (Place yourself in their shoes)
- Emotions (Recognize they exist, do not react to them)
- Communications (Listen & avoid misunderstandings)
- Assumptions (Be patient)
To speak effectively, a politician should not take things personally. When they speak, be confident and do not take or defend a position without flexibility. Listening skills is essential. Many people in a conversation aren’t really listening. Listening is requisite for an exchange of ideas.
The person who asks questions controlled the conversation and the person who has to answer the question is usually on the defensive side of the conversation. Therefore, practice to ask question with following techniques:
- Direct questions: asked of a particular individual, allows you to initiate control
- Return questions: puts the question back to the questioner
- General overview questions: initiate a discussion or set up a thoughtful exercise
- Hypothetical questions: tests the responder’s problem-solving ability by posing a hypothetical situation
