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AbstractIn this era of communication the need of the hour is not only to be technically sound but also to be able to represent one’s thoughts through careful choice of words in order to generate the desired action. But we have leadership crisis in the world today. Managers are many but good managers are few. Every now and then we see incompetent people holding the position of responsibility. Proving the fact that in India chair is more important than competence. Powerful communication skills are the most vital requirement for managers however; there are many managers who cannot communicate properly. Every business enterprise requires a dynamic communication process and managers being an important component of that process should be expert in it. Managers should know how to apply their rhetorical principles and perform their duties. Their words should help them in moving the crowd.Key Words: Incompetent, dynamic, negotiation, persuasion, branding, etc.IntroductionIn this era of cut throat competition, communication strategies for managers have to be dynamic with ever changing form and ways. According to Troy V. Mumford, Michael A. Campion and Frederick P. Morgeson, Leadership skills requirements are conceptualized as being layered (strata) and segmented (plex) and can be put in the following categories:Cognitive Skills- Speaking, Listening, Writing, Reading, Critical thinking, Cracking skills, etc. Interpersonal Skills- People’s Skills, Negotiation Skills, Persuasion Skills, Social Skills, etc. Business Skills- Management Skills, Decision Skills, Motivational Skills, etc. Strategic Skills- Problem solving Skills, Cracking Skills, Evaluation Skills, etc.Therefore, it is important that the personality and communication skills of managers should be marked by the following characteristics:1. Tactful communication2. Clarity in communication3. Rapport building4. Motivational skills5. Leadership qualities6. Polite and flexible7. Team building spirit8. Decision making9. People’s skills10. Soft Skills11. Good Planning skills12. Appreciative skills13. Effective working style14. Proper delegation of work15. Technical skills16. Human skills17. Stress management skills18. Personal branding19. Diplomatic natureIn order to become a good manager and leader, one should not only be an efficient speaker but also a very good thinker. Good leaders always think before speaking and their discourse is a combination of rhetoric, knowledge and wisdom. They have to make the argument authentic, acceptable and worthy of belief which in turn will make their character good. They should be the role model of their team, only then persuasion can be done in the right direction. Influence of Greek RhetoriciansModern day communication for managers has been influenced by many ancient civilizations, the Greeks being one of them. Pericles was a very powerful, famous and persuasive speaker of his age. Due to his popularity and oratory skills, he was named as “the first citizens of the Athens”.[i] His profile and personality matched his name as Pericles means ‘Surrounded by Glory”. With the use of simple words, he used to influence the Athenian Society as well as his contemporaries. His mastery in public speaking was because of the education he received from his tutor Anaxagoras, the great philosopher. He was a highly persuasive speaker as during a civil war between Athens and Sparta he motivated Athenians to win that war. Many soldiers were killed in that war and Pericles was called to give a funeral speech for them. The way he divided that speech into three sections was: in the beginning he shared the glory of Athens, then the description of the dead came and in the last section he motivated the people of Athens. The way he selected the words to honor those soldiers was praiseworthy. His funeral oration increased the glory of the Athenian soldiers manifold. Being very expert at saying the right thing at the right time he utilized that occasion very smartly. His speech was a complete speech in which he had covered all important issues of his times.In this case, Pericles did nothing for his public except he did use his communication skills in the right way. He spoke for a very little time and people became his fans and considered him their well-wisher. They were very depressed before his oration but got motivated immediately after listening him even for a short time. Therefore, it is in the hands of a manager how to use the sword of words to impress and inspire the team. It is very important that managers should be able to articulate their ideas better than anyone else at the work place.Another orator is Plato. According to him, true knowledge is the first requisite of leaders or managers. They can convey as well as command team members only when they have the sufficient amount of knowledge about their field. Managers should also have certain traits of a philosopher in order to influence their workers. Simple rhetorical and communication skills are not enough for an efficient manager to create a magical helm in an organisation rather he or she needs to be intellectual to impress the listeners. One’s arguments look compelling and appealing if one’s discourse will have the element of knowledge. Plato says if a leader or a manager uses his or her words to sway people then it is a sort of cheating and flattery.Aristotle’s concept of knowledge is more catholic and he believes in the plurality of kinds of knowledge. He says that for a manager, knowledge is important but experience which is also another type of knowledge is equally necessary. He further divides knowledge into different categories like theoretical, practical and productive knowledge. According to him, a manager’s conversation should not be plain persuasive in nature but it should help the people to choose and avail the right alternative from the given ones. It should also include the art of demonstration along with the art of persuasion. Two more elements should also be the part of a manager’s communication process; one is style and other is art of manipulation.Aristotle says that, “There are three things which inspire confidence in the leader’s own character- the three, namely, that induce us to believe a thing apart from any proof of it: good sense, good moral character and good will”.[ii] According to him, “Strictly speaking, only two parts are necessary: an introductory statement and the argument proper”.[iii] No matter how much knowledge one has to convey but style or delivery process should be appropriate. There can be a faulty style because of the misuse of words, use of wrong tone and misfit paralanguage. The desired results could be generated only through the combination of a proper language and appropriate delivery styles. One can present himself more efficiently or can reach to people if the language of the discourse is marked by clarity, simple, free of ambiguity etc. Every single word of an efficient manager should help the team members in lifting their hearts in their dark and tough times.Ethos, Pathos and LogosAccording to Aristotle, a discourse should display the proper use of Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Ethos means the ethics which people follow in their lives and a manager uses it in the conversation to win the confidence of the team members. Pathos deals with the emotional part of one’s conversation that adds spice to it. As a manager, one has to convey variety of messages to his or her people (good messages and bad messages), therefore, proper use of pathos creates miracle in the discourse. As far as Logos is concerned, it displays the logical part of one’s argument. Inductive and deductive reasoning are the basis of logical thinking and it is very important for managers to speak logically with the colleagues in order to sound convincing. They have to apply a variety of communication strategies at the work place to meet new challenges increasing day by day. It’s not enough to simply be inspirational and a hard worker; the best leaders know that they must mediate, listen and include the opinions of others before taking a decision. In the face of adversity, only their communication skills can make them and their team members to remain positive.Another orator is Isocrates and according to him one should use ‘wisdom’ while interacting with others as knowledge has a very broader frame therefore, a speaker should develop the wisdom of gathering the right kind of knowledge in this world. Managers should update the knowledge of relevant matters instead of wasting their energies in gathering irrelevant knowledge of useless things. He highlighted one more aspect of managerial communication that is ability to speak well and to think well simultaneously. In fact, good and able managers should always think before speaking. Their words should be selective whereas their style should be impressive. Their conversation should be a mixture of synonyms, antonyms parallelism, antithesis, etc. According to Isocrates managers should not convey what they want to convey but they should convey what their people want to hear from them. In this, the ‘occasion’ also plays a very important role.He firmly believed that human knowledge is limited and there are so many correct and incorrect things in the universe. Therefore, it is very difficult to select the correct things out of the incorrect ones. He did not like the idea of the Sophists to convey the wrong things first and then explain what is right to their audience. He was against the Sophists because they were misleading people and did not expect this from managers.Role of mediaThe best combination in today’s scenario is that of media and communication that is ‘Commedia’. If one wants to do positive publicity of one’s organization one requires to do two things; first, learn the art of communication and utilize the power of media. One can mould the behavior of one’s people and lead them in the right direction. ‘Business firms and companies face a need to work and communicate competently with expanding heterogeneity of internal and external audiences, including differences in gender, age, race, religion, ethnicity, and cultural background’[iv]. We have the best examples of Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Obama whose success contains an element of powerful communication skills.The word MANAGER contains many qualities and is complete in every sense: M- Motivator A- Appreciator N- Needful A- Artful G- Good communicator E- Effective R- Rapport builderAt a work place, common people use communication skills for themselves or for their work mainly but managers have to indulge in a discourse with others. They have to indulge in one to one communication or have to address their team members from time to time; therefore, they should always focus on the vocal and visual components of the communication process. Their scope is much wider than the scope of a common human being. Managers have to adapt to different cultures and have to make different strategies for their discourse. Achievement of the goals, missions and vision is possible only when they excel in the field of communication.Many researchers have proved that it is necessary for the managers and executives to undergo different training for improving their communication skill. And companies are investing a large sum of money for providing communication trainings to their managers. Managers can become powerful leaders only with the help of their effective communication skills.The importance of rhetoric and communication skills is realized by taking the examples of French and Russian revolutions. These revolutions were a result of the persuasive speeches given by their leaders. Common people knew nothing about the prevailing conditions. They revolted only because of the impact of the powerful speeches given by their leaders.Managers have to communicate all types of messages to their team whether positive or negative. Both these messages require different communication strategies which managers need to understand.Negative messages: These types of messages are more difficult to convey and in general people don’t want to listen to them. When conveying these messages, the tone should be very mild and selection of words should be carefully done. This type of discourse should be marked by clarity. Time also plays a very important role: right message delivered at the right time does wonders. Body language should be positive and humble. Pitch should not be high but in fact the volume too should be low. It should contain some emotional elements also. The main message should be accompanied by many small messages or sentences. It is always conveyed in isolation when people are not around. Some minor suggestion for future shall be given to that particular person.Positive messages: A totally different strategy has to be followed while conveying positive messages, like promptness is the key of these messages. Many people want to take the credit and be the first one to inform the concerned person. As a manager, one should always acknowledge and appreciate the efforts and achievements of the people. Use of interjection can be found while delivering this kind of messages. Pitch and volume is always high and tone is very positive. It contains an element of enthusiasm and happiness. Managerial communicationIn order to convey all these messages a proper language or a proper communication style is required. Designing successful persuasive messages is a challenging task for a manager. It requires an out-of-box thinking and proper command over language. It also requires emotional intelligence and insightful people skills with a keen eye on every detail. Language is not only a means of communication but a powerful tool to express one’s personality. As a manager, one has to fulfill many duties and if one follows the work cycle of a manager, one has to understand that communication skills serve the base of all the activities.
ConclusionCommunication strategies for managersBeing the source of information, managers have to update their colleagues from time to time, which can’t be done without the support of good communication and good comprehensive skills. Their communication process should be marked by the following strategies:Clarity of expression: Managers are the cradle of information and if their communication is not marked by clarity then the whole process of interaction will be a failure. Half of the work will be completed with the help of a perfect and clear communication style. Assertive communication: It means whatever one wants to convey as a manager one has to speak it in a straight forward manner. Ultimately it is the manager who is responsible for generating positive results. Form a connection: Managers are no different from other human beings. They also form their network with the help of their communication skills and their words help them to gel well with everyone. Their team members get connected with the help of their communication skills. Effective content: It should be accurate, no use of confusing words. Articulation is very important here. Paralanguage: When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory he answered, “action”, and which was the second, he replied, "action"; and which was third he still answered, "action." People tend to believe actions more than words![v] Similarly non- verbal communication is very important for managers who serve as leaders of organizational "teams". With the help of non-verbal cues, personal needs such as approval, growth, achievement, and recognition may be met in an effective manner. Delegation of duties: After receiving the assigned task, the main art is to delegate that task. Duties should be distributed and conveyed to everyone properly. Delegation of duties is an art and a manager is expected to excel in this area. This is possible only because of strong communication skills. Praise or give compliments: If one wants more work productivity then as their head, a manager has to praise and compliment his/her colleagues. Use of humour: It’s a proven fact that if a manager shares jokes or a little sense of humour then he/she can establish a proper bond with his/her staff. Which is why people feel more relaxed, more comfortable and thus be more effective at what they do. "A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done". - Dwight D. Eisenhower[vi]Use of criticism: Many a times criticism also plays an important role in an office. People bring change in their behavior to avoid being criticized. However, it can be done with the help of good speaking skills. Positive attitude: A positive mindset is the pre-requisite of effective management. This quality will help a manager to desire long term benefits at personal and professional level. Confidence: Managers have to be alert while speaking in the office whatever they speak they should speak confidently. High level of self-reliance and self-confidence contribute a lot in the formation of a charismatic personality. Some managers are so optimistic and confident that they create a magical aura around them and that aura affects their co-workers. For acquiring the trust of the team members self-confidence is the first most important necessity. That confidence can be achieved by good communication skills.
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