Persuasion in Communication through Semantics
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6276184?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
Effective communication plays a vital role in persuasion, influence, and leadership, especially in the context of business management. Effective communication entails the utilization of techniques and methods to enhance feedback and action from the audience or listeners. Language, vocabulary, and semantics play a vital role in effective communication because the choice of words or phrases can enhance the meaning of the message. On the other hand, providing a reason for the audience can be an effective technique to receive the desired feedback or action. Melissa Dahl explains in her article that choosing particular words or phrases can influence people and motivate them to perform a particular action or task. For example, she indicates that providing a reason to people by adding a simple word such as because can increase the probability of action. People require a reason for a particular action or accommodate others to perform their tasks or requests. The article provides an excellent example of a psychological study conducted by Ellen Langer in the 1970s that used the word because to cut in lines.
Langer considerably enhanced the probability of cutting in lines without issues by using the word because in the request to the people in the line. Semantics can influence the perceptions, actions, and behavior of people primarily due to the underlying messages or meanings of particular words. For example, people can significantly influence the reaction or feedback of their audience by using the word emergency in place of rush or urgency. Effective communication is one of the most important elements of leadership because it allows people to influence the behavior and action of other people. However, the leader has to utilize semantics in an effective manner to enhance the meanings and inference of the phrases or sentences. People can elicit a wide range of response and feedback from people by making the same request with a different choice of words or sentences. For example, a person may request a glass of water by stating, may I please get a glass of water or may I please get a glass of water because I am thirsty. The two sentences will yield varying responses from the listeners primarily due to the variations in semantics and the explanation of the reason.
http://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader/transcript?language=en
What makes a Great Leader?
Leadership refers to the ability to influence other individuals to accomplish a specific set of shared objectives. However, many people fail to lead their followers in an effective manner primarily due to the lack of leadership skills. Great leaders possess several characteristics and have the ability to challenge the status quo along with taking risks and traveling out of their comfort zones. These leaders focus on their proactive approach to stay abreast of competition and attain proactive returns in the longer-run. Roeslinde Torres explains in her presentation that great leaders of the 21st Century stand out primarily due to their awareness current and future business environment. Many organizations in the 21st Century face several challenges in developing great leaders despite significant investments in leadership. The leaders of this century focus more on diversity because they have to face mixed responses of different individuals. The most problematic issue in the context of leadership development is the utilization of outdated leadership development and coaching strategies. Most organizations utilize outdated and obsolete leadership development and training strategies rather than incorporating contemporary techniques in leadership development programs. Contemporary leadership involves the utilization of modern techniques that incorporate the elements of the modern business environment in the context of information, transparency, and empowerment. Great leaders identify the fact that having a diverse network would help them to enhance their horizon of thinking and this would help leaders to acquire success on different levels.
http://thesummitblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/need-senior-management-to-listen-read.html?m=1
Poland (2014) in his blog focuses on the fact that different managers and effective leaders should focus on different strategies through which they can attract the senior managers in the ideas presented by them. This might be one of the most difficult situations because people who would allocate cash would consider solid reasoning for investing that amount. There are certain options that can be productive for different managers in this scenario. Individuals should gather data, convert the data into picture, and focus on effective communicational channels, etc. when they want to convey their actual viewpoint to their senior managers. Different managers should devise effective plans and develop these plans in such a manner that it would appropriately represent the core idea of an individual. Certain decision makers might question on certain perspectives and managers or executors should be ready to answer some scenarios through which they can convince the overall ideology of different decision makers. Different executives and managers should plan the priorities according to their respective preference and they should ask the decision makers to focus on these aspects with respect to priority levels. This would ensure proper coordination and effective decision making would come into play through this perspective.
References
Bhasker, G. (2013). General Semantics and Effective Communication. ETC: A Review of General Semantics(70), 123-129.
Dahl, M. (2014, December 8). This Is The Most Persuasive Word, According To Science. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from Huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/08/persuasive-word_n_6276184.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, Transformational, and Transactional Leadership and Leadership Development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117-130.
Poland, J. (2014, December 11). Need senior management to listen? Read this. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from Thesummitblog: http://thesummitblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/need-senior-management-to-listen-read.html?m=1
Torres, L. (2014, February 4). What it Takes to be a Great Leader. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from Ted.com: http://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader/transcript?language=en
