Brokers have a natural advantage when it comes to creating a culture of success within their businesses, a consulting and training firm reports.
Communicating face-to-face and good self-management skills are important assets in building a successful business, echoing what many brokers naturally do in their daily work, Walter Bellin of Corporate Crossroads said.
Studies conducted by psychologists during the late 1970s and early 1980s listed factors of success when communicating general messages about things such as vision and values.
Thirty-eight per cent of the studies’ respondents said the impact of communication was based on voice qualities such as volume, pitch, resonance, rhythm and tempo. Fifty-five per cent said the impact came from body language, especially facial expressions. In other words, 93% of a leader’s ability to influence people requires face-to-face communication.
Bellin said good communication skills play an important role in building a successful business culture. (continued)#pb#
Research conducted since the early 1990s demonstrates that an organization’s culture is the single most important factor in generating long term success.
Culture-building is an important leadership responsibility, according to Bellin. It requires good communications skills and clearly articulating the organisation’s vision and values; to do this successfully, leaders must be improving their own communications skills.
“It is important that the organisation’s leaders devote time – through training, being coached, using psychological instruments and self-reflection – to learn to be highly self-aware,” Bellin said.
“This should include awareness of their strengths as well as their current limitations – that is, habits, patterns of communication, or behaviour that work against the quality of workplace relationships and culture they wish to create.
“This kind of self-awareness enables leaders to manage themselves well, the first essential step in being able to lead others effectively. In turn, leaders can then communicate and interact with people in ways that foster mutual trust and respect and good workplace relationships.”
Bellin added that self-awareness enables leaders to create a workplace that encourages employee engagement, commitment and innovation. It assists them in creating effective communication and teamwork. “Such leaders will be more effective at coaching, mentoring and developing the people they lead,” he said.
