A positive ethos will take managers a long way towards influencing their audiences with their intended messages, whereas a negative ethos is one of the greatest barriers to effective communication. How a manager is perceived makes the difference in how well he or she is believed, how persuasive he or she is, and ultimately, how effectively he or she communicates.
Successful leadership communication depends on projecting a positive ethos.
One of the primary requirements to inspire confidence and induce others to listen is credibility. In their research on leadership, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner found that credibility is the number one reason people follow someone (1993). To be effective, leaders must be credible to their followers. Credibility is essential to creating a positive ethos. Aristotle says, “persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible” (Roberts, 1954).
For an audience to view leaders as credible, they must perceive them as knowledgeable, authoritative, confident, honest, and trustworthy. Leaders can achieve the first two through hard work and position. For instance, if they are giving a presentation on the future of energy production in the United States, they must know the industry and the market as well as something about politics and regulatory policy. They can learn the facts and appear knowledgeable. In addition, if they are senior executives of a major energy company, their audience will probably perceive them as persons with the authority to talk about energy. They can exude confidence by being well prepared and feeling comfortable delivering presentations. They can even create an aura of honesty and trustworthiness by effective delivery techniques, such as steady eye contact, easy rapport with the audience, being well prepared to answer questions, and saying, “I do not know but will find out for you” when they do not have the answer at hand. Thus, they can take specific actions to build greater credibility. By doing so, they can begin to establish a positive ethos.
To build a positive ethos, leaders need to know how others perceive them; however, determining how all audiences perceive them is not easy. Research on the ability of managers to judge how they are perceived found that “most managers overestimate their own credibility – considerably” (Conger, 1998). Few people really see themselves as others see them. The idea that when two people meet, six people are really in the room – the persons as they see themselves, the persons as the other sees them, and the persons as they may actually be – underscores the complexity of perception and self perception (Barnlund, 1962). Deciding which perception would be the most accurate would lead to a philosophical tangle, although determining which one is most important would depend on the purpose of the encounter. If one of the individuals intends to influence the other, then the perception of the other takes on great importance, and the need for that individual to know how he or she is perceived becomes critical.
What can managers do to find out how they are perceived? The first step is to develop greater emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand one’s own emotions and those of other people. In addition to attempting to understand the self better, the prospective leader should solicit honest feedback from others. Self-exploration and some sought-after honest feedback from others will bring the greater self-awareness necessary to judge ourselves more accurately and to recognize the signals others send back to us either in their words or, often more importantly, in their body language and their actions.
Also, managers can improve their ability to project a positive ethos by building a positive reputation, improving their professional appearance, projecting greater confidence, and learning to communicate more effectively. Reputation could include title, organizational positions, past roles or accomplishments, and public opinion. They can achieve a positive appearance through appropriate and culturally expected dress and grooming. To suggest confidence to an audience, they can use eye contact, establish a rapport, and speak easily about a subject without notes when presenting. By using language effectively to capture the meaning and inspire trust, they can create believers in their message.