Lesson 1. Personal / Professional Skills of Successful Communicators
KEY CONCEPTS
- Media message creators work within a set of social, legal and ethical expectations and responsibilities.
- These skills, attitudes and standards of practice will help communicators be successful in their work.
- Some of these are standards, like ethics, that can be learned. Others are modes of conduct, like punctuality, which can be practiced. Others are personality traits, like curiosity or enthusiasm, that can be cultivated.
- Media message creators work in a team environment and each person’s individual set of competencies and efforts on specific information tasks contributes to the overall message creation process and the success of the organization.
- These skills, attitudes and standards will also help students be successful in their academic careers.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After completing this lesson you will be able to:
- understand the kinds of personal and professional characteristics that employers look for.
- understand how your individual efforts as a team member contribute to overall organizational success.
Our goal in this course is to help you hone your ability to ask good questions and efficiently find appropriate answers related to whatever communications task set before you.
Your goal is to learn the skills that will help you excel as a student and eventually secure and be successful in a job as a journalist or strategic communicator.
Before we get into developing the skills to manage the information tasks required to fulfill the communications assignment given to you, we need to discuss the personal and professional skills that employers look for and that will help ensure your success both on the job and in the classroom.
Whether you are interested in working in news, advertising, or public relations there are personality traits and professional standards of practice that you should be aware of and work to develop.
