Congruence in communication and public speaking is very important, as it adds to your authenticity, credibility and rapport with your audience.
As a speaker congruence in communication helps build trust and connection. They say that “people buy from people they know, like and trust”. I also think that “people listen and learn from people they know, like and trust.”
Congruence simply means that all aspects of your communication, your passion, your message and what you are saying, all line up. Your body language, gestures and nonverbal communication line up with what you are saying. Your passion and energy are appropriate. Your values, beliefs and behaviours are empathetic. What you do before your presentation and what you do after your presentation are consistent with you message and again all line up. You literally walk the talk and talk the walk. All aspects in your character and personality must jive to what you preach or say.
As soon as you are incongruent, your connection, trust, credibility will suffer. The time management guru who starts their workshop late, or who goes over time. The financial planner who buys a new BMW every 3 years and teaches the importance of not investing in depreciating assets. The beauty therapist with poorly maintained skin and nails. All of these would be examples of incongruence and would decrease trust and your ability to influence your audience.
This is the only way to present, with absolute congruency and authenticity. Every aspect of your communication must line up before, during and after your presentation.
If you want to develop your communication and public speaking skills, we are running a series of workshops in Darwin form the 22 to 23 of October: Assertive Communication Skills Workshop on 22 October, Effective Communication Skills on 22 October, Difficult Conversations on 23 October and Thinking and Speaking Off the Cuff on 23 October.