|
Seven tips for powering up your communication skills
Sunday, 30 April 2006
Most people don't spend too much time thinking about improving their communication skills. I speak, they should listen, is the attitude. That's a pity, because effectively getting your message across is a hot-button for success in most fields.
Here are my seven tips for powering up your communication skills.
Keep it simple
Good communication is as simple and clear as possible. People are drawn to what's easy to understand. Ruthlessly strip the concept of your message down to its most basic component. Make sure the core of what you're trying to get across is understood before adding more detail. If your message is a particularly complex one, over-simplify to begin with until you can see that your audience understands. Then build up the detail to give them the full picture.
If I say "A pen is a writing instrument for making ink marks on a surface", that is a simple way of describing the concept I'm trying to get across. If I say "A pen is a tool that can be used for writing, drawing, and doodling that comes in any number of colors such as green, blue, red, or black and uses ink which can be applied with a ball-point system, a felt tip, a nib, or a fountain", I'm giving more information, but creating less understanding.
The most powerful messages are often the simplest ones.
Realize the person you're communicating with doesn't necessarily know what you know
Many people just fire away with their message, without thinking too much about the person who's going to be receiving it. They just assume that person has all the needed background information to interpret the message and if they don't, well they must be stupid.
If I say to you - "The building's on fire!" - the first question likely to pop into your head is - "Which building?" Just because I know, doesn't mean you should be expected to.
This seems like a silly example, but it reflects a big problem many people have with their communications. They don't think about what their audience likely does and doesn't know, so the message isn't understood. Of course, there's a balance to this and you shouldn't bore people by telling them every tiny detail. Just take a reasonable guess about what they probably do and don't know, and fill in the gaps for them.
Reduce noise
When one person is sending a message to another, noise is anything that interferes with the clarity of that communication. It could be an ambulance siren when I'm trying to speak to you in the street; it could be static on a phone line; or it could be a poor print-job that means you can't properly read what I've written.
But it goes deeper than that. If I think you're trying to patronize me, I'm less likely to listen. The same goes if I'm angry with you, I believe you have a hidden agenda, or I think you're a liar.
Try to remove these obstacles to getting your message across. Let people see that you're sincerely trying to communicate with them.
Don't use bells and whistles to try and make your message seem more important
This follows on from the last point. If what you're trying to say is genuinely important, you don't need to dress it up by using big words, jargon, pointless graphs and so on. The concept you're trying to get across should be powerful enough on its own not to need such window-dressing. If it isn't, you have to ask yourself why you're bothering in the first place.
Businesspeople are particularly prone to this problem. They don't "fix" something they "remediate" it; they don't "help" they "facilitate"; it's not an "idea" it's a "paradigm". If something needs to be made sound important to impress, it's a good bet it wasn't that impressive to begin with.
New writers also often fall into this trap. They think "Shakespeare was the greatest writer who ever lived, and he was difficult to understand, therefore I need to be too". But much of the best of Shakespeare is clear and simple.Think: "To be or not to be".
Make it one-to-one
If you're writing or speaking to an audience, don't make your message seem as if it was written with that in mind. Speak to each member of the audience as an individual. All successful communication is one to one: whether it's an instruction booklet, a television show, a speech, a blog post, or a newspaper report. Let the person see that you're speaking directly to them, and your message will come across much more powerfully.
Use as few words as possible
Become ruthless at killing off unnecessary words in your communications. They often add nothing to the message and can reduce your audience's understanding. If I say "He was a very ruthless, evil, cold-blooded, twice-convicted, unrepentant killer", my message isn't as potent as if I simply say "He was a killer".
Respect your audience
One thing that's almost guaranteed to turn your audience off is if they believe you don't respect them. Anybody people feel is talking down to them or communicating for their own benefit is unlikely to be listened to. Design your communications for the benefit of their intended audience, not for yourself. Be thinking about what they're going to hear and the impression it's going to make on them.
So there they are, my seven tips for more powerful communication. I hope they help you in getting your message across.
 | Chance plays a big part in our lives | | There is a modern fad for claiming that we are entirely to blame for anything that happens to us. This philosophy is complete nonsense, as anyone who thinks about it even for a moment can surely deduce. Our decisions do play a part in our lives, but chance has a just as large, if not a larger, influence. |  | Seven back-to-basics ingredients for leading a good life | | Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in thinking big thoughts or pursuing improvement in one particular area of our lives, that we can all lose track of the big picture. That's why I think it can be good to do the odd back-to-basics post on what the main ingredients are for leading a good life. |  | The responsibility for learning lies with the student | | We are all too used to having things served up for us on a silver platter these days. If our coffee order takes more than a few minutes, we feel it's unacceptable. If our train is slightly late, it ruins our day. If we have to wait more than a few seconds for a website to load, we click somewhere else. |  | The eleven biggest mistakes single men make with women | | I have spent time around a lot of women, had a few girlfriends and am now married, so I've learned a few things along the way. From my own experiences and what I've observed from those around me, here are the eleven biggest mistakes men make when dealing with women. |  | Learn how to say "no". | | Some people can be very persuasive at getting us to do things we don't want to. For the selfish, greedy and power hungry of the world, convincing others to do what they want is a very important skill. You can expect them to spend a lot of time searching for and perfecting strategies for doing so. | | The conditions are never going to be ideal to get started | | What's interesting about the question "What can I do to improve my life?" is that most people already know the answer. They know what's missing and often exactly which steps they have to take to fix the problem. So why don't they just do it? | | Beware of idealists, they're often dangerous | | There are all sorts of dangerous people in the world, but probably the most dangerous are idealists. By idealist, I mean someone who believes ideas are more important than practical considerations. | | Improvement usually requires suffering | | We all want to be better people. We want to be smarter, wiser, stronger and more beautiful. Look at any magazine rack in any supermarket, and you'll see that self-improvement is on a lot of people's minds. | | The enemies of depression | | For many of us, being depressed is our default mood - just as being hungry is the default state of our appetite. Just as we have to feed ourselves to satisfy our appetite, there are things we have to do to keep our emotions upbeat. These things are the enemies of depression. Here are some of the main ones. | | Much of success is about knowing how to anticipate problems | | When I was in my teens, my friends and I were addicted to arcade games. This is a pretty typical obsession with boys. I spent lots of my pocket-money on such games and even managed to win some of them. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|