Great communication doesn't need to be complicated.
Whether it's a warning, a marketing campaign, an encouragement or a news update, the most effective messages are often extremely simple.
Finding the right way to express yourself involves more than using the right words. It's also about using the right medium, about excellent timing and about tone.
Here are some useful tips that can help you to improve your communication in either your professional or personal life, or both!
1. Use the right tool for the job. Getting your message across effectively means using the right form of communication. We can do it in so many ways that it's easy to choose what's most convenient for us, not what's going to be the most effective.
If you need to get an urgent message to someone, email is almost always the wrong way to do it. If you want your message to have maximum impact, deliver it in person or on paper. Text messages are a quick way to update people without requiring a response. To share important news with the widest possible audience use a mix of methods, including social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.
2. Have someone proofread every message. Getting a second opinion on your messages is essential, and not just because they might spot a typo. Ask your proofreader what they think the message means. It's easy to include assumptions in your message, such as industry jargon, which won't mean anything to at least some of the readers.
In an ideal world, you'd want an 8 year old to read your message and tell you clearly what it means - if they can understand it, so will virtually every adult.
3. Don't make promises or commitments you can't keep. This is harder than it looks. It's easy to avoid making statements that are obviously wrong but you can fall into the trap of implying something will happen, setting false expectations. Often leaders will say that they are thinking of taking some particular course of action, or dangle the possibility of "we might do this".
The problem comes when such statements are made in a public manner, because some listeners won't hear the "might". This inevitably leads to disappointment when the implied happening doesn't occur, and possibly a loss of trust in the leader who made the comment in the first place.
4. Assume that every word you write or speak will be carved in stone. Of course they're not, but you'll be surprised how enduring some can become. Every parent knows that children remember every word they wish they hadn't said, and the same is true in other areas of life.
Anything written down, on paper or digitally, may well have a longer lifespan than you expect and even the spoken word can linger on. So your every communication should be something that you're not going to be embarrassed by the following day, month or year.
5. Make your message memorable. The very best communicators have messages that stick because people don't forget them. There are lots of ways to make your message memorable - the words you use, the medium you use or the timing.
Which messages make the most impact on you and why? Think about what gets your attention and, importantly, what you remember afterwards. Ask what works for other people. Then use what you learn to make your own communication more effective.
