Even for those who are already very good communicators, there is always room to level up. Below I discuss three areas in which communicators can grow in effectiveness. Understanding even one of these is a good step toward growth. You should…
KNOW THAT FAMILIARITY AFFECTS COMMUNICATION
There is a huge difference between communicating with people you know and people who do not know you. I am a longtime soccer fan and a soccer coach, so I watch a lot of soccer games. One thing anyone can see when watching soccer is the difference between teams that have played together for a long time and teams that were just put together for a tournament. The familiarity gained from practicing together makes things flow more smoothly.
Communication is the same: when you gain familiarity with others, communication can flow more smoothly. When you are not familiar with others, you need to work harder to have an effective interaction. The first step is awareness of the difference between these two groups. With listeners who do not know you, you will need to work harder to…
REMOVE BARRIERS FOR THE LISTENER
Much of our expertise in speech communication focuses on how to help listeners hear the important information you, the speaker, want to communicate to them! A catchphrase in our company is “It’s not about YOU”—meaning that, as speakers, we are often very self-centered, focusing on what we are going to say and how we are going to say it. This is to the detriment of the listener because what is good for the speaker is often not good for the listener.
For example, putting lots of words on your slides can be a comfort for the speaker. Many speakers want to deliver a lot of information, especially if they are experts in their topic. They want to make sure they include all of that information on the slide. However, having lots of words on slides can create cognitive overload for the listeners, making their job of understanding the speaker harder. If the job of listening gets too difficult, people simply stop doing it!
Too much information in the presentation and on the slides makes the task of listening too difficult. Carefully curating the information you will present enables your listeners to understand your message better. To more effectively determine what information you should include, you need to…
PRACTICE THINKING ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON
Thinking about the other person does not come naturally; we tend to be self-focused. To be an effective communicator, you need to think hard about what it is that will help the listener be able to hear you. Is the listener an expert? Is the listener pressed for time? Does the listener know you personally? All of these will change the way you communicate.
Getting into the practice of considering the listener is a good first step to communicating more effectively, whether it is with your familiar teammates or a new group of listeners. Remember: with a little effort, you can always improve.
