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HOW TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION (HINTS 5 "7)
Send Your Message Multiple Times In Multiple Ways
You have probably been told not to repeat yourself. This may be the worst possible communication advice. It would be nice if you could send your message only once and have it received. Unfortunately, you can't. There is just too much noise. People are bombarded with messages and it is easy for your message to get lost. If you are in sales, you recognize that rarely do you make a sale on the first contact with a potential buyer. The same is true with communication. You rarely get your message across on the first try. A message sent once and in only one way is likely not to be received. If you are speaking, use a simple diagram or chart to illustrate your main points. If you are issuing written instructions, call a meeting and review the main points of the instructions verbally.
Make Your First and Last Words Your Most Important
Whether you are speaking or writing, your first and last words are the most critical. Most people look to what comes first and what comes last as a clue to what you are trying to communicate and whether they should listen. Never, never bury your main points somewhere in the middle. The old rule of "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them" is good communication advice.
Listen and Encourage Feedback
Perhaps the most important thing you can do to get your message across is to listen. When you send a message, watch for a response. If your message was received or only partially received, then your listener will respond. No response is a sure sign of "a failure to communicate." It is a signal for you to repeat the message. If there is a response, something was received. But what? It is your responsibility to find out. How? Ask - check on what they heard. Ask a question that cannot be answered with a yes or no. Say,
"How do you feel about that?" "What is your opinion?" And so on. Even better, ask them to repeat what they just heard - to rephrase what you said in their own words.
Communication is never easy. Regardless of how simple your message, the danger exists that you will be misunderstood. In this chapter, we have suggested how you can increase your chances of getting your message across. In our next chapter, we will examine a special type of communication - the kind that occurs (or fails to occur) in group meetings. We'll show you how to stop wasting time in meetings and get your message across.
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