Straight Talk: Making Your Point by Communicating Effectively – Part 1 is by Ray Miller
Is there a more important business or interpersonal skill than being able to convey information in a manner people will listen to and understand? The more effectively you communicate among your coworkers and your supervisors, the faster you can raise problems, learn new procedures, offer suggestions, help customers – the list goes on and on.
There are three critical elements for Straight Talk: Making Your Point by Communicating Effectively.
1. Getting and keeping attention
2. Know where you’re headed before you start
3. Confirm understanding
Getting and keeping attention
The first thing you need to do is get the person or audience to listen. They need to know why they should listen to you.
There are three ways to get that attention.
A. The first is somewhat obvious, explain why the issue is important to the listener i.e.
“We have a problem with the Martin Engineering order you wanted delivered today. Do you have a minute?”
“I found an error in the reports today. You might want to look at it before you make your presentation.”
“Our department is changing the way we code our software before we send it to you guy’s for implementation. Can we review that so your team isn’t caught off guard.”
B. The second way to encourage people to listen is to check their current understanding of an issue or problem and then start from there. For instance;
“Tom, I wanted to run an idea past you. How familiar are you with the problem we’ve been having with the machine calibration on our X400 units?”
This does two things. First, it gets the person actively engaged in the conversation. Second, if you start at a level that’s too far below or above the listener’s understanding of a situation or problem he or she will have a hard time listening and will probably tune out.
If they’re familiar with the issue just provide new information, if they’re not – start with the basics.
C. A third way to get their attention is to alter your speech.
Have you noticed your ears perk up when someone speaks slower than normal? Focus on a clear message they can understand.
Know where you’re headed before you start
The second important element of communicating effectively is to ensure that when conveying information you have a logical way to present your message. Try to start with your ending. Why? When you are speaking with someone, unless it’s just chit-chat and/or storytelling you should have an expected outcome or goal for the interaction. For instance;
- Are you seeking their opinion? i.e. “Jane, you have experience with sales distribution, I’d like your opinion on something……..”
- Are you expecting them to take action? i.e. “Bill, can you come to the conference room for a minute, we need your help on…….”
- Do you want them to be aware of something? i.e. “Mary, this is just a heads up. We’re changing over the database tonight in case your department wanted to use it.”
Once you let them know up front what you expect from them they won’t be mentally dissecting your message looking for that clarification. Many people are give the impression they are disorganized because when describing a situation or problem because they start a message then recall bits and pieces as they go. Depending on your message here are some logical ways to present information:
– If you’re describing a process do so in a sequential manner starting with the first step, then the second, and so on.
– If you’re describing a problem start with the origin, the impact, the action is taken so far than the current status.
A common teaching and presenting method is to tell the person “What” you’re going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you just told them. Sounds redundant, doesn’t it? It means starting with an overview, then telling them the message, then recapping.
– If you’re presenting multiple options list the pros of one approach versus the pros of the other, then the cons of both.
3. Confirm understanding
The third important step is to verify that the listener heard what you intended them to hear. The sooner you do that during the conversation the less time you’ll spend re-explaining yourself and frustrating everyone. Here are some easy ways to check for understanding;
One way you’ve probably used when giving someone directions is to ask them to repeat back to you what they heard.
If you’re explaining a task ask them to demonstrate the task. If they understood you message they’ll be able to do it.
Another way to confirm they heard your message is to ask them for their opinion on the matter. If they can’t offer a logical opinion repeat the message. NOTE: Logical doesn’t mean they have to agree with you. It just means that they understood your position clearly enough to offer a position that isn’t at least a reasonable alternative.
In Part 2 we will examine several examples of messages which draw upon the foregoing three elements, explore the Essential 3 W’s of Making Your Point, and provide you with some additional tips on how to ensure you make your point by communicating effectively.
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