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Are You A Good Communicator?
When I think of what it takes to be a good communicator, I am reminded of
an automobile driving class I once took. Attendance at this class was
mandatory because I’d gotten a ticket for speeding. The facilitator began
with a simple question, “Who here is a good driver?” Every single hand in the
room went up.
“Then why are you here?” she asked rhetorically. “This is called ‘Bad Drivers
School’ and it is only for people who get caught breaking the law.”
Most of us have the same assumption when it comes to communication
skills. Ask a room full of executives, middle managers and especially
entrepreneurs if they are good communicators and invariably the answer is
“yes.” Most car drivers believe they are good drivers because they know the
difference between the gas pedal and the turn signal and most people
believe they are good at communicating simply because they know how to
talk. That isn’t the case. The ability to talk is related to communicating the
way house painting is to Picasso.
Does your hand go up to the “Good communicator” question? It shouldn’t,
unless you are following these rules of the road.
Listening: Good communication begins with listening. If you want the
audience to understand the message, you first have to know to whom you
are talking. What is important to them? What kind of barriers are you going
to have to overcome to get the message through? A large bank with which I
was once associated had a passion for listening to customers and even
made listening a part of the employee annual review process. Surprisingly,
one of the first things learned from listening was that customers hated to wait
in line. In fact, customers cared more about that than they did about free
checking and other top-down inducements. Staffing changes were made
among tellers and business grew as a result. To be a good communicator
you should be listening at least 60% of the time. Try to remember it’s, “ears
open, mouth shut.”
The last should be first: Most people assume that when they have a
message to send the first thing they need to do is decide what they want to
say. Developing the content is actually one of the last things an effective
communicator does. The first thing to be done is to understand the
audience. See point number one to learn how. Different audiences have
different needs for information. Let’s say, for example, that you are CEO of a
public traded company and you have to lay off a portion of your work force.
That’s bad news for the workers, but it may be good news for the
shareholders. An effective message takes both groups into consideration
and is shaped so that both understand it.
It’s not just what you say: How you deliver your message is nearly as
important as what you say. If you want people to see you as an unfeeling,
self-absorbed boob, then deliver the layoff message through a press
release, late on a Friday afternoon, after you’ve left town. If, on the other
hand, you want to come across as someone who cares about the people
affected by a difficult decision, gather as many people in your organization in
one place as you can and tell them the bad news in person. Simultaneously,
use other channels like e-mail, an intranet announcement and even “snail
mail” to convey the same message to everyone in the company. The press
should be the last to know, not the first.
Clarity: Is your message clear? Is it really a good idea in the layoff
announcement to say that this is the first layoff in the company’s history, or
some other mollifying remark? Do you think the people who are losing their
jobs care? Clarity means setting a goal for yourself with your message and
getting to that goal quickly. Often this means short declarative sentences for
the written word and honesty and sincerity when delivering the spoken word.
One great test of clarity is to run your message by a trusted friend or advisor
before you release it to the world. After delivering the message, ask two
questions. Did you understand what I said? What questions does my
message raise? When the answer to the first question is yes and the
message raises no important questions, you are ready to deliver.
Look in the rear-view mirror: This goes back to the first point, about
listening. Once you’ve delivered your message, be it good news or bad,
check to see what was received. Did your audience understand the
message? How did they react? What did the audience think of your
delivery? What important questions does the message raise? You will be
amazed at what people tell you when you honestly and sincerely ask for
feedback. There are a lot of ways to obtain feedback. You can ask people
on an elevator, in meetings or you can send out an e-mail survey. There are
many people in every organization who will be glad to share their feelings
with you, as long as you make it clear that there won’t be any negative
repercussions for those individuals who are open and honest.
Assuming that you are a good communicator is just as dangerous as
assuming that you are a good driver. Bad drivers end up with speeding or
other tickets; bad communicators end up with a flat career tire.
David Hains is a Communications Consultant. You can reach him at
David@TVDave.com
When I think of what it takes to be a good communicator, I am reminded of
an automobile driving class I once took. Attendance at this class was
mandatory because I’d gotten a ticket for speeding. The facilitator began
with a simple question, “Who here is a good driver?” Every single hand in the
room went up.
“Then why are you here?” she asked rhetorically. “This is called ‘Bad Drivers
School’ and it is only for people who get caught breaking the law.”
Most of us have the same assumption when it comes to communication
skills. Ask a room full of executives, middle managers and especially
entrepreneurs if they are good communicators and invariably the answer is
“yes.” Most car drivers believe they are good drivers because they know the
difference between the gas pedal and the turn signal and most people
believe they are good at communicating simply because they know how to
talk. That isn’t the case. The ability to talk is related to communicating the
way house painting is to Picasso.
Does your hand go up to the “Good communicator” question? It shouldn’t,
unless you are following these rules of the road.
Listening: Good communication begins with listening. If you want the
audience to understand the message, you first have to know to whom you
are talking. What is important to them? What kind of barriers are you going
to have to overcome to get the message through? A large bank with which I
was once associated had a passion for listening to customers and even
made listening a part of the employee annual review process. Surprisingly,
one of the first things learned from listening was that customers hated to wait
in line. In fact, customers cared more about that than they did about free
checking and other top-down inducements. Staffing changes were made
among tellers and business grew as a result. To be a good communicator
you should be listening at least 60% of the time. Try to remember it’s, “ears
open, mouth shut.”
The last should be first: Most people assume that when they have a
message to send the first thing they need to do is decide what they want to
say. Developing the content is actually one of the last things an effective
communicator does. The first thing to be done is to understand the
audience. See point number one to learn how. Different audiences have
different needs for information. Let’s say, for example, that you are CEO of a
public traded company and you have to lay off a portion of your work force.
That’s bad news for the workers, but it may be good news for the
shareholders. An effective message takes both groups into consideration
and is shaped so that both understand it.
It’s not just what you say: How you deliver your message is nearly as
important as what you say. If you want people to see you as an unfeeling,
self-absorbed boob, then deliver the layoff message through a press
release, late on a Friday afternoon, after you’ve left town. If, on the other
hand, you want to come across as someone who cares about the people
affected by a difficult decision, gather as many people in your organization in
one place as you can and tell them the bad news in person. Simultaneously,
use other channels like e-mail, an intranet announcement and even “snail
mail” to convey the same message to everyone in the company. The press
should be the last to know, not the first.
Clarity: Is your message clear? Is it really a good idea in the layoff
announcement to say that this is the first layoff in the company’s history, or
some other mollifying remark? Do you think the people who are losing their
jobs care? Clarity means setting a goal for yourself with your message and
getting to that goal quickly. Often this means short declarative sentences for
the written word and honesty and sincerity when delivering the spoken word.
One great test of clarity is to run your message by a trusted friend or advisor
before you release it to the world. After delivering the message, ask two
questions. Did you understand what I said? What questions does my
message raise? When the answer to the first question is yes and the
message raises no important questions, you are ready to deliver.
Look in the rear-view mirror: This goes back to the first point, about
listening. Once you’ve delivered your message, be it good news or bad,
check to see what was received. Did your audience understand the
message? How did they react? What did the audience think of your
delivery? What important questions does the message raise? You will be
amazed at what people tell you when you honestly and sincerely ask for
feedback. There are a lot of ways to obtain feedback. You can ask people
on an elevator, in meetings or you can send out an e-mail survey. There are
many people in every organization who will be glad to share their feelings
with you, as long as you make it clear that there won’t be any negative
repercussions for those individuals who are open and honest.
Assuming that you are a good communicator is just as dangerous as
assuming that you are a good driver. Bad drivers end up with speeding or
other tickets; bad communicators end up with a flat career tire.
David Hains is a Communications Consultant. You can reach him at
David@TVDave.com
David Hains Media Solutions
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