Effective Communication
How do you know when your communication is effective? How do you measure it? Before I answer this question, I want to let you know that there will be a series of articles posted on this site in the future that will assist you to learn effective communication.
Here's a question for you to consider…
Is there a signal you can hear or even see that lets you know if you have effective communication skills or not?
The obvious answer is the results that you get. Be aware though that the results that you get aren't neccesarily the results that you want.
When planning any form of communication, it is best to have a clearly stated outcome, goal or objective. And if this objective or goal very detailed, you're more likely to achieve what you want with your communication. This is because when you have your goal/s clearly described and recorded, you have something to measure your results against. And when you have a measure to compare your results with, you can then adjust your message so that your results reflect what you actually want to say.
One of the things that I believe, and it has stood me in good stead over the years, is that there are no failures… you get feedback. This means that when you're very clear on the results you want, you will also know clearly which aspects (if any) you haven't got yet.
Now that you know precisely what results or outcomes you want from your communication…
The way that you communicate your message is the next stage.
Just so you know, I'm not going to go into any great length here because what you're learning here is the basics from a five day advanced communications skill training we'll be releasing shortly. If you apply the things you learn on this in-depth training, you will be able to get exactly what you want from your communication.
The communication process contains many aspects. These include:
– How we communicate verbally
– How we communicate nonverbally – which includes things like the way you present yourself with what you wear etc, as well as body postures and gestures. These are all aspects of Visual communication. Nonverbal communication could be divided again into conscious and unconscious communication.
– Auditory – This means what you hear, and also how you say things, using the tonality, volume and pitch or your voice, the speed in which you say things, and what words you use.
At a very detailed level there is also olfactory which means smell, and gustatory or tastes. These last two types of communication are not so dominant in humans any more but are still important in the ways that animals communicate.
The way that you assemble all of these aspects will determine the effectiveness of your communication.
There's an interesting thing about communication that not many people mention, and that is practising these skills regularly until until you become unconsciously skilled at using them. What this means is that in much the same way that you were determined to learn to walk, you now do it without having to plan every step. You just get up and you do it.
This article is intended as a pre-frame for more articles I will publish for you. Because I want you to notice…
…how clear you really are on your outcomes or goals.
Furthermore, you may want to become curious about the ways that you are communicating Right now.
In addition, this article intends to open up your model of the world. This simply means, that there may be more than one way of experiencing the world and your life right now. And other people may experiencing the world in other, equally valid ways.
And finally, I want to close with this thought:
If something is possible in my neurology (my thinking or life) then it is also possible in your neurology.
You simply have to learn, then apply and practise effective communication skills.
