When sitting down to write a blog it occurred to me how difficult it was to get ideas from your head to the page. When I started reading back the words I had just wrote they didnt seem to match the words I had in my head. After number of re reads and re-writes later, it somewhat resembled what I had in my mind in the first place

This got me thinking about people in there everyday lives and how sometimes we just dont get our point or message across. The knock on effect can be huge when put it into the context of our goals. What we need to learn is to ensure that our thoughts match the words that come out of our mouths or onto that piece of paper in front of us. We need to be clear and concise when dealing with other people. We cant assume the person on the opposite side of the table understands exactly what we mean.

Submitting an application for a new job. Doing an interview. Giving a presentation, holding a meeting. Make sure each and every person you deal with understands exactly what you are talking about. You need to be heard and understood. We all want to be heard. It’s gratifying, empowering, and makes us feel valued. Before you start to speak or write make sure you understand what is being looked from you. Jot down some ideas and then put some structure around the ideas.

Practice this, the more you do it the easier it gets, and the more effective you will become at it. Understand your story and the story of the other person. Then you need to try and weave them together. Be purposeful and get your point across. At the very least people will understand your point of view and hopefully you will have grabbed their attention. Let them see your side of the story has taken in their side. Effective communication requires you to listen as much as it requires you to talk.

I once worked in a position where my manager constantly questioned my communication skills. This for me was a constant source of frustration, never before had I been in this position. No one before had ever questioned my skills in dealing with people. My attitude was, its him not me. This just made the whole thing worse.

At the end of the day he was my manager and it was my job to make sure this problem went away. So I sat down and thought about what was going on. I realised I was telling him what I thought he wanted to hear, and not really listening to what he was asking of me. Once I started on really improving listening to what he was asking for, our professional relationship began to improve.

Do you remember at school when the teacher took some some tracing paper and everyone in the class would create an exact replica of the picture in front of them. Well this is the same. You need to create that picture in your mind and trace it out into words. When you have mastered this you will be come a much more effective communicator