Imagine that you want to communicate certain messages to people and work with them to get concrete results. How can you do this in a good way? Much will obviously depend on the situation. You may be a leader communicating with your team; an educator communicating with your students; an individual communicating with another person or whatever.

Let’s imagine that you are a leader communicating with your team. Whilst focusing on this specific example, the principles we will explore can be used in many other situations. So let’s consider the following steps towards connecting with people.

1) You can focus on clarity.

Good communicators start by establishing clarity. They clarify the real results they want to achieve when communicating. This often calls for mental rehearsal. If you are going to deliver a speech, you will obviously do lots of preparation. The same rule applies in many other situations. Different people have different ways to prepare. One approach is to focus on the ‘Who’, ‘What’ and ‘How’. It is to clarify:

* Who

Who is the audience? Who is the ‘target group’? What is happening in their lives? What are their concerns and challenges? What is their agenda? What is their picture of success? What is their learning style? What are the kinds of examples that may resonate with these people? What are the Dos and Don’ts for communicating with this kind of audience?

* What

What are the real results I want to achieve with my communication? What do I want people to be feeling, thinking and saying afterwards? What is the big picture – the overview - I want them to take away? What are the key messages I want to communicate to people? What do I want people to do with the information? What will be happening that will show the communication has achieved the desired goal?

* How

How can I do my best to achieve these results? How can I create the right environment? How can set the right tone? How can I give the overall context? How can I do my best to connect with people? How can I communicate the key messages? How can I put these in a way that people can understand and accept? How can I bring the messages to life? How can I communicate a positive way forward? How can I give people time to reflect and respond? How can I encourage them to communicate clearly? How can I anticipate and answer any questions? How can I ensure that people have taken on-board the messages? How can I encourage people to move to the next steps? How can I do my best to get concrete results?

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, describe the ‘Who’. Describe the people – or person –with whom you want to communicate. Second, describe the ‘What’. Describe the real results you want to achieve and the key messages you want to get across to people. Third, describe the ‘How’. Describe how you can do you best to achieve the desired results. Try completing the following exercise.

Clarity

The Who. The audience – the people or
person – with whom I want to communicate is:

*

The What. The real results I want to achieve are:

*

*

*

The key messages I want to give people are:

*

*

*

The How. The specific things I can do to
do my best to achieve these results are:

*

*

*

2) You can focus on context and connection.

Imagine you are a leader who wants to communicate the organisation’s future strategy. What is the real result you want to achieve? For example, you may want: a) To ensure people clear on the organisation’s story, strategy and picture of success; b) To give people a chance to reflect, ask questions and ensure they fully understand the strategy; c) To encourage people to contribute to pursuing the strategy. Let’s assume you have prepared properly. After welcoming people to the session, you may then focus on the following steps.

* Context

“Start by giving the context,” said one of my teachers. “That way people are able to see the big picture. Some leaders fail to set the scene and quickly rush into the details. Listeners then need time to adjust – either intellectually or emotionally – before they can take on-board the ideas. Good leaders set the scene and then give the key messages within this big picture.”

Imagine you are explaining the future strategy to people in an organisation. You may want to start by saying something like:

“Before going into detail, it is important to see things in context. The real results we want to achieve as an organisation are: ______. Bearing in mind these goals, there are several routes we can take in the future. Here is a quick overview of the various options, together with the pluses and minuses. We have chosen to take the following route: _______. The reasons for choosing this path are: _______.”

“Looking at this route, the key strategies we can follow to achieve success are: _______. The roles of various departments in making these happen are: _______. In a moment I will be going into greater detail, but first of all I wanted to make sure that everybody was clear on the organisation’s goals, the possible options and the chosen way forward.”

You can also encourage people to focus on the ‘context’ in other situations. For example, if you get too deeply involved in details, get into an argument or are thrown a curve ball, it may be important to stay calm and ‘buy time’. You may say something like: “Let’s step back for a moment and look at the real results we want to achieve.” This will give everybody the chance to focus on the big picture and consider the possible ways forward.

* Connection

Good communicators ‘connect’ with other people. They do this by thinking ahead about the other’s aims, agenda and picture of success. Showing respect for others, they give examples that people can relate to in their daily lives. Great speakers often move between the ‘concept and the concrete’. Whilst outlining the broad concepts, they give concrete examples that resonate with listeners. Whether you are communicating in a ‘one-to-many’, ‘one-to-few’ or ‘one-to-one’ situation, it is vital to try to connect with other people.

Good communicators also often employ ‘the second empathy’. The first empathy is showing that you understand the person’s ‘actual situation’. The second empathy is showing that you understand the person’s ‘aspirations’. Great speakers, for example, often connect with listener’s dreams. They give voice to people’s hopes and show how these can be translated into reality. They create a bridge between now and a positive future.

Try tackling the exercise on these two themes: context and connection. First, bearing in mind the situation in which you want to be a good communicator, describe how you can encourage people to focus on the big picture. Second, describe how you aim to connect with people. Try completing the following sentences.

Context

The specific things I can do to encourage
people to see things in context are:

*

*

*

Connection

The specific things I can do to
ensure I connect with people are:

*

*

*

3) You can focus on communication and concrete results.

Let’s move onto the final two steps: communication and concrete results.

* Communication

There are many definitions of the word ‘communication’: but here we are talking about ‘a shared understanding of specific information’. This involves the ongoing communication cycle of: ‘Person A transmitting; Person B receiving; Person B checking understanding; Person B reflecting; Person B formulating their views; Person B transmitting; Person A receiving; Person A checking understanding; Person A then reflecting, formulating their views, transmitting - and so on.’ The aim is to communicate clearly, share a common understanding and work together towards a common goal.

Good communicators try to follow this process in during their daily lives. It is vital to build on common ground, share a common understanding and work towards common goals. This is communication in its purest form, but in some situations you will modify parts of the process.

If you are a leader, for example, you are charged with leading the organisation to success. This calls for being decisive and pursuing certain strategies towards achieving the goals. When communicating with your people, it is important: a) To explain the strategy for achieving success; b) To give people the opportunity to opt-in; c) To give them ownership, within parameters, of implementing their part of the strategy. Certain things are not up for debate – it is not a democracy – but it is still vital to communicate the key messages and encourage others to communicate clearly. You can do this by clarifying, for example:

The key messages I want to communicate to people are:

*

*

*

The key things I can do to ensure that everybody understands
these messages and get the chance to communicate their views are:

*

*

*

This latter part is a crucial step in real communication. Imagine that you are in the role of ‘receiver’, rather than ‘transmitter’. Somebody has given you a message. Communicating back to them sometimes involves going through a process of ‘inner communication’ before moving on to ‘outer communication’. Upon hearing somebody’s words – or being on the receiving end of certain behaviour – you may want to reflect and ask yourself:

“What is my response? What do I feel about the message? Bearing this in mind, what do I want to do about it? What are the real results I want to achieve? What are my options? What are the consequences of each option? Which route do I want to pursue? What do I therefore want to say to the person? How can I put this in a way they can understand and, hopefully, accept?”

This sounds complicated, but the process can take half a second. The key is to do your inner communication – focusing on what you want to do – before transmitting your outer communication. You are then more likely to achieve successful outcomes.

Great leaders sometimes encourage their people to go through a similar reflective process after sharing the future strategies. Recently I worked with one company that took this step. The leadership team started by explaining the potential options, their chosen strategy and the road map towards success. They then asked people to break into groups and fill flip charts with their thoughts under three headings:

* The things we like.

* The concerns we may have.

* The other questions we have.

People spent 20 minutes in groups and returned to share their lists. The leadership team addressed all the points raised and did not skirt tough issues. After the session people reported: “We were treated like adults. It was good to see the overall plan and get honest answers.”

* Concrete results

This is an optional step that may or may not be appropriate. Good communication leads to a shared understanding. Sometimes this is enough; but sometimes you may also wish to translate it into concrete results. If you are a leader, you will do everything you can do to encourage, educate and enable people to play their part in reached the organisation’s goals. If you are an individual who wants to improve your relationship with someone, you will focus on how you can live or work together better in the future.

Let’s assume you want the communication to translate into action. You will make clear contracts with people about: the ‘What’ – the real results to achieve; the ‘Why’ – the benefits of achieving the results; the ‘How’ – the key principles to follow; the ‘Who’ – the roles people will play and the support they will need; the ‘When’ – the specific things that need to be done by when. You will encourage and enable people to achieve success.

Try tackling the exercise on these two themes: communication and concrete results. First, describe how you and other people can communicate properly. Second, describe how you can translate the communication into concrete results. Try completing the following sentences.

Communication

The specific things I can do to ensure that both
I and other people communicate properly are:

*

*

*

Concrete Results

The specific things I can do to enable
people to deliver concrete results are:

*

*

*

There are many models for communicating. This article has focused on clarity, context, connection, communication and concrete results. You can follow these in your own way to continue being a good communicator.

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