This is something a lot of people get wrong but it is definitely one of the most important keys to success in almost every area of life.
So what is good communication?
The answer is that good communication is the ability to convey precise meaning efficiently. Notice that work: efficiently. Your objective is to convey the exact meaning you want to in the shortest amount of time. This keeps your ‘communication overhead’ lower, so that less time is wasted on meetings and it will also help you to communicate what you need to communicate more efficiently with less margin for error.
This is why it’s a big mistake to use too many big words or too much jargon. Often people do this to try and sound clever when in reality, it just makes them sound insecure as though they have something to prove. What’s more, is that it makes it harder for some people to understand and wastes people’s time in reading. So why don’t you just use the fewest words possible and avoid those dramatic pauses entirely?
If the only aim is efficiency, then why don’t we all talk like robots? This is where ‘precision’ comes into the equation. Precision is the ability to convey the exact meaning you want and often this means selecting the right word for the job. Saying ‘it’s cold today’ has a subtly different meaning than saying ‘it’s freezing today’. What’s more, is that the latter conveys more emotion at the same time – and it’s that emotion that helps you to motivate and to make people take action (such as putting on a coat!).
Seeing as the word ‘freezing’ actually conveys more information in fewer words, we can safely conclude that this word is actually more ‘efficient’ and thereby the slightly more decorative language in this case was the right choice.
When it comes to the written word, efficiency and accuracy become even more important. Make sure you learn your grammar and punctuation because a comma in the wrong place can equate to thousands of dollars lost!
The Law of Attraction
Another important tip to ensure you come across as more capable and more effective, is to make sure you look the part as well. This might seem shallow but the fact is that people are more inclined to follow others if they look like leaders. That means you should take care in your presentation – in the way you dress, the way your hair looks and even your physical fitness. This makes you appear more capable altogether and it also makes it look like you care more.
And we’ve already seen in detail why caring is so important when it comes to motivating a team. This all boils down to what is known as the ‘law of attraction’. If you look a certain way and act a certain way, then you will become the
person you are already acting like. This is because you will change the way you feel about yourself and you will change the way others see you, therefore changing the way that others treat and respond to you.
Quick Exercise: How to Become Social Fearless
Some people reading this are going to now be thinking that these instructions sound entirely not like them. Speak slowly and hold center stage. Gesticulate more and make your motions large. Be passionate and driven. But what if you are naturally shy? What if you freeze up whenever you have to give a talk or even meet someone you don’t know very well?
How can you overcome natural shyness in order to be the leader you need to be? One solution is just to start practicing social confidence – and as it happens, this is something you can learn. If you keep putting yourself
in social situations that you find intimidating, you will eventually start to become desensitized to the stress and you’ll stop seeing your heartrate increase and your skin start sweating.
You can also combine this with CBT – telling yourself that it really doesn’t matter what people think, as long as you are helping to achieve the goal you believe so much in (just one more reason why it matters to have passion and
vision). One of the very best ways to face this fear and desensitize? Start doing stand-up comedy classes! You’ll very quickly find that you stop feeling anxious when you have to speak with your staff.
Once you do all this and practice building up the level of intimidation, you’ll find you stop feeling nervous and it will change the way you come across in public. Now you’ll seem calm and collected and people will therefore assume you know what you’re talking about and be much happier to follow you!