How would we define effective communication?
Effective communication consists of the ability to transmit a message, as well as the ability to present our ideas and suggestions, so that our interlocutor truly understands and remembers what we say and that even be able to motivate him to act.
In the following sequence we can highlight this quality in the protagonist. Since the beginning of the scene, fair and precise words, with the right information and making the interlocutor feel good.
After the presentation, looking for the best position regarding the audience and the room to transmit their message; being this clear, concise, radiating emotion and transmitting the information required by the audience.
How to improve interpersonal communication: 8 keys
People have asked me for years why communication is so complex in companies. And my answer is always the same: why do you think it should be simple?
In appearance we move in a world where words are very clear thanks to dictionaries. But we already saw that it is not like that. So I propose, as a closing, 8 actions for you to start applying from now on:
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 1: Explain to all the members of your team that the meaning is in people and not in words. Let them know that everything is polysemic, that walking is transparent.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 2: Develop a list of the 10 words or terms that you think have the most “communication problems” in your company. I recommend that you focus on strategic concepts. Remember that we do not seek to clarify “technicalities” or “jargon” but everyday concepts.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 3: Now invitá I defined those concepts. I suggest that when you do, avoid the vague and equally “polysemic” enunciations because it would lead us to a never-ending story. Example:
CHIEF: I took good care of the client!
EMPLOYEE: I take good care of him!
CHIEF: No, do not take it well. You have to be more professional
EMPLOYEE: And what would that be?
CHIEF: Be more cordial, empathetic and proactive.
EMPLOYEE: But what does it mean to be more cord …
CHIEF: (interrupts) Enough of games! It means that you are professional, PRO-FE-SIO-NAL. Do not play the fool and start to take good care of yourself. I do not think about repeating it! Understood?
EMPLOYEE: Very clear boss.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 4: It is not easy to define, I know. Maybe it’s the first time you take the time to think and put in writing what you understand for each term. I recommend that to facilitate the process you translate everything into observable, objective and measurable actions. It also helps to illustrate them with examples, counterexamples and cases.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 5: It is important to remember that no definition is better or worse than another. It is not about seeing who is right. “Work well” what is it? What the leader or the company defines. In any case, our responsibility is to clarify and explain our concept to the other. Perform a semantic clarification, fix meanings to the signifier (forgiveness for the tongue twister), and look for definitions that are useful to improve the company.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 6: I opened the participation. Why listen and know how your employees define those concepts, how do they understand them? Why not enrich our definition based on what we hear? Why not expand the meaning and thus add commitment?
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 7: At the end of the process, you have to have a document with “common sense” of strategic concepts to transmit to the teams. And attention, the meaning of the words is “alive”. You have to know that it is possible (and desirable) that at some point things change, that the company must modify, for example, what it means by “working well”.
How to improve Interpersonal Communication – Key 8: Once the words have been defined, they must be legitimized, and the best way to do it is by filling them with coherent actions. There is nothing worse than pretty phrases stuck on the wall, very well written but very badly acted. If we say that in this loan “act with honesty” is “XYZ”, all the leaders of the company have to act those “XYZ” all the time. As I once read there: the world is going to change because of what you do, not because of what you think.
Effective communication techniques in 6 keys
Communicating is not talking. Speaking is only an essential part of communicating. For there to be effective communication, there must be a reciprocal exchange of the message. So what we say is as important as understanding the other interlocutor’s message. And when we speak of “understanding”, we refer to a conscious effort to understand what he means by his words. Even go a little further: what are your goals? What feelings are you expressing? You have to put yourself in the place of the other. That is the basic premise to consider in effective communication techniques. Without you do not have it, there is no communication. There would be two monologues that do not cross each other. What is sought is a dialogue.
1.- Paraphrase the other
Among effective communication techniques based on the understanding of the other there is a really interesting to overcome the “noise” that can interfere with good understanding. Paraphrasing the other person is a practical exercise that really works. It is not about repeating like a parrot. It’s about synthesizing what the other has said with your own words using expressions like: “If I have not misunderstood …”, “What do you mean …”, etc. This way you will check without breaking the dialogue if there is a match or not.
A quote from Pierre Rataud, author of the book Questions that make you sell explains perfectly the importance of paraphrasing to achieve effective communication:
“I know you think you understand what you think I said, but I do not know if you realize that what you have heard is not what I wanted to say.”
2.- Expressions of reinforcement
Have you kept active listening during the entire time your conversations last? If you think so, even if the subject is really interesting, you’re wrong. During any dialogue there are peaks of attention. Halfway through the message, almost without realizing it, we pay much less attention than at the beginning. That is why it is important to use reinforcing expressions for effective communication. How do you do this? For example, using interjections or expressions such as: “Good”, “Ok”, “Aha”, “Do not tell me!” …
Of course, the key to this effective communication technique is to use them sparingly. They will only be correct if they prevent the other person from feeling that they have been interrupted.
3.- The problem is not the people
In the business field, it is often required that effective communication techniques are capable of transmitting the failures that are committed. How to do this by preventing the other from feeling hurt or getting upset? How do we get our message to not lose its meaning while remaining assertive? It may seem impossible, but the key is to focus everything towards actions, towards the problem itself, forgetting about people. The key is to change “Being” to “Doing”.
“This report should be finished” is much better than “See that you are ineffective”. Attributing labels works as an attitude reinforcement. By using them as negative personal qualifiers, only that behavior is rooted in the person.
4.- Do not miss the topics
Although this also happens in the personal field, it is important that you are able to avoid controversial issues just because you fear the answers or results within the working world. Accumulating problems without reason will only achieve one thing: make you explode. This will imply that effective communication disappears. All your reactions, in a similar situation, will be exaggerated causing a huge surprise in the person with whom you communicate. She does not expect it and will interpret your attitude as disproportionate, creating an image that does not coincide with your reality. This is how the balance is broken.
What can you do to avoid it? Encourage good communication. That is, to face the issues, especially the negative ones in the same moment in which they appear. Although these are minor details or failures, the negative effects of accumulation will be avoided.
5.- Avoid past reproaches
Dirty clothes are washed at home. And the company is not home, even if you spend many hours in it. This has to be recorded on the skin and remembered day by day. Every day new challenges arise, and many of them are carried out with people with whom we have already worked. To remove previous errors and to insist on problems that were not resolved is to bet on a very ineffective communication technique. What is achieved? Only break the thread of communication and understanding by making the other person also defensive. It then enters a spiral of “and you more”.
It should be remembered that the objective of effective communication technique is to find a solution to a problem. It will never be to look for guilty or victims. Much less facts that perhaps one of the parties does not remember.
It should be remembered that the objective of effective communication technique is to find a solution to a problem. It will never be to look for guilty or victims. Much less facts that perhaps one of the parties does not remember. And if you remember, they have no relevance whatsoever for what you are currently dealing with.
6.- Be brief, concise and direct
In the business world you have to look for brevity. But that brevity must at the same time be concise and direct. Maybe in other aspects of your life you can bet on explayarte, but not in this case. Otherwise, your interlocutors may end up interpreting that you waste their time. Logically, this will not be effective at all, but rather the opposite. You may find yourself in situations as absurd as some comrades flee from you whenever they have the chance.
The key is to express your proposals as briefly, concisely and directly as possible, so that the background of the message is not diluted by irrelevant information.