Communication is important. We live in a society where we have 100's of communication channels in our mobile phones and most of us spend a significant part of our work day in front of a computer communicating with other people. Upping your communication game can change everything for you. I don't claim to be an expert, in fact, I fall into a LOT of communication traps all the time. This post is just as much for me as it is for you, I need to remind myself of some very essential points of successful communication from time to time.
A message not understood is a useless message, and you can't blame the receiver for not understanding. If you want someone to understand your message, you need to make sure it's optimised for your reader. The most obvious mistake is sending a message in a language the receiver doesn't speak, but it doesn't end there.
Words are only a portion of a language, there are cultural and traditional nuances to take into consideration as well. Take English as an example and the word 'pants'. If you ask a British person what it means they would reply 'underwear', while Americans would say that you wear pants over your underwear. Same language, big difference. The language and even the words and phrasing needs to be carefully considered when creating a message.
To be able to get your message out you need to know who you are sending your message to. Writing to yourself isn't very useful if you want someone else to read it. The more receivers you have, the harder it becomes to create the message, and you have to do more research beforehand. Below are some questions to ask yourself before creating your message:
If you are writing a recipe for a person who has never entered a kitchen or an experienced chef, you have to write the recipe very differently. Have you ever read 'pinch of salt' in a recipe and wondered if that means a teaspoon or literally what you pinch between your fingers? 'A pinch of salt' can be ok to write in a recipe intended for experienced chefs, but it's not helpful for a total beginner. Make sure you know how much pre-knowledge your recipients have!
I consider myself fluent in English and am confident to communicate widely in English even though it is my second language. It actually brings me two benefits to have limitations in my English skills, it will keep me from using too much cultural references and proverbs, and it also makes me think about how the message can be interpreted by someone who hasn't got the same cultural references as me. It's something I consider every time I proofread messages written by others, I think about how I can misinterpret the message and if there are any changes necessary to minimise that risk.
If your message is intended to sell, you need to make your message create a need in the recipient. If you are writing a novel you want the reader to invest in your characters and loose track of time when they are reading your story. If you are writing instructions, you have to give the recipient all the tools they need to create the final piece, and feel good about it. If you're writing a blog post about communication, you want to give the reader an understanding of what goes into a message, and give them tools to improve their own messaging.
When you have established that you know your reader and you are sending the message through the appropriate media, then start looking at the message itself. If you are trying to spark a new interest in someone, don't use to much jargon. If you're sending the message in the second language of the recipient, don't confuse them with long fancy words, you don't want to discombobulate your reader.
This thinking is important even when you talk to people in your daily life. If you discuss an assignment with your work colleagues and you use two very different types of languages, you may end up working against each other instead of with each other. Or you make plans with your friends and end up talking about different times or places. Use the language of your recipient.
In safety critical industries there is an extra step added to all communication - receipt and confirmation. Every communication that is critical to ensure production or safety should be followed by receipt and confirmation that the recipient has understood the message, often by being repeated back to verify. It might sound like overkill, but if you want to make sure your message has been understood there are two key steps, communicate in your recipients language, and confirm that the message has been received and understood.
Please comment below the mistakes I have done according to the points above - let's see how much attention you've paid!
A message not understood is a useless message, and you can't blame the receiver for not understanding. If you want someone to understand your message, you need to make sure it's optimised for your reader. The most obvious mistake is sending a message in a language the receiver doesn't speak, but it doesn't end there.
Words are only a portion of a language, there are cultural and traditional nuances to take into consideration as well. Take English as an example and the word 'pants'. If you ask a British person what it means they would reply 'underwear', while Americans would say that you wear pants over your underwear. Same language, big difference. The language and even the words and phrasing needs to be carefully considered when creating a message.
To be able to get your message out you need to know who you are sending your message to. Writing to yourself isn't very useful if you want someone else to read it. The more receivers you have, the harder it becomes to create the message, and you have to do more research beforehand. Below are some questions to ask yourself before creating your message:
Who is going to receive my message?
The more you know about your recipient, the better. Do you know them personally? What is their language? What's their culture? How old are they? Do they live in a city or countryside? What is their income bracket? Are they married? Do they have a religion? What is their education? Do they already know about you? Are they already interested in your message? Are they new to your business or experienced in the field?If you are writing a recipe for a person who has never entered a kitchen or an experienced chef, you have to write the recipe very differently. Have you ever read 'pinch of salt' in a recipe and wondered if that means a teaspoon or literally what you pinch between your fingers? 'A pinch of salt' can be ok to write in a recipe intended for experienced chefs, but it's not helpful for a total beginner. Make sure you know how much pre-knowledge your recipients have!
Does my message contain any cultural or regional expressions?
If you have included any subtle jokes that needs cultural knowledge to understand; or an idiom or proverb in a message to people in several different countries - remove it. I have to assume that anyone reading this post understands English to a degree, but I can't expect everyone to understand what 'A poor workman blames his tools' means without having fairly good cultural understand of the English language. This is also the point in the blog post when I hope that most of my readers will understand the title 'A poor writer blames her letters'. The title had both proverb and multilayered joke in it, which is a good example of a poor message - it's way too obscure for anyone to understand without explanation.I consider myself fluent in English and am confident to communicate widely in English even though it is my second language. It actually brings me two benefits to have limitations in my English skills, it will keep me from using too much cultural references and proverbs, and it also makes me think about how the message can be interpreted by someone who hasn't got the same cultural references as me. It's something I consider every time I proofread messages written by others, I think about how I can misinterpret the message and if there are any changes necessary to minimise that risk.
What is the intention of the message?
Most message wants someone, otherwise we wouldn't send them. My intention with this message is to make you think about your messages, to give you tools to make your messages better. This is also a message to myself, I need to practise these same techniques when I create messages, and this post also serves as a practise piece. There are mistakes in this text, some deliberate, some unintentional, some of them I have left in there just to prove how important it is to prepare before creating messages.If your message is intended to sell, you need to make your message create a need in the recipient. If you are writing a novel you want the reader to invest in your characters and loose track of time when they are reading your story. If you are writing instructions, you have to give the recipient all the tools they need to create the final piece, and feel good about it. If you're writing a blog post about communication, you want to give the reader an understanding of what goes into a message, and give them tools to improve their own messaging.
What if the recipient doesn't understand my message?
Did you send a message and didn't receive the reaction you wanted? Maybe it was misunderstood? Read your message again and try to understand who read the message. Did you create a message for a person with a special interest in your area, but sent it to someone who has limited knowledge about it? Do a survey of your readers and get to know them. Maybe it turns out you are using the wrong channel for your message, don't use twitter to read a crowd who are hanging out on Facebook. You need to send your message where your readers will see it.When you have established that you know your reader and you are sending the message through the appropriate media, then start looking at the message itself. If you are trying to spark a new interest in someone, don't use to much jargon. If you're sending the message in the second language of the recipient, don't confuse them with long fancy words, you don't want to discombobulate your reader.
This thinking is important even when you talk to people in your daily life. If you discuss an assignment with your work colleagues and you use two very different types of languages, you may end up working against each other instead of with each other. Or you make plans with your friends and end up talking about different times or places. Use the language of your recipient.
In safety critical industries there is an extra step added to all communication - receipt and confirmation. Every communication that is critical to ensure production or safety should be followed by receipt and confirmation that the recipient has understood the message, often by being repeated back to verify. It might sound like overkill, but if you want to make sure your message has been understood there are two key steps, communicate in your recipients language, and confirm that the message has been received and understood.
Please comment below the mistakes I have done according to the points above - let's see how much attention you've paid!
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