A witty obituary that went viral last week painted a very clear picture of the deceased, Harry Stamps. Quite simply, Harry did things his way.
That obituary reminded me how good communication actually works. Like Harry’s remembrance, effective communication paints a clear picture of a person, an idea, a company, or a place. But as you know from your own experience, clarity isn’t always what we get in our daily conversations. Most conversations, even important ones, wander a great deal. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Conversations get confusing if there isn’t a readily identifiable core message. When this happens, each additional brushstroke only muddies the canvas, and more talking often leads to less understanding. But when your core message is clear, and if your words support that message, it’s easy to see the picture you are painting. I’ll understand what you are saying. We will have communicated.
Partly because we’re busy, and partly because of how easily and cheaply we can send messages today, many of our conversations suffer from a weak central message. It’s worth taking an extra moment before we hit the send button, or before we start talking, to identify the essence of what we want to convey and make sure it comes through.
Effective communication paints a picture that coalesces around a central message. When we identify our core theme before communicating, we’ll be much more likely to create a masterpiece.
Originally posted on mouthpeaceconsulting.com.