We need to be exemplary communicators to succeed in business and life. Here are 4 vital tips to master the art and science of communication:
- Tailor Your Message to Your Audience
- Overcome Barriers to Understanding
- Develop Trust and Believability
- Choose the Right Medium
So, what do these 4 vital tips mean and how do you use them to improve your communication?
1. Tailor Your Message to Your Audience
Know your audience. People prefer to receive information and to learn in different ways. Some people are more:
- Visual, preferring to see information in pictures or graphics.
- Auditory, preferring to have a two-way dialogue.
- Kinesthetic, preferring to get their hands on and work physically with the information.
- Creative (right-brain dominant), being energized by working with abstract concepts that result in something new being formed.
- Analytic (left-brain dominant), being energized by getting into the nitty-gritty details and crossing all the “t’s” and dotting all the “i’s.”
2. Overcome Barriers to Understanding
A person’s perception is their reality—their truth—until new understanding happens. It is our responsibility as communicators to assure that people are understanding what we are attempting to communicate—that what we are saying is making it through their built-in filtering system and barriers.