ABC's of Communicating With Impact
03/January/05 Filed in: Leadership
Articles
What do these have in common?
~ An elevator pitch to a potential client
~ Making a point to your boss
~ Informing your team about new developments
~ Reporting on your division at the company meeting
In these and countless other circumstances, you clearly want to make your message appealing, brilliant, and convincing. You want to make it authoritative and bold… or at the very least, comprehensible. To deliver a message that sticks, think ABC -- Attention, Brevity, Clarity.
The big secret to obtaining attention, brevity, and clarity in your communication... preparation! Mark Twain said, “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” While preparation is crucial to honing your best message, using attention, brevity, and clarity will also position your spontaneous remarks for high impact.
Attention. You must capture attention if you want your message to have impact. Facts alone will rarely do so. How? Attend to the emotional side of your message and speak to what people care about. Be true to yourself. A little creativity can go a long way. Some techniques include starting with a famous quote, a surprising statistic, or humor. Whatever technique you choose, be sure it is relevant to the point of your message.
Brevity. Make it short. To the point. Less really can be more. This paragraph is a great example.
Better to have someone remember one key idea than simply be exposed to a dozen bullet points.
Clarity. Organize and present your message in a way that eases the amount of brainpower needed to follow along. Clarity includes understanding your purpose, a logical structure, and congruent delivery.
One of the best ways to achieve clarity is for you to be clear about the purpose of your message. Think of this in terms of action or information flow. Do you want action from others, support for your actions, or contributions to a dialogue prior to action being taken? Are you providing information or opinions, seeking information or opinions, or providing some data that others can use to gain information or form opinions?
Clarity also requires your message to have a logical structure. Sample structures for messages include a problem-solution sequence, chronological arrangement, or side-by-side comparison. Make your key point or ask your main question first, then provide background information.
Finally, make sure your delivery is congruent with the message. Do your facial expressions and body language match your message? Is the setting conducive to what you want people to experience?
Remembering your ABCs for impact can make a big difference, whether you are a line professional, the CEO, or anything in between. One of my clients sat through a long series of presentations and time was up before she had an opportunity to talk about her section. Undaunted, she stood up and said “I can tell you about _____ in one minute.” That alone grabbed everyone’s attention. She said her key point, and then sat down. You can bet her presentation was as memorable, if not more so, as those of the previous speakers.
I’ve observed in my work with leaders, managers, and professionals that breaking the mold of mediocrity can be a struggle. If long, boring reports and reading detail after detail from PowerPoint slides are the norm, it can feel uncomfortable to break the mold. Take the risk, grab attention, make your message brief and clear. Then reap the rewards of communicating with impact.
~ An elevator pitch to a potential client
~ Making a point to your boss
~ Informing your team about new developments
~ Reporting on your division at the company meeting
In these and countless other circumstances, you clearly want to make your message appealing, brilliant, and convincing. You want to make it authoritative and bold… or at the very least, comprehensible. To deliver a message that sticks, think ABC -- Attention, Brevity, Clarity.
The big secret to obtaining attention, brevity, and clarity in your communication... preparation! Mark Twain said, “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” While preparation is crucial to honing your best message, using attention, brevity, and clarity will also position your spontaneous remarks for high impact.
Attention. You must capture attention if you want your message to have impact. Facts alone will rarely do so. How? Attend to the emotional side of your message and speak to what people care about. Be true to yourself. A little creativity can go a long way. Some techniques include starting with a famous quote, a surprising statistic, or humor. Whatever technique you choose, be sure it is relevant to the point of your message.
Brevity. Make it short. To the point. Less really can be more. This paragraph is a great example.
Better to have someone remember one key idea than simply be exposed to a dozen bullet points.
Clarity. Organize and present your message in a way that eases the amount of brainpower needed to follow along. Clarity includes understanding your purpose, a logical structure, and congruent delivery.
One of the best ways to achieve clarity is for you to be clear about the purpose of your message. Think of this in terms of action or information flow. Do you want action from others, support for your actions, or contributions to a dialogue prior to action being taken? Are you providing information or opinions, seeking information or opinions, or providing some data that others can use to gain information or form opinions?
Clarity also requires your message to have a logical structure. Sample structures for messages include a problem-solution sequence, chronological arrangement, or side-by-side comparison. Make your key point or ask your main question first, then provide background information.
Finally, make sure your delivery is congruent with the message. Do your facial expressions and body language match your message? Is the setting conducive to what you want people to experience?
Remembering your ABCs for impact can make a big difference, whether you are a line professional, the CEO, or anything in between. One of my clients sat through a long series of presentations and time was up before she had an opportunity to talk about her section. Undaunted, she stood up and said “I can tell you about _____ in one minute.” That alone grabbed everyone’s attention. She said her key point, and then sat down. You can bet her presentation was as memorable, if not more so, as those of the previous speakers.
I’ve observed in my work with leaders, managers, and professionals that breaking the mold of mediocrity can be a struggle. If long, boring reports and reading detail after detail from PowerPoint slides are the norm, it can feel uncomfortable to break the mold. Take the risk, grab attention, make your message brief and clear. Then reap the rewards of communicating with impact.
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by Tom Stevens (c)2004
Tom Stevens helps individuals and organizations
create brilliant futures and make a difference. To
contact him, visit www.ThinkLeadershipIdeas.com
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