Anyone who has ever worked with The Latimer Group, or read or listened to any of our content, will easily recall one of the primary tenets of our work – great communication requires that you understand who you are speaking to. We discuss this constantly — anyone who designs and delivers a message without being conscious of who is on the receiving end of that message is making a fundamental mistake. Great communication requires this approach, especially in an information-intensive world like the one in which we all currently live.
And if you embrace this notion, and are constantly conscious of the realities of the people on the receiving end of your missives, then the next piece of advice we frequently share is that when your due diligence suggests that your audience is stressed, distracted or under pressure in any way, keep the message simple.
What does “keeping it simple” really mean in this context? It means a few things: get to the point quickly… make your message relevant and clear… and leave the really controversial topics for another day. If you violate any of these rules on a day when your audience is stressed or focused on something else, guess what their reaction will be? They’ll ignore you and continue to focus on that “something else.” And (much more importantly) you may also lose some credibility with them in the process.
Simple message today… know and understand your audience, and if you think it will be hard to keep their focus, keep things really simple.
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Does your team:
– Overwhelm the audience with too much detail?
– Make things too complicated?
– Fail to ask for what they want or need?
Does your organization:
– Waste time because of poor internal communication?
– Take too long to make decisions?
– Struggle to clarify and frame discussions?
Do your leaders:
– Exhibit poor executive presence?
– Lean on incomplete communication skills?
– Fail to align the organization?
We transform teams and individuals with repeatable toolsets for persuasive communication. Explore training, coaching, and consulting services from The Latimer Group.
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