Communicate Like An Artist

Meaningful and efficient communication is crucial when managing escalations in my daily job. It requires a strategic mindset, courage, compassion, clarity and many more. I found my life can get easier in any area of my life/work circles if I practice what I learned in the last 20 years of problem management work. This blog provides some insights on how to enhance your communication.

I use the Artist as an analogy for the reason below:

• The goal of an artist is to deliver a message or an impression in one artwork. To reach it, the artist needs to keep the message in mind and carefully decide what to paint/design. The masterpieces are those ones with perfect demonstration of that message from each single detail/component.
• The communication aims for the similar goal - information transmission. Good communication should be efficient and right to the point (no more, no less).

Here is my experience on how to make communication efficient.

Research the WHY to plan your communication

When managing escalations, our role expects us to be the communication owner. To meet this, we need to understand the following as a start point:

• Why is the situation escalated?
• Do we know whose fault yet?
• Who are my audiences? Do they have any particular communication styles?
• What is in it for my audience?
• What is the desired outcome?

Through this research, we aim to understand the escalated situation more so we can define what approaches/responses are required for the given situation. I am passionate about my job simply because each situation has a unique problem for me to solve, which gives me unlimited space to explore a right solution. Even though every situation is different, the Cynefin Framework summarizes any situation into 4 basic categories: Obvious, Complicated, Complex and Chaotic. This can be used to structure the approach including our communication approach to finding the correct solution that matches the given conditions of the situation.

In Chinese, we have a proverb - 三思而后行. It means - think three times before you act. This WHY research is the most important part of any communication. We need to focus on the WHY along the whole communication journey. This will help us avoid the side distractions by emotions, self-defense and bias during crucial conversations.

Identify the WHAT to determine your messages?

Stay unbiased when generating your messages: you are here to convey messages, not emotion.

Based on your understanding of the audiences, draft the messages in the way to match their expected communication way. For example, if your audience is a visual learner, prepare your message via data/chart. If the key stakeholder is an executive and prefers 2 minutes talk, prepare your messages in an extremely simplified way to target what he/she/they wants to know.

With the activities above, you are able to get the proper level of confidence based on the clarified authority and insights about the situation behind the communication, in order to make the communication happen.

Determine the HOW to manage your?communication

Communication is not just what we say, but how we deliver it. On the top, keep the following in the mind before you communicate:

• Communicate with presence, love, care and passion

? ? ? ? ? Compassionate and mindful communication is the key skill to help the information transition cover both perspectives in order to reach a conflict resolution based on the understanding. Please remember that we are communicating to find a solution for the situation, not to deepen the conflicts.

• Understand your audiences' communication styles: If you have worked with the audiences from other situations, tailor your key communication notes based on their styles. If they are new to you, do some research in advance. You may talk to other internal stakeholders who know them. Their LinkedIn profiles and blogs can also give you a hint. If you don't have any clue, get ready to find it out in the live conversation.

? ? ? ? ? There are many ways to assess a person's style. To understand the styles, we should be aware of each person's personality and strength. TILT365 is a tool to identify our personality and strengths by nature. There are 4 TILT types: Connection, Clarity, Structure and Impact. I understand there is no way to ask our audiences' TILT type. But if you are aware of each type's thinking/feeling preferences, behavior drivers, focus of attention and inner motivations, you can quickly capture your audiences' type.

? ? ? ? ? ??At the next level, DISC assessment generates a deep understanding of your natural and adopted behavior styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Each style has their typical communication styles, hence the best practices below when communicating with each of them:

In the live communication, here are the best practices:

• Keep the WHY and the desired outcome in the mind: Use this as a guideline to lead the conversations so you can focus on what you want from it.
• Acknowledge presence and concerns:? By saying "I represent my team and am here to help." and "I have the same goal as you which is to solve the problem.", it can quickly build up the connection with the audience and show your desire to work with them towards a solution.
• Stay unbiased: We are all humans and tend to become biased based on our first impression, generation, culture, religion, own environment and many other factors. Please respect the audience's opinion during crucial conversations.?
• Use words which can contribute to the situation solution: Mind our words during communication, especially those political and sensitive scenarios. It is vital to choose the professional words wisely to help "heal", not to "hurt"; to focus on the "facts", not the "opinion".
• Manage your emotions timely: When the other end of the conversation dominates it and blocks you from reaching your desired outcome, it is natural and common that your body will enter the "fight or flight" mode. When you start feeling uncomfortable, take a deep breath and remind yourself that this is about the business, not about me. Then get back to the focus on your body and your WHY. If the conversation gets stuck, it is OK to pause by accepting that we are vulnerable, refresh your position and ask what the other end wants, and then reschedule a time to follow up.
• Master your mindful listening skills: Listen with your full attention while digesting what the speaker addresses is related to your WHY and if they are contributing to the solution. It helps build up a safe space if you allow others to speak freely without judgment or interruption.
• Read the room: Be mindful about the audiences' reaction and recognize the turning point when the conversation gets crucial. It is the time when you need to adjust your communication approach.
• Note down all the agreed points: Capture all the key agreements including the action items. Review their connection to the WHY. Finalize and communicate the call summary timely. Remember to keep your style consistent and be accountable to track the action items closely afterward.

Summary

The WHY behind the communication seldom changes along the situation management life cycle. It is like the paint brush in your hand when drawing your artwork. It is your choice when deciding what to draw in each step. To come out with a perfect artwork, each step which is driven by your brush should connect to that WHY.

Please carry these practices when exploring your own way toward becoming a more effective communicator, both personally and professionally.