Do you master these eights communication principles?

Eight common principles are fundamental for all professional communication. They may sound simple, but they aren’t necessarily easy to follow. They apply to all kinds of communication, written or in conversation. And most people struggle with one or more of them.

Which ones do you find to be the hardest?

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#1 Communicate as required by your job

First, it’s essential to understand when to communicate. Some people behave too passively and communicate too little or too infrequently, while others communicate too much and too often. So, getting it right is a balance. If you don’t communicate enough, you’ll leave others wondering what you’re doing and what your plans are. People may also think you’re not contributing as you should. On the other hand, if you communicate too much and share every thought in your head – or get overly insistent or repetitive – you risk putting people off.

The best rule of thumb is to communicate as much and as often as your job requires, rather than be influenced by any personal desire to be liked, fear of embarrassment, and so on.

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#2 Have a Genuine Desire to Understand

Communication often goes awry because the people involved don’t even try to understand each other. They are so preoccupied with their own convictions, that they don’t have the patience or perhaps even the capacity to understand the other party’s position. The tendency to evaluate, judge, approve, or disprove gets in the way.

However, the most productive results often come from differing points of view that are explored together in constructive dialogue. And to obtain that, all parties must have a genuine desire to understand. So, be empathetic and try to see things from the other person’s perspective.

That doesn’t mean, though, that you should automatically agree with the other party’s point of view; understanding and agreeing are two entirely different things. On the other hand, without a mutual desire to understand, you’re stuck in an unhelpful pattern of debate, where each party only defends their own views without wanting or trying to see things from each other’s point of view.

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#3 Adjust your communication style to the intended recipient

We are all different and have our own distinctive, preferred communication styles.

So, when communicating with others, consider how their style may differ from your own, and when possible, try to adjust your communication style so that it best matches that of the receiver. For example, extroverted people tend to speak what they think as they think, whereas introverted people tend to think a few moments before they talk. Some people prefer written communication, whereas others prefer meeting up or having a conversation by telephone. Some prefer a high-level overview first and the details afterward; others like it the other way around.

And it’s crucial to acknowledge these differences.

For instance, if someone is terrible with email but excellent when talking with others, don’t send endless emails. Instead, grab the phone or have a meeting in person. By adapting your style, you do your best to ensure a productive result.

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#4 Speak up

Organizations need people who assert themselves, especially when the message isn’t the most popular or easiest to deliver. They need people who serve the organization’s best interest by communicating what they honestly believe .. which isn’t necessarily what their colleagues, customers, managers, or clients like to hear.

However, finding the courage to speak up may be just what is needed to change an entrenched or charged situation or save an organization from a pending failure. According to Edmondson in Psychological Safety, speaking up may mean, for example, the difference between life and death for inpatients. It’s that important. ?

Of course, speaking up may not always be appropriate. In some situations, you may need to stay silent or express your viewpoints at a later time and place, and perhaps at first to a carefully chosen audience. But as a general principle, it’s professional to be as open as you can within the limits of the situation.

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#5 Be Clear and Direct

Be clear and direct in your communication; you don’t want to leave room for misinterpretation. Indeed, your message should be specific enough for the receiver to be able to take clear action on it. The more concrete and less abstract, the better. For example, “We need more resources for our project” can be made concrete by adding how many resources, when they’re needed, for how long, and what kind of resources. For example, “We need one more developer for six weeks, starting November first.”

You also want to explain any abstract concepts or abbreviations you use. Don’t assume other people understand abstract or complex concepts like you do. Since people often don’t ask for an explanation, you do them a favor by providing one anyway.

Likewise, avoid unnecessarily complex or academic language that people in your organization won’t understand. On the contrary, where the school system often encourages academic language, it’s all about ease of understanding at work: make it as simple as possible for as many as possible to understand.

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#6 Be Brief

A few concise statements often communicate with more weight than a long explanation. However, as simple as it sounds, being brief is not necessarily the same as being fast: it requires time to structure your ideas and arguments concisely. Mark Twain humorously formulated this paradox as: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Even if being brief means dropping some of your points, do it anyway. It’s much worse not to get your main message through because it drowns in other, less important messages. And if people need more information or details, they can always ask!

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#7 State Your Main Point at the Start

Whether in written or spoken language (e.g., when presenting), communicate the message of primary interest to the receiver immediately at the start, then elaborate on the details and background after you’ve delivered your main message.

That way, you don’t risk the receiver getting distracted or impatient before you reach your main point. This order of presenting is opposite to what the school system often teaches: you introduce your topic, then go through your main argumentation, and finally come to a conclusion.

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#8 Make It Positive

The more you can communicate positively and appreciatively, the more others will enjoy working with you. In general, you foster more positive interpersonal relations by trying to make your communication have an overweight of positive versus negative messages. That means that you sometimes need to make a deliberate effort to communicate as positively as possible, even if the main issue is negative. For example, you can say to a colleague you believe is making a mistake, “You can improve that by . . .” or “I believe there is a better way.” That’s more positive than saying, “That’s the wrong way.” You’re saying the same thing, just stating it more positively.

You can also make your communication more positive by adding positivity when it fits. For instance, you can almost always find a way to start an email with a short statement of appreciation like, “Thank you for your quick reply” or “Thank you for taking time.” If you think about it, you can nearly always find something you appreciate, even when your main message is neutral or negative.

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This is the seventh in a series of 14 articles that will convey the main concepts of our book 12 Universal Skills to LinkedIn readers – especially those at the beginning of their careers.

For more on the topic, have a look at our book 12 Universal Skills: The Beginner’s Guide to a Successful Work Life.