Proven Ways to Communicate More Effectively

Have you ever proposed an idea in a meeting, had it ignored or shot down, only to watch someone else be praised for putting forward the very same idea?

Extremely frustrating, isn’t it?

If you were completely honest with yourself, you’d realize that while the two ideas were similar, the other person’s delivery was  different. His or her words — and presence — differed from yours. The right words can make a dramatic difference in the path of your career.

Here are five ways to increase your value to your current employer, as well as to potential employers:

1. Know your audience. Give me five different audiences and I will give five different presentations. If I notice that the other person is impatient, upset or confused, I will change my communications strategy midstream.

This is what effective communicators do. They adapt their tone, message and words to fit what their current audience needs.

If you get the opportunity to present to your CEO, you should do it differently than when you pitch an idea to your boss. The difference shouldn’t be based on what his or her title is; your presentation should be based on how the other person thinks. Does s/he prefer facts or anecdotes? Is s/he driven by ego or results?

2. Have a repeatable message. Most business materials are dense, boring or confusing. Few of them are easy to summarize in an attention-grabbing or interesting way.

My headline is designed to be simple and clear. I tried to come up with a short phrase you could share with your colleagues, and that they would understand as well as you did. But now this article has to deliver on the message I promised in that headline.

The harder you work at crafting repeatable messages, the more valuable your contributions will be. Why? Because you will impact more people in a positive manner, and it will take each of these people less time and effort to realize that your ideas matter.

3. Be powerful, not passive. ”Why was the road crossed by the chicken?” asks The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, using an old joke to illustrate how weak you sound when you use the passive voice. It’s much clearer and more powerful to ask, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Powerful professionals DO things; they don’t sit passively while others take action. But huge numbers of professionals write in the passive tense, like this:

After careful consideration, our department’s new operating policy was approved this morning by the management team.

What a lousy way to try to get others excited. Far better to write:

We just created five simple principles to make daily life in our department easier and simpler.

The Writing Center explains, “The primary reason why your instructors frown on the passive voice is that they often have to guess what you mean… you should also know that some instructors proclaim that the passive voice signals sloppy, lazy thinking. These instructors argue that writers who overuse the passive voice have not fully thought through what they are discussing and that this makes for imprecise arguments.”

Don’t be lazy or imprecise. Explain what you mean in a bold, clear and compelling manner.

4. Use examples. Early in my career, I was stuck in a low-paying, dead-end job. But I had a good relationship with the VP of Marketing, so I wrote a job description for a new job that could help his department. Two weeks later, he walked by my desk and dropped the same description on my desk with a new title scribbled at the top. “Would you have any interest in this job?” he asked with a wink.

I got the job and a generous raise.

I just used an example to show you how writing in a clear and compelling manner can get you both a raise and a promotion. By the way, a year later this same executive wrote a recommendation for me on my application to Wharton, where I subsequently earned my MBA.

5. Use picture captions. You know that pictures are powerful. But here’s a point you may not understand: The most-read words in any document are picture captions. When you add a few words to a picture, nearly everyone reads the caption.

Bruce Kasanoff helps professionals like you find the right words to advance your career. Learn more at Kasanoff.com.

An earlier version of this article originally appeared on Forbes.com.