Tennis Balls…

So why is Dave writing about tennis balls???Well, I am not.??I am writing about effectively communicating with our peers and teams (and anyone else).?

Sorry for all you tennis lovers, there will be no references to Djokovic, Nadal, Williams or Swiatek.??I am writing about tennis balls because a few times over the last month I have needed to be clearer and more concise in my writing or speaking.??Tennis balls???Well, we were in a meeting yesterday discussing benefits and I was misunderstood, and people thought I said, “tennis balls.”??

Every day in business we are confronted with “what I said” versus “what was heard”.??Heightening our own awareness to ensuring people understand what and why we are communicating will make us stronger leaders.??Research shows written and verbal communication is involved in 90% of all business transactions. Whether you’re just involved in office (or Zoom) chatter or closing an important deal, the art of communicating clearly and effectively is a key skill for all of us.??It is also a key to being a great boss — or succeeding in any role.

At its core level, effectively communicating is the exchange of thoughts, ideas, information, and messages between teams or individuals. We are not really communicating unless our message is understood.??Our communication can be verbal, non-verbal, written, and through behavior - as well as by listening and using feedback.

Effective communication is an art.??Some may say a dying art with the advance use of text messaging (brb, lol, hmu, smh, etc.)???But, like all art, great communication has an underlying structure, and good communicators, like great artists, understand the techniques that support effective communication. We all can learn the basic techniques for effective and concise communication. As we practice, we can begin to produce more logical, structured communication leading our teams or peers directly to the point.

Think first.??We do this with writing more than with speaking.??In speaking, thinking first is integral to concise communication. Thinking before we write may come more naturally, as we must compose our thoughts. By contrast, many of us don't bother to organize our thoughts well before we speak.?

From?Psychology Today.??“What is the outcome of the interaction we are striving for????What do we want to happen once our team or peers have listened to us? Are we hoping for agreement on something, a decision to be made, information to be passed and understood, a sale, a next step or simply an ear?”?

Consider our team and their needs.??If we know someone is going to be resistant to something, or we know their view is different, or they are having a bad day or struggling with something in their life, modify our comments and communication to acknowledge this. For example, if our company is experiencing a business challenge and our boss is?a bit stressed because of budgets or financial concerns, but we want to ask for a raise, our approach with our boss should acknowledge the position our request might put her in. The more we can frame comments with consideration for the position of another, the better they will listen to us.?

Organize our thoughts and chunk our information to be delivered. Often our team is left wondering where our thoughts and comments might be headed. They try to follow our line of thinking, but our communication is random and disorganized. This leaves our team spending too much time trying to interpret or follow our comments. Make it easier on our team by preparing in advance and shaping our comments in terms of A, B, C – for example, with our boss in the previous example: “I am hoping to discuss why I believe I am deserving of an increase, and I do understand many of the considerations with the financial concerns of the business right now. To walk through this, I will share (1) my accomplishments over the last 3 years in my role, (2) why the increase I am asking for is in alignment with other roles, and (3) how a potential increase could be phased in given the current climate within the company.”?

This way we are letting our team know the outcome, but also how we will accomplish what we are going to discuss. The better organized our delivery is, the better opportunity for our team to follow along.?

Provide context and make the material matter to our team. If we are trying to get the?team to understand, we need to connect new information to something they care about. Our teams are on overload most of the time, and if we want our comments to stand out in their crowded brains, we need to create a scenario or example to help them to understand. This doesn’t always work – but when it does, it can be a powerful way to connect our team to our message. Be careful not to do this without understanding the impactor context of our message (use your EQ), like “I would like a raise because John is making more money than I am at the company, and I believe I deserve to make as much.”?

It should not always be focused on us; it should be focused on our audience. Rather, “I know it might be hard to consider giving me a raise when we are experiencing financial concerns, but you might recall three years ago when you had given Sarah the increase she deserved, she was recognized as a strong contributor to the company and at that time, you were also recognized as someone who rewards their team members. It might be possible to create a situation where that happens again here.”??The more we make it about the audience, rather than just about us, the more our teams will sit up and take notice.

Ensure when we finish our communication, we connect the dots for our teams. If we started out with an expected end in mind, confirm we have reached the. expected outcome. If we wanted to gain agreement from our significant other to purchase that new big screen tv for the den, then confirm whether we have outlined a strong enough argument to be able to do so (watching the Packers on Sunday is probably not enough of a reason).??If we set the expectation, we can end by asking for the answer. If we haven’t started with the end, we might find ourselves struggling to bring our communication to a close. Sometimes we can talk too much, ramble in different directions and not be clear about what we want. Be clear on important communications and summarize the end by gaining agreement that you have reached the outcome.??“I think purchasing a big screen tv for the den this Saturday would allow us both a space to watch our favorite programs, it and also serve as a monitor to use with our laptops, and finally it has a door to close if we are being too loud watching our favorite programs – and it is on sale this weekend for 30% off.”??(…and the Packers would look good on the tv screen.)

When we are writing, we need to always lead with our main point: If we were forced to shorten our email to one or two sentences, what would we say? Always start by writing our main point. Then provide the details as needed.

Many of us have terms and phrases we use within our teams or departments that others do not understand.??Thus, we need to cut the jargon. We might talk to each other about our current bandwidth, but in writing it’s much clearer and more concise to say, “my schedule is full.”

Use short, direct sentences.??I can still remember my third-grade teacher (Mrs. McKinney btw)?telling us to put the subject at the beginning of your sentence. So instead of, “A new meeting date was set by the steering committee,” write, “The steering committee set a new meeting date.” Also, watch out when composing those lovely long and winding run on sentences that go on for three or more lines without ever getting to the point of your discussion and never seem to end or even summarize our thoughts and ideas.

Shorter sentences are much easier to read.

Always read what you write aloud:?When we’re getting ready to send an important communication, we’ll catch mistakes and other problems more easily if we read it aloud. If something grabs our attention or doesn’t make sense as we’re reading, rewrite it until it is clear.

Finally, we have some cool technology called spell check.?Seems simple, but you’d be surprised how many people seem to not use spell check (and some even can use grammar check).??Remember that spell check will not catch everything – especially names like Mykal vs Michael or Kate vs Cate.??

When we communicate effectively, it leaves everyone involved understanding and feeling much clearer on the topic. By delivering messages to your teams clearly,?there is little room for misunderstanding or alteration of messages, which decreases the potential for any conflict with our teams or peers.

Together.??We.??Win.