In yesterday’s Advisor, we got the first two tactical tips from Executive Coach Vivian Ciampi on how to become a more effective communicator. Today, we get the last two tips that can help your employees realize their full professional potential.
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To recap: too many in our nation’s workforce, both employees and executives, are ill-equipped to engage with an audience—any audience—with ease and intention, which is keeping them from realizing their full potential and attaining a maximum measure of success.
With this in mind, here are the last two tactical tips (see yesterday’s Advisor for the first two) to help professionals at every level become a more effective communicator and, in doing so, gain better control of their career trajectory:
3. Stop, ask, and listen! Today’s fast-paced workplace has most of us running at record speed, often in circles like we’re on a hamster wheel. We are putting out fires and have more in our e-mail inbox than in our outbox each and every day. The resulting pressure of this overload causes us to rush through conversations so we can cross it off our proverbial “to do list” and move on to the next triaged task. Unfortunately, plowing through important conversations will never yield a productive outcome but often produces more work and headaches.
The best way to approach key conversations that need a little extra finesse or persuasion, particularly in the midst of a time-pressed schedule, are the following: stop and take a breath so you don’t rush into your agenda in the first 5 minutes of the conversation; ask open-ended questions, such as “What’s going on in your department?” or “How has this system helped you?”
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Once the person you’re engaged with has the opportunity to respond, make 200 percent sure you are actively listening—not just hearing them—and that you give them ample time to convey their thoughts without your interjection, direction, or interruption. The majority of the time, you will gain key insights from these conversations and will be able to craft a more informed response—one that better resonates with the person(s) you’re speaking with.
Even if you already know the answer or have a brilliant retort, slowing down and letting others speak first, in full, allows them to “empty their cup,” which puts them in a better position to have it filled back up with what you have to say in response.
When you do finally have the chance to speak, keep in mind people only have the capacity to absorb so much. If we provide an overload of verbose detail, you risk overflowing the listener’s “cup” and may ultimately lose the real essence of what you are trying to convey. Stay focused on who your audience is and what they care about to ensure that your dialogue and key points are streamlined and succinct.
This tactic also helps build more productive, trusting, professional relationships. The most successful people in any company aren’t necessarily the smartest, but rather those who take the time to listen and learn from others because they truly value what they have to say. Adhering to this strategy will not only make you a much more effective communicator, but it will also garner tremendous goodwill throughout the organization as you start to hone a discipline of talking less and listening more.
4. Converse with clarity. People today are inundated with data, work under tight time frames, and talk in acronyms. Some technical people and other professionals tend to use a lot of insider jargon and industry terminology when they communicate, making it difficult for anyone outside their immediate network to understand.
Also, incompetent people tend to rush through important details hoping no one else will ask questions or notice their inaptitude, and you certainly don’t want to be perceived in this light. Such conversation crushers can leave others feeling intimidated, out of the loop, and unable to effectively contribute.
Rather than contributing poorly to the conversation or sitting on the sidelines as the dialogue ensues, a better approach is to pick the right setting and ask clarifying questions to ensure messaging remains on point and resultant activities on track. If you’re not sure where to start, the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how is a sensible approach.
For example, “Why are we doing this?”; “How will that work?”; or “Where will this help the organization?” are some examples. The win-win with this strategy is that it fosters clear dialogue, makes people accountable to answer direct questions and often uncovers problems that need to be addressed but would have been overlooked had this approach not been utilized.
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Throughout my more than 2-decade tenure as an executive coach and vice president inside corporate America, I have seen millions of dollars senselessly lost merely due to ineffective communication. It’s imperative for achievement-oriented professionals to communicate well in all aspects of their job.
Doing so can be the key to cutting through the bureaucracy of an organization and taking control of one’s career as opposed to feeling like a victim of circumstance. Mastering even a handful of skills, such as those cited above, can help professionals better negotiate their way through the proverbial career maze with speed, dexterity, and accuracy.
Vivian Ciampi, an executive coach and Harvard Business School Executive Education department coach and facilitator, is a principal at Professional Coaching, LLC, a business navigational coaching firm that helps universities, small to mid-size businesses, and large organizations accelerate the growth and success of their top talent. Ciampi may be reached online at www.CoachingTheProfessional.com.