Michael Hyatt recently posted a summary of what he believes is the four keys to effective communication:
- Effective communicators know how to prepare a message with a singular and crystal clear focus.
- If you know where you are going, you can take anyone with you.
- If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.
- Effective communicators know how to read an audience and are able to customize their presentation to make that audience want to listen.
- Until the audience is engaged, communication has not taken place.
- An engaging presentation puts people on the edge of their seats.
- Effective communicators are passionate about their subject.
- They pour every part of their being into the presentation.
- If the subject is not worthy of your passion, it should be distributed in a memo.
- Effective communicators leave the audience no doubt about how to benefit from the objective of the talk.
- They call people to action.
- They make it easy to respond.
I never took a course with Michael, but I have to say that I have long tried to practice these four things. Generally speaking, when I speak I have one single point to get to; I always adapt to the audience; you can always tell if I am passionate about the subject; and no one is ever left with ambiguity about what we are discussing, even when I leave things open-ended.
That’s my own self-evaluation anyway. I am always trying to get better at communicating. What do you think?
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