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Communication clues...making them work for you! Part 2
By Natalie R. Manor
The article this week is the continuation of the discussion we began last week. Last week covered the first five (5) of the ten (10) top techniques for managing how we communicate information successfully. First let’s recap, with the first five (5) techniques for managing how we communicate information are:
- Focus - What do you want the value or outcome of your communication to be in a given situation or process?
- Engage - What is your contribution to the success of the communication?
- Get curious - How did a situation get to this point and how can you make it better?
- Create rapport - Make sure how you deliver information or communicate is done in a way that people are in rapport with you.
- Increase performance - What would be most important to you about improving your performance; the performance of others; the performance of the situation?
This week we will complete the ten (10) top techniques for managing how we communicate information successfully by discussing:
- Relieve Fear – What part of the situation and communication creates fear for you and/or them?
- Dig Deeper – Is there anything else…I should; you need to know; that would be helpful; that would serve them; that needs to be said?
- Set Context – What pieces of information do you think would be important to include in the communication and/or to be known for the situation?
- Create Clarity - Is there anything else that can clear up this situation and would help you understand what we are discussing?
- Remove Judgment – What is your opinion of this situation, communication, problem, and how did you form that opinion?
Let’s put these together and make sense of them so you can apply them and use them in your daily communication while leading and managing.
I’ve found that at every level of management and leadership there can be a certain FEAR about imparting difficult information. The person who needs to deliver the information successfully may not know how and is reluctant to do it badly. When you RELIEVE FEAR of the situation, you are finding out what people value and what is important to them so you can more easily share the difficult information. Being conversational and friendly is very helpful.
As you DIG DEEPER into the elements of why there is difficulty, what begins to emerge is information that you may have not had access to. When people are given a chance to tell their story or communicate facts that are important to them, they feel listened to. DIGGING DEEPER into the substance of any situation makes us much more clear in how to relate information or how to handle the situation.
One of the most important techniques for communicating and delivering difficult information is SETTING CONTEXT. Once you have communicated the why, what and how of the situation, you are clearly ready to create solutions and improve performance. Unless there is understanding of what is going to be discussed, confusion and reactions can happen that were never intended. SET CONTEXT each time with the why, what and who details. It will also help you feel prepared for the opportunity of sharing the difficult information.
CREATING CLARITY is key for all persons involved. If you are clear about what you want as an outcome from the situation, they will be able to be clear. I encourage you to create a “talk sheet” in advance of the issues and what you expect as outcomes from the discussion. Providing that information advance helps the other parties prepare and to think through what is important to them. All participants should be allowed to react and have opinions. Once you know the feelings and the information, you can CREATE CLARITY.
My very favorite of all the tips for delivering difficult information is REMOVE JUDGMENT. It is classic and expected that we will have opinions. In fact as leaders, you are expected to have opinions and judgments on many subjects. The kind of JUDGMENT I want you to remove is the bias before and during the discussions. We can form our judgments from our families, communities, churches etc. Sometimes judgment is key – like getting out of the way of an oncoming bus. However, if your judgments are keeping you from listening, truly listening to the people you are dealing with, they are not serving you.
Remember, delivering difficult information successfully can help you increase performance and maximize productivity. If people do not know they are not doing well, they can’t do well.
Delivery difficult information successfully is a skill you must develop in order to hone your leadership and management skills for your toolbox. Once you have begun to master this skill, you are on your way to navigating your roadmap to success.
If nothing else keep this list with you. It will go a long way to helping you deliver difficult in any and all situations.
Ten (10) Top Techniques Communicating Information Successfully:
- Focus - What do you want the value or outcome of your communication to be in a given situation or process?
- Engage - What is your contribution to the success of the communication?
- Get curious - How did a situation get to this point and how can you make it better?
- Create rapport - Make sure how you deliver information or communicate is done in a way that people are in rapport with you.
- Increase performance - What would be most important to you about improving your performance; the performance of others; the performance of the situation?
- Relieve Fear – What part of the situation and communication creates fear for you and/or them?
- Dig Deeper – Is there anything else…I should; you need to know; that would be helpful; that would serve them; that needs to be said?
- Set Context – What pieces of information do you think would be important to include in the communication and/or to be known for the situation?
- Create Clarity - Is there anything else that can clear up this situation and would help you understand what we are discussing?
- Remove Judgment – What is your opinion of this situation, communication, problem, and how did you form that opinion?
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My life has changed because I included them, Stephen and Ken, as part of my roadmap to success design. I get to step up and use my talents and strengths in a whole new, influential way. I want you to have the same powerful results.