Great communication in a nutshell
Great communication in a nutshell:
Fade the non-essential and
amplify the essential.
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If you struggle to cut to the core …
If you struggle to cut to the core, then try this simple approach. It works every time.
Step 1: Commit to something as the core message of your communication and write it down! Really: Write it down! Anything will do as long as you write it down.
Step 2: Listen to your gut!
Step 3: If it feels great you’re done. If not, examine why your gut wouldn’t agree. Then, refine what you’ve written and repeat from step 2.
For some, listening to their gut is the unusual building block. But keep in mind that confidence shows up when it ticks both boxes: it is right and it feels right.
For others, moving beyond the first take is the hard part. But keep in mind that most great ideas are not first ideas. You’ve got to get the crappy ideas out of the way to arrive at the brilliant ideas.
When everything’s important, nothing’s important
This is the blueprint of most presentations, reports, pitches, websites, you name it.
Everything’s important. And therefore, nothing is important.
The thing is this: If you don’t pick what’s important you’re asking your audience to do it for you.
You might not be too happy with their choice.
Better to find the courage to do it yourself.
In one sentence
Many great products can be described in one sentence:
- “The notebook for creative people.”
- “The fastest acceleration of a production car ever.”
- “The headphones that let you work in silence.”
- “The blackest black paint.” (Black 3.0)
Here’s a simple test: Can a customer (not you) describe your product in one sentence?
PS: If not, then my new course “Crack the Clarity Code” might be for you. It’s launching today and you can get 10% off using code “IwantClarity” when you order in the first week.
What would Taylor tell their colleagues in the coffee lounge about it?
In many companies, it’s the most valuable office space. It’s the place where connections are made and ideas are born. It’s where information is passed on: The coffee lounge.
A common remark that’s made there goes something like this: “Have you heard about X? It does Y! It relates to our problem Z!”
Ans so, one of the most useful questions you can ask yourself when working on the message that you want people to pass along about your product is this:
“What would Taylor tell their colleagues in the coffee lounge about it?”
Taylor won’t share what’s important to you. She will share what feels important to her. Most importantly, she will decide what that is. And she will pass it along using her own words.
You’ve had your chance during the pitch to make your point and tell your story. But then, it’s Taylor’s turn to decide to bring it into the coffee lounge and pass it along.
The good news is this: If you’re aware of that, you can craft your story accordingly.
So, what would you like Taylor to tell her colleagues? Why would she? Your task is to bridge that gap.
What to do when people don’t get our message
When people don’t get our message, we’re used to adding more detail. Give more examples. Explain it a little longer. (And louder.)
And in doing this we dismiss the possibility that that’s exactly the problem.
It’s been too complex from the start. Too much detail. Too much information.
Too much.
We made it harder than it should be to get what we mean.
Instead of cutting to the core, tuning in to our audience’s language, and focussing on what matters to them, we bombarded them with more and more stuff.
But that’s the lazy thing to do. Adding stuff is easy. What’s much more work is to listen carefully to our audience so that we get them rather than forcing them to get us.
And when we do get them, we can find that perfect story that just nails it and gets their attention right from the start.
Of course, finding this one story often is a lot more work than finding those thirty halfway decent ones. But it’s so much more worthwhile.
Who gives a damn?
Prof. Donald Saari, a mathematics professor at the University of California, Irvine, has established the who-gives-a-damn principle in his lectures.
In the first lecture of a semester, he explains what he means by that. The who-gives-a-damn principle allows his students to interrupt him at any point in time, no matter what he’s currently doing or saying, to ask the question: “Who gives a damn?”
He will then immediately interrupt whatever he’s currently doing to give an elaborate answer to that question and explain why this specific detail is of the utmost importance to i) today’s lecture and ii) the overall education of the students as a mathematician.
For every detail that made it into his lecture, Prof. Saari knows exactly why it’s in there and why it matters. He’s able to do this because he has thought deeply about the struggles of a mathematician and how the concepts help his students to become a better mathematician. He doesn’t just speak about the things he cares about. He focuses entirely on the things that his students need.
Could you do the same for your communication?
Being super prepared
Back in school, I had a classmate who put an unbelievable amount of work in preparing for exams, reading mountains of books. I remember one exam in social sciences for which he had read no fewer than 10 textbooks on the subject. We were blown away by what he knew. To us, it felt like there was nothing he didn’t know about the subject.
And still … The grade he got on this exam? An “E”! Failed!
Because he had missed the point.
I can still see his consternation when the teacher calmly explained to him why simply writing down everything he knew about a topic was not an appropriate way of dealing with the assigned task.
My classmate had failed to
– read the assignment carefully,
– filter out the relevant information from all the knowledge he had accumulated,
– apply it to the specific question,
– and write it down in a comprehensible way.
Sure, somewhere deep down in his explanations the correct answer was certainly hidden, but it wasn’t the teacher’s job to go looking for it. It was the student’s job to make obvious that he could apply general knowledge in a specific context.
Similarly, it’s not the task of our audience to go looking for the point in our communication. It’s the other way around. It’s our most important task to present our accumulated knowledge so that people see the point and get it.
If I only had one sentence
… I would point out that if you nail that one sentence, one sentence quickly becomes first sentence.
(Because if you truly nail it, your audience will want to know more).
Spread the Word
