The goal of communication is to be understood.
Typically, the first piece of communication advice is: know your audience. When you know your audience – their interests, their lingo, their needs – you better relate to their communication style. When you know their style you can write and speak in a way that they understand. Of course once your audience understands they can then act.
In this age of communication saturation your employees, customers, and other stakeholders are under the same constant communication barrage as we are. To know your audience means you know the barriers, channels, and filters in place that block communication.
If received, people further filter communication by how it will:
- make their life better or worse;
- hurt or help what they need to do;
- help them gain or lose;
- make their job harder or easier;
- answer how much or how little it costs (value), and
- positively or negatively affect their ego
Our connected world [interestingly, when wireless we are still connected] has not altered the advice to know your audience. We know today your audience not only sits at their desk in your office or company, but may sit or stand or walk or run any where in the world.
You also have to expect your audience and management will filter your message through their wants, values, needs, and emotions. Expect your audience and managers to editorialize as they deliver their version of your message. When you step to a podium to give a presentation expect an audience armed with the technology to tweet as you speak. They are editorializing before you have an opportunity to finish.
Anything you write or speak about rarely translates as you expected. Your communication has to be strategically aligned to avoid serious barriers between your communication and an expected call to action.
A sound communication strategy should provide the difference between getting something done and getting something accomplished.
