Are you finding it hard to communicate your vision down the ranks in your
organization? You’re not alone.
After attending a meeting of
entrepreneurs, I realized that this was one crucial problem faced by most
organizations. It’s like the old game of Chinese Whispers where the message
gets progressively warped as it is transferred from one person to another.
There is a saying in NLP circles that,
“The success of your communication is a function of the message received.”
So if you’re talking about creating a
new department in your organization and the person on the lowest rung gets the
message that you plan to begin downsizing or resizing, whose fault is it? And
how do you ensure that the message communicated is understood the way you
intend?
To improve the success of your business communications, here are 3 tips from the
world of media.
1. Speak Your
Audience’s Language
Media experts know that in order to
help your audience comprehend their message, they need to communicate it in the
language and idiom of their target audience.
Would you see them trying to broadcast
English advertisements to a rural audience that very clearly speaks only Hindi?
That would just be insane, wouldn’t it?
Take a tip from the media and
customize your message to match your audience.
If you have a factory in Gujarat, it
would be best to have a senior person (namely one who understands your vision)
translate all your company communications into the native language, so they can
be understood without any effort on your part.
Do the same for all your company’s
communications in all the regions you operate in, no matter that you have to
spend more time and effort translating them.
2. Incorporate
Storytelling Into Your Communications
Ever wondered why movies and video are
so popular with the masses? Because many people don’t absorb written (i.e. text)
information well. Also, movies entertain and educate while communicating a
story.
Armed with the knowledge that many
people in your company would understand a message better when it is
communicated with images, sound and text, you can now convince your communication
team that it’s worth the effort required to create videos and audios that tell
a story for better communication down the ranks.
The creatives that use a story to
communicate are the most hard-hitting and effective.
3. Speak To The
Lowest-Common Denominator
Have you seen ads or films that don’t
even require words to communicate a message?
Remember the amazing version of the Indian National Anthem that used
hearing-challenged kids with sign-language? Did you not sing
the words along for them while it was being played?
The messages that communicate to the
widest audience are those which appeal to the lowest common denominator – human
emotions.
Use emotions to strike a chord and
your message will not only be heard but felt. That’s an effect that few
Powerpoint presentations can achieve.
To sum up, any business organization
can make its communications more effective and comprehensible by understanding
the mindset and learning style of its employees.
Now that you know these factors, you
can enhance your message to ensure that it is understood by everyone in your
organization.
Learn how to be a charismatic leader
in the Leadership Lessons course. Set your
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Disclosure: This blog contains
affiliate links.
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