A few days ago I wrote a bit about what I regard to be the proto soft skill: Confidence. If you missed that post, you can read it at this link: Soft Skill #1: Confidence.
Soft Skill #2: Communication 101
This post explores the second skill, communication, from the 10,000 foot perspective. Really there is a whole family of soft skills around communication, so first we'll look at the 101 of communication skills first.
What does that mean, and why should I care?
You are probably asking yourself those questions right now. In fact, we ask ourselves those two questions pretty much the entire time we listen to others communicate information.
The “what does that mean?“ question is often about perspective. How do you communicate information to your audience so that they understand it? Unfortunately, it's not as simple as communicating in a way you understand. If you've ever had a writing teacher tell you “know your audience,“ this is what she was driving at. Anything that changes how they understand information falls into this category. For example:
- What language do they speak (English, German, Japanese, VB.NET, C#.NET, Halo, Doom3)? You may need to explain things differently when folks don't know your lingo. Conversely, you may need to learn your audience's lingo (or language and grammar) to communicate well with them.
- What is their culture / context? Do they already have a lot of background knowledge on your topic, or none at all? Are your American football analogies meaningless because they don't translate well to Italian?
The “what does that mean” question might also boil down to clarity (or a lack or it), or lack of interest. Both of these lead us to the second question, “Why should I care?”
As a communicator, it's your challenge to present information in a way that folks will want to know it. This means tapping into their motivations and making the information relevant to them. When they believe the information is important, folks pay attention. If not, you have to be one heck of an entertainer to hold their interest.
In Practice
OK, so much for theory let's talk about some practical steps you can make to become a better communicator.
1. Know your material. Try to know the information you are trying to communicate inside-out. Folks with sketchy knowledge of their topic are often long-winded and hard to understand.
2. Know your audience. Your composition teacher was right! Think about who will read your article, or listen to you speak. What context do they have, and how should that affect your presentation? What can you assume about what they know and understand?
3. Give your audience a reason to care. Tell them why~ the information is interesting, before you deliver it. And tell them how they personally will benefit from the knowledge. For example: “Generics are amazing because they can eliminate hundreds of line of code, even in a simple application.” Starting with an attractive benefit is a good way to capture folks' attention.
4. Avoid making your audience work too hard to understand you. Are you long-winded? Do you speak so softly that folks strain to hear you? Do you have horrible grammar or vocabulary? Do you type like a 1337 d00d?!!?!1 These are all poor techniques that get in the way of good communication. And if folks believe your information is not worth the effort to understand you, you have failed in your communication task. So pinpoint your weak communication techniques and work on improving them.
5. Organize your thoughts. Find a logical flow for presenting your information, and follow it. A simple and very effective one is “Point A to Point B.“ Point A is the starting point -- what most in your audience already know and agree upon. Point B is your destination -- what you want your audience to understand or believe at the end of your communication.