Day 22/30: Mastering business communication 🛰️
Communication is the lifeblood of collaboration, which is ultimately what enables us to deliver great products to market 🚀
I boil effective communication, especially in the workplace, to these pillars:
Know the purpose behind this specific communication.
Is it important to invite other folks to chime in with their perspective? Or is this communication intended to share information?
Know your audience. Consider the following:
What do they care about, and why?
What do they need to know to perform effectively in their role?
What is their comfort level with more specialized types of information? How might you make this type of information more accessible?
How are folks best convinced? Through qualitative evidence? Quantitative evidence? Credibility? Winning their hearts?
How might folks respond or react to the information you will be sharing with them in written vs. spoken format? In synchronous vs. asynchronous delivery?
Know the stakes behind this communication. Consider the following:
Is it a typical status update?
Will it inform or shape strategic direction?
👉 If it’s the latter, you know you’ll likely want to spend more time and effort into drafting and revising.
Practice, practice, and practice some more.
Whether you’re writing or giving a formal presentation, it feels easier the more you do it.
The feelings of nervousness never fully go away. This TED Talk helped me to reframe stress as a helping function for these types of scenarios.
From Kung Fu Panda, as Ping told his son Po about their family’s noodle soup recipe, “There is no secret ingredient.”