There is one key component that all successful people have in common. It is the ability to communicate effectively as individuals. Communications skills are the foundation of almost everything we do and will contribute to one’s success as a human being more than any other factor. People say we have entered the service age or the knowledge age. No, we entered the communication age, and your ability to communicate will determine your success as much as anything else. The good thing is that you can learn the skills of effective communication that will largely contribute to your success in life.
Taking into account what has been said above, in this newsletter I will further elaborate on the five key connecting practices required to effectively communicate and connect with people and that increases one’s influence with them.
Connecting principle-1: Connectors Connect on Common Ground:
The practice above all others that opens the door to connection with others is to look for common ground. If you want to increase your odds of connecting with others, then make the following choices every day in your life: be available to others, be willing to listen to others, ask questions, show considerate thoughtfulness, be likable, show humility and adapt to others and try to see things from their point of view.
Connecting principle-2: Connectors Do the Difficult Work of Keeping It Simple:
As leaders and communicators, our job is to bring clarity to a subject, not complexity. The measure of a great teacher isn’t what he or she knows; it’s what the students know. Making things simple is a skill, and it’s a necessary one if you want to connect with people when you communicate. Or to put it the way Albert Einstein did, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it enough”. Here are five guidelines for keeping things simple: talk to people, not above them; Get to the point; Say it over and over and over and over again (the law of repetition) and say it clearly and say less.
Connecting principle-3: Connectors Create an Experience Everyone Enjoys:
There are several thing that an effective communicator takes into consideration when preparing to communicate: take responsibility for creating an experience that others will enjoy when you’re communicating with them; Communicate with others in their world, meaning link what you want to say to what others’ needs are; Capture people’s attention from the start; Activate and actively involve your audience as much as possible in the interaction; Say the right things at the right moment in the right way; Be visual as most people learn visually. Perhaps the most effective way to capture people’s interest and make the experience enjoyable when you talk, is to include stories; Storytelling improves the experience.
Connecting principle-4: Connectors Inspire People
Effective communicators inspire people. To achieve this, people need to know that you understand them and are focused on them, and they need to know that you have high expectations of them (what people need to know). People look for your conviction, your credibility and evidence of your character (what people need to see). If you want to inspire people, you also need to help them feel what they need to feel (what people need to feel). Three things you need in order to help them feel are your passion for the subject and them, your confidence in yourself and them, and your gratitude for them.
Connecting principle-5: Connectors Live What They Communicate
To be successful in the long run, you need to do more than connect. You need to live what you communicate. Your words and your actions should be consistent every day. People need to see that your words and actions align. Then they will trust you, have confidence in you and connect with you (Credibility Connects).
Source: ‘Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by J. Maxwell’, ‘Effective Leadership is all About Communicating Effectively: Connecting Leadership and Communication by
A. Luthra and R. Dahiya. ‘How to Communicate More Effectively by B. Tracy’.
Blog written by: Sherwin M. Latina June 25, 2019