Communication - why is it so hard to get the message across

The good news is that it isn’t, but it does require preparation and a plan.

I have spent a lot of time over the years thinking about communication. Not the epic speeches like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, but every-day work-life communication.

It is interesting to see how successful communication tears down barriers and makes work life smooth, whereas poor communication can make progress grind to a halt and create conflicts. What is also fascinating is that the actual content of the message may not be that different in the two scenarios, but the way it is delivered makes a world of a difference.

I sometimes hear myself say that quantum mechanics is simple compared to communication. I suspect it has been my own way of not really having to figure out how to do it well - it has been a bit of sorcery or black magic and you either have the skill or you don’t. This is of course nonsense. It’s a skill you can learn like any other.

Again, in the context of every-day work-life communication, there are, in my mind, a few simple ingredients to successful communication:

• Be prepared - know what you want to say and plan how to deliver your message
• Be generous - start with a few sentences to remind everyone about the context
• Be sparse - don’t cover too many topics in one go
• Be quiet - give people a chance to absorb what you say

and a bonus point

• Be humble - you don’t know everything and objections to what you say might be valid

The ultimate test: Did my message get across?