Talk the Talk: Tips for Effective Communication by Jane Toohey AIMM, delivered at the Australian Institute of Management Open House in Brisbane on Wednesday 7 August 2013.
2. Agenda
It’s more about listening
Firstly in order to clearly and efficiently communicate with others you must first
understand who they are
Do your research
Understand the environments your target audience operate in
Communicating clearly
Speaking with confidence
Active listening (Ensure you listen (that means don’t talk) and repeat back what
you heard)
Body language
Getting your message across so it can be heard
Knowing your platforms – multi-channel communications world.
3. Effective communication
It’s is all about LISTENING then
speaking.
The business of living—our work, our
actions, our relationships with friends,
associates, and customers—is
accomplished through speaking and
listening.
It is through language, through those
acts of speaking and listening, that life
really happens—in the side rooms, the
hallways, the relaxed spaces of being
human.
Clear communication is how life is lived
and business is done – possibility is
created through a conversation.
4. The audience
Whether you are wanting to communicate with one or many
It’s still all a conversation
One way communication is telling, selling, yelling and there is
little place for it in the new world of integrated media
A single message pushed out to an audience will no longer
do the job – that’s not engagement
5. Understand who you are speaking to
To clearly and efficiently communicate with others you must first
understand who they are
Do your research (whether an individual, a company or a target
market)
What are their habits? (places, media, work)
What drives them?
Where do they hang out?
Where do they go online?
Build a profile
6. Your
Customer /
Client
What is their
profile
What are
their media
habits
Identify their
needs and
wants
Social media
user?
General
online
habits
What is their
language
What is their
style / status
7. Our inner voice
We are essentially in conversations with ourselves
most all the time— conversations about what’s going
well and what’s not, what others think, what we think,
how we feel, the invariable ‘what ifs’, how abouts, are
you kiddings? etc. That voiceover, that running stream
of thinking and history and rumination, is not
necessarily bad—it’s just sometimes we’re so
unaware.
Consider:
Often you think your listening but your not – actually
you’re listening to what you are thinking as a result of
what ‘they’ are saying vs what they are actually
saying.
As soon as they speak you start thinking about how it
relates to you and what you should say next.
8. Be aware of your inner voice
Often we listen only through the filter of what’s in
our heads, what we’ve already decided.
If you are aware of what that is you have the chance
to change it.
Listening purely to what is being said takes practice
and self awareness.
Listen in now to yours –
What have you already decided about
the person next to you? What are you
thinking about being here?
9. Communicating clearly
Prepare
What are you trying to achieve in the
conversation?
Be clear on your key messages
What do you want them to be left with?
What do you want them to remember?
Clear, non-jargon based language
Do not make assumptions on what they
already know
Be efficient – don’t use 100 words when 10
will do
Be comfortable in the silence.
10. Active listening
So, back to the “listening” part.
Bottom line, how we listen is essentially determined by our
concerns
Being successful, being liked, wanting to know what’s in it
for us, how things will turn out. We can’t really listen to
another when we’re preoccupied with our concerns.
Listening without those predispositions, preoccupations,
and filters has enormous power.
Active listening is creating a space for understanding.
Listening without filters is the staple of corporate
success—in the new media, listening is probably the most
important factor in the toolbox.
Active listening is what allows others to be heard — it’s
where both the speaker and what is spoken come alive,
exist, and flourish.
True listening allows others to be great and a new
possibility to be seen.
11. Active listening
Now
Listen to your inner voice
Be aware and let it go
3 mins each way
Actively listen to the person next you tell you why they came
along today
What they are struggling with in communication or want to
improve
That person say about 3 core points.
3 mins
Now speak back to them why
Tell them the main reason and what you heard
Observe only.
12. Speaking to be heard
Now to the “speaking” part.
Speaking is more than just talking, more than the exchange of symbols or information,
more than persuasion or saying what we really think, more than just a vehicle for
describing something.
Through speaking you are able to have people see a possibility in something, a new
way of thinking or doing things, a different future.
In the act of speaking you can reshape the course of events through a conversation.
But you must speak in their language
so they can hear you.
Mimic their image and body language
so they feel comfortable
Be aware of your inner voice.
13. Speaking to be heard
Now explain to them something you have seen in the
conversation we have had so far that can help them with one
of the core reasons them came along today
What I heard was …. this is what I have seen….
Give each other some feedback also
on how they listened to you.
14. Body language
Be aware of how you look to people, ask
others how you look and how you occur.
Take this on: Interview 10 people across
your life and practice listening!
Be prepared to adapt aspects of yourself
that shock you.
Be aware of what emotions are going on for
you and how they might show on your face
(& on the phone, even in your written word).
Be aware of your how you stand or sit.
Handshakes, gestures, all have an impact.
15. Speaking with confidence
Having the confidence to speak up is all about preparation.
Be sure you know exactly what you want to say and the outcome you want.
Know the audience.
Believe in yourself, let go of the inner voice, be passionate.
Such clarity, about what you want to say, how it relates to others, and why people
should believe in your message - drives and fuels PASSION in them .
Allow the silence in the conversation.
Leave them with a powerful reason to take action.
Check your arrogance monitor.
This is engagement.
16. Engagement
Engagement - don’t preach or sell.
A two way communication.
Speak into a listening, to do this …
First understand what they are
listening for!
So know the brief, know the target
market.
Creates trust.
If you’re trying to engage someone, you
really need to believe in yourself before
what you say becomes believable.
17. Communicating cross platform
What about the one to many
scenario?
People on average must see or
hear a message 7 times to
remember it.
It also needs to cut through the
1000s of messages we receive
every day
So understand the media and the
style you’re communicating in
Multiple platforms - now we have
to understand how to adapt to each
18. Multiple Platforms and Channels
Print (magazines, newspapers)
Online magazines & blogs
Outdoor, billboards, cinema
TV: Free to air, PayTV, Digital, Internet TV
Radio: there are 100s of stations in Qld
alone and now digital radio
Branded websites
Aggregate websites
YouTube
iPhone apps
Social media such as
Facebook
MySpace, Google Plus
Linkedin, Twitter
19. Print media
One to many communication
Advertising
Must be clear on the message
Single proposition
Unique positioning
The level of TRUST in advertising has dropped below 11%
Editorial is more trusted
The best PR’s can write in a style that suits the publication they are
targeting by understanding the audience
Again it’s all about knowing the style, the language and the tone of the
target audience.
20. Digital media
Websites, mobile apps, email, eNews
Responsive design across platforms, allow for how your
audience wants to receive it – responds to them
Needs to be innovative, be edgy, be different
Highly targeted messaging
User generated content
Be relevant
Don’t over complicate.
21. Social media
50% of the population use Facebook, and 23% of
them check it more than 5 times daily
10 million Aussies are on Twitter
4 million Aussies have a LinkedIn profile
5 million photos are loaded onto Instagram worldwide
every hour
The power is in conversation, engagement and
support
Know the channel intimately
Don’t be on it unless you do!
22. Facebook
Posts between 100 and 250 characters
Share photos / images, videos, links, valuable relevant
content that can be shared, competitions
Not just about selling, but should be something that relates
to your brand and to what the audience are interested in
Allows your brand to be more personable
Engage in a conversation
Create relationship
Better to have less fans who are engaged.
23. Twitter
Younger demographic, only 140 characters, use of hashtags
Ok to use abbreviations, ok to repeat tweets
Tweets don’t sell a product but they encourage brand
followers to buy a product down the road
Great to create thought leadership, announce blogs
Great to get a message out to the journalists in your
industry
Live tweeting at events, announcing sales
Customer service opportunity
56% of customers tweets to companies are being ignored yet it is
a opportunity for great customer service!
50% of customers will give a brand 1 week to reply before they
stop doing business.
24. Linkedin
Business orientated
Professional profiles
Company pages
Jobs and new roles
More formal and more about your business activity
Brands can advertise directly to highly targeted
prospects
Sharing intelligent content - presentations, blogs and
articles
Creates trust amongst those your linked with.
25. Check back in
So whether it’s one on one or one to many
Never assume people think how you think
Or hear what you hear
Ask them what they heard
Listen and check that it is what you intended
Remember they will have their own filters and internal
conversations going on from the moment you walked through the
door, sent the email, wrote the post or sent out the mailer
What conversation are you having with yourself now?
