Human started speaking about fifty thousand years ago. That was the first stage of communication. Today human has evolved into a much complex society. The era of simple communication that was sufficient fifty thousand years back is no longer sufficient. Today, one of the most important Leadership Style is – Effective Communication. Please note that, we spend about 75% of our time communicating with others. Communication is a combination of verbal, written, and even nonverbal communications. Any conversation, if we wanted to make it useful, it has to be REAL. The REAL describes four qualities of a productive conversation.
R = Relevant: this ensures that the conversation matters to all the concerned persons.
E = Effective: if a conversation is productive, then all the concerned people will feel accomplished after the conversation.
A = Affirming: This ensures that the conversation shows respect to everyone who is involved in the conversation.
L = Legitimate: This ensures that the conversation that is important and matters to all the concerned people.
Always remember that a clear conversation will have a set goal. Which means for what we are having this conversation and what we expect to achieve out of this conversation. To establish effective communication, we need to set up a mental connection between two individuals. We often make a mistake of thinking that everyone else in the world is like me, which means that everyone has standard behavior, common liking and disliking, and so on! This is the first stepping stone of not been able to establish a connection. There is also a cost associated with setting up effective communication. This cost may not be directly monetary. These costs are being vulnerable, getting out of the comfort zone, taking a chance that we will be understood. When we are getting into a REAL conversation, the following may happen:
- When we are getting into an awkward conversation – we might be vulnerable.
- Many times, these awkward or difficult conversations throw us out of our comfort zone.
- While having a conversation, there are many deciding factors to decide whether we shall be understood in the right spirit or not.
So, to establish a fruitful conversation, we need to know and follow a three stapped approach to set the stage for a great conversation. Those three steps are:
- Decide which conversation to have.
- Ensure a great start in the conversation
- Identify the destination and find out the best path to reach there
Please connect with me, if you feel you need some coaching on how to improve your communication skill.