21. Communicate To Be Understood.

Know your audience. Write and speak in a way that they can understand. Be brief, accurate, and clear. Use the simplest possible explanations.

Bryan's Message:

Two weeks ago I heard John DiJulius speak about the topic of customer service, of which he is a published author and successful consultant on the topic. John made the following statement in his presentation:

“People don’t listen with the intent of understanding, they listen with the intent of replying.”

I thought this was a great statement because it teaches us to not only know how to listen, (be more patient, wait until the other person is done speaking before creating a reply, ask questions, create clarity, etc.) but also, teaches us how to communicate to one another to be fully understood. Have you ever given direction to another person where they had a lot of questions afterwards? It may not have been their inability to understand what you said but quite possibly our success to convey the message in a way they could understand. Take a moment to think about what the individual or group needs to understand when you speak or write that email, message or job queue. Keeping the message positive is important as people tend to respond in similar ways to the tone of your communication.

Thanks.