THE ART AND THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION

Many of us do mistake communication with talking or writing, either email or some other means, but the two are not the same.

Everyone ought to know how to communicate. It is far more important when you find yourself in leadership, because the actual job of a leader 98% of the time is to communicate. Therefore learning this art will define your success or failure.

In the Nigerian context, we have not seen leaders who have this mastery of communication in recent time. We have had a lot of speaking and writing , but lacking in the art of communication.

In the last government, we had too much talking without communication; lots of grammar but little defining moments. I mean the AHAA moments.

Since this is not a lecture, let me get down to business:

Communication need have characteristics of specificity and must create visuals enabling the one you are communicating with to relate with what you are saying clearly, precisely and pictorially as well. Your communication must be able to create the right pictures in the mind of your recipient otherwise instructions will be gabbled and ruffled and the extraction of useful meaning will be lost. It is like words mixed with noise for which the noise levels distorts the intelligence in an unrecoverable manner.

Let me give a specific example.

If the President says “I will give you good governance” That won’t pass being called communication to Nigerians.

Why? He has not defined in his mind clearly his target audience or their needs. He need to answer the questions;

• 1.       What does Nigerians understands as god governance?

• 2.       When will that good governance be realized?

• 3.       How will the recipients of the information know that good governance has been achieved?

• 4.       How much of benefits do good governance is perceived to be conferred on the recipients?

Whenever an audience is listening to you, their minds are always running on the reward system; In other words, “What is there for me, when and how?”

This is so because we are wired to be reward oriented or reward driven, whether tangible rewards or intangible. This reward must firmly form the intelligent content of a good communication.

But if he said “This government commits itself that by the end of 2017 every household in Nigeria will own at least a decent 2bedroom apartment”. Then he has powerfully communicated.

First he was very specific and he also created visuals.

Anyone listening to that speech immediately sees a 2br apartment for either his family or a poor family down the neighborhood, on or before December 2017. The picture has been formed by the communication. It was also timed.

Now, as a project manager, you cannot afford to be verbose in your communication to the team. You must communicate specifics and be able to create visuals by your communication. Create the “end from the beginning” or, what the deliverables are, also establish the rewards in your communications directly or indirectly. An indirect reward might just be a show of gratitude or praise to a team member. As minute as that might be, it goes a long way to create favorable images in the mind of the recipient.

As a Sales man, you must know how to communicate the use value to your prospect.

What is the use value? It is the value of your product or services from the perspectives of the user.

Another example will clarify this. Let’s say I want to sell to you a smart phone. I want to know who you are, and your value system.

1. 1.       How do you value things?

1. 2.       Do you play around with videos and pictures or you are just a data hungry type? If for instance, that you are game type, then, I should show my screen size, my resolution, and my battery life to you and at what price. I must show you that the device I want to hand over to you, in exchange for your hard earn cash, is valuable to you and that the money you are to pay me is worth it or even less than the use value of the smart phone.

If you are not able to create the end picture from the beginning, your communication is defective.

Do you remember that when we were all growing up, the teacher will present a picture to us and say “This is a cat”, or "this is a goat". Why were they showing us pictures? Because that is how God wired us. We as humans, think pictorially. That is how we understand our world.

Strangely, God also speaks to man that way, from Abraham, to Isaac down to Jesus Christ. Every one of those life transforming communications created pictures.

Many think, I am a powerfully presenter and I agree I am; but the secret lies in these facts:

• ·         Understanding my audience

• ·         Creating the right pictures in their minds

 Enjoy your day.