What is the key to effective communication?
We’ve been taught that communication is expressing yourself, telling someone what’s on your mind. That’s part of communication, but that is not the only part of communication. If you are a manager, business owner, salesperson, whatever — you are a leader. You are trying to get someone else’s cooperation. When you want to get someone’s cooperation, it’s not important for you to express yourself. What is important is for you to uncover what that someone else is feeling. My definition of communication is to discover the meaning behind the message. What is the emotional feeling that is behind that motivation? How do you determine your employees’ motivation levels? It starts with a desire to be genuinely interested in the other person. If you’re only interested in yourself and your own agenda, you’re going to be a poor communicator. Once you do have an interest, you have to acquire the skills and knowledge. The key is to ask yourself: ‘What are they trying to tell me? What is motivating the
