Whether written or verbal, professional or personal, communicating with PRECISION ensures that your audience stays engaged and can easily comprehend your message.
It also has the added benefit of increasing your likeability!
Sounds great, right?
But HOW do we do this?
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How can we ensure that our message is focused and succinct? How can we keep from rambling?
In the latest Talk About Talk podcast episode, I share 3 STRATEGIES for communicating with precision:
1️⃣ Leverage the POWER OF 3
2️⃣ Use HEADLINES
3️⃣ REPEAT yourself
The Power of 3
It should come as no surprise that I’m advocating that you leverage the Power of 3. (I did a whole episode about this, after all.)
Why is the number 3 so powerful? Well, for three reasons, naturally.
1️⃣ 3 is BALANCED – Think about how perfectly stable a tripod or a stool with three legs is.
2️⃣ 3 is SUBSTANTIVE – Three is thorough and convincing. Three can be a trend. But most importantly, three is precise.
3️⃣ 3 is NOT OVERWHELMING – It’s the right amount of information to really understand something without going into cognitive overload.
Make 3 your default.
Whether you’re outlining an article, giving a speech, creating a meeting agenda, preparing a sales pitch, or telling a story, leverage the POWER OF 3.
Limiting yourself to three things makes it easier for others to understand you, and is the first step in improving your precision.
Give me the HEADLINE!
What’s the first thing you see when you open a newspaper? The headlines!
HEADLINES let you know the main point of the article before you even read it.
Using a similar approach in your written and verbal communication is the second way you can be more precise.
Get to the point.
I learned this lesson the hard way as a doctoral student at Harvard Business School.
I was giving a presentation about my research, and I thought everything was going great, when a senior faculty member asked, “Andrea, what’s your point?”
I said I’d get to it in a minute, after I shared my research methodology, and he slammed his hand on the desk and said, “No, you need to tell us your punchline. Now. Or your audience walks.”
REPEAT Yourself
Did I really just tell you to repeat yourself?
YES!
Does this seem counterintuitive?
Also YES!
But it works. I promise!
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There are three steps (of course):
then tell them,
then you tell them what you told them.”
Think of it this way:
1️⃣ Start with the HEADLINE
2️⃣ Share the CONTENT
3️⃣ SUMMARIZE your main point
I do this ALL THE TIME in my podcast episodes. I start by telling you what you’ll learn, then I share the content, and finally I summarize.
Try this strategy the next time you’re writing an email or giving a presentation. You’ll be amazed at how clear and precise your communication can be.
That’s it for this week! I hope you’ll try out these three strategies for COMMUNICATING WITH PRECISION.
Please forward to your friends who might like help with their communication skills. Thank you.
Have a great week.
Talk soon,
Dr. Andrea Wojnicki
Chief Talker & Communication Coach
Most Recent 🎧Podcast Episodes:
#102 – Communication Skills Q&A – Andrea answers Qs live from FishBowl!
#101 – Communicating Your Personal Brand on SOCIAL MEDIA
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