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"Good Communication" - Defined?

I attended an event about a month ago about strategic communication, put on by a former Carnegie Mellon professor (whose blog and info I will post in here later once I find it). The workshop was fascinating. I've always kind of thought that communication was one of the most difficult subjects to teach, especially since the definitions of "accepted" and "good" communication change from year to year and person to person. Aside from teaching the acceptable (current) formats for essays, articles, and email writing, I always found myself at a loss for what I was actually learning in my English and Business Comm classes. (Except for in Prof Acetta's class... even though I think he really taught us maturity and poise more than anything, which directly correlates with one's communication style...). But I digress.

However, this particular workshop was very good. Obviously this guy knew a thing or two about "good" or at least "effective" communications, because he held the audience's attention during the entire 1.5 hour event (to me this is quite the feat). I especially liked his opener to the workshop:

"Many people ask me why I don't come prepared to these things with a PowerPoint presentation. And I respond that PowerPoint essentially serves to distract your entire audience from what you are saying (or NOT saying) and puts everyone to sleep. I always tell my students that PowerPoint is crap! Most has no power, and no point."

He then launched into the topic of the event: good communication, which he defined as a "command of choices at every level". It makes sense. When I say that Dr. Acetta taught us maturity and poise, I think that's exactly what he was getting at. A person with poise will maintain a position of knowledge and command over the situation, and the maturity factor helps to ensure that the possible choices are well thought out before a commitment is made.

Going into a situation, a good communicator will know his/her:
1. Purpose - "Get it done and get out!"
2. Situation
3. Audience
4. And, to a lesser degree, your "Stuff/Shit". Your audience (#3) already assumes that you know what you are talking about when communication is initiated. The first 3 points overshadow your knowledge of the subject of the communication.

So true! If there's anything that b-school taught me, it's that it doesn't matter at all if you know what you're talking about, as long as you can speak to the audience in a clear manner and act as though you know what you're saying. Once you know the items above, you proceed on to:

Sell the solution, and be:
1. Economical - "never use 2 words when 1 will do"
2. Purposeful - "bring 'value', but not at the expense of being cheap"
3. and Receiver-Oriented

Simple, yet effective. Brief, yet valuable. Much like this workshop I attended! Thanks Mr. I-will-find-your-name-later!

posted by Ashley @ 1:26 PM