As any new migrant will tell you, the inability to communicate effectively can get in the way of opportunity. No matter how clever you are, communication attempts can be thwarted by the lack of skill to communicate well and get your message across. Communication skills are more important today than ever before. And, communication barriers go beyond language barriers. Let’s assume you speak English well. You may not be the next best-selling author, or Tony Robbins, but you have a decent command of the English language. You’re good at what you do and you want to grow your business. But, nobody’s listening, nobody’s buying. What’s happening?
Do you speak English?
My mum arrived here from Greece aged 15. She spoke no English and, like many migrants new to a country, struggled for a long time to be understood. Some migrants, like her, moved to neighbourhoods with like-speaking people, worked in factories where their native language was spoken, mingled only with others from their own culture. No doubt their progress with the English language was slow. Mum wanted to learn the language of her new country – to be understood. So, when my brothers and I were in school and she finally had some time to herself, she went off to English classes and while we kids would at times giggle at her attempts at words (English is a HARD language) she persisted. She wanted to be understood. I didn’t realise, at the time, the persistence this took.
Communication today
Doing business today requires you to be able to communicate better and differently than ever before. Technology has given us many tools with which to communicate. But the tools themselves don’t make us good communicators. The mastery of one or many, could however make you a market leader. Over the next few weeks I’ll post about the effective use of of my favourite communication tools for business. Here’s my position on Communication:
Communication is a skill.
It can be learned, improved, mastered. By anyone. Yes, including you – regardless of your level of schooling.
Tools do not make you good.
Communication tools like blogs, podcasts, emails, newsletters, videos, webinars, seminars etc. are TOOLS. Their use, alone, does not make you a master of them. In my opinion:
- A bad podcast COULD be worse for your business than no podcast.
- A bad webinar COULD be worse for your business and reputation than NO webinar.
The key to more effective communication is to take action AND to get education and improve your skills. For example:
- If you’re going to blog, get some basic training.
- If you’re going to podcast, then get some honest feedback on your voice and some voice training.
- If you’re going to do seminars, then please, please, get some presentation skills.
You get the picture?
The big opportunity
Those who commit to master of their communication will win the hearts and minds of their customers, staff, allies and community. If you’re up for the ride, then let’s go. Next week’s post: Basic Communication Tools to Grow Your Business Cheers Suzi
