“I know my engineering degree alone doesn’t guarantee success. What do you think is the most important quality for someone who wants to become a business leader?” someone asked last week.
I answered without hesitation: The ability to communicate. Individuals who communicate effectively with people at all levels, of both genders, and from a variety of cultures and backgrounds are today’s pace-setters. In the old-style hierarchical, authoritarian setting, communication is relatively simple. The top person tells the underlings to jump, and the underlings need only ask, “How high?”
In a modern organization, communication requires more finesse. The leader is not a transmitter of commands but a creator of motivational environments. The workers are not robots responding to switches and levers, but thinking individuals pouring their ingenuity into the corporate purpose. The corporate ideal is not mechanical stability, but dynamic, innovative, continuous change.
The leader who can’t communicate can’t create the conditions that motivate. The genius who can’t communicate is intellectually impotent. The organization that can’t communicate can’t change, and the corporation that can’t change is dead. The good news is that anyone can become an effective communicator :
# Desire.
Human infants have an inborn desire to communicate, and that desire enables them to pick up words quickly and to enlarge their vocabularies continuously.
That same kind of desire can enable you to enlarge your stock of words and improve your skill in employing them.
# Understanding the Process.
Language is the primary conveyer of thoughts and ideas. It turns abstract concepts into words that symbolize those thoughts. Those words take the form of spoken sounds or written symbols. If I say “I want a writing instrument” my listener only gets a general idea of what I want. If I say “I want a golden ‘CROSS’ pen to add style to my signature” the listener has a more vivid mental picture. The more skillful you become at conveying images, the more effective your communication will be.
# Master the basic skills.
Some people think the first requisite for good communication is an exhaustive vocabulary and needs a heavy dose of grammar. Words are important. Good grammar is important. But the most important rule of communication: Make it clear and understandable. The vocabulary you use in every-day speech are the words that you understand. Chances are, they’re the words your friends, colleagues and employees understand. If you try to use words beyond the vocabularies of the people you’re trying to communicate with, you’re not communicating; you’re showing off. The communications that endure are written in plain, simple language.
# Practice.
I remember a story that gave me inspiration. A young musician had listened with wonder as a Piano master poured all his love and all his skill into a complex selection of great compositions. “It must be great to have all the practicing behind you and be able to sit down and play like that,” he said.
Oh,” said the master musician, “I still practice eight hours every day.”
“But why?” asked the astounded young man. “You’re already so good!”
“I want to become superb,” replied the older man.
Most of the people are content to become good. Few are willing to invest the extra effort to become superb. To become superb, you have to practice. The techniques of communication have to become part of your daily activity, so that they are as natural to you as swimming is to a duck. The more you practice these techniques, the easier you’ll find it to connect with people, whether you’re dealing with individuals one-on-one or with a group of thousands.
Always remember: Whatever communication task you undertake, your objective is to connect with people.
