Ways To Communicate Effectively

• People won’t remember everything you say. So keep it short!
• Chunk your information to make it easier to understand.
• Don’t assume people always understand what you mean!

In this article, we shall look at some ways in which you can communicate your message more effectively.

Information Overload

Every day we are bombarded with new pieces of information, yet how much do you actually remember from the previous day or week? In most cases, the answer is not a lot.

Don’t worry though, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have a bad memory!

Psychological research has shown that because people receive so much information on a daily basis, it is impossible for us to consciously remember every single detail about our lives.

As a result, we tend to remember the things that most stick in our mind. These are usually the things that are important to us, or had a powerful emotional effect on us.

Selective Attention 

Advertisers know about the principle of selective attention very well. It has been found that when a consumer is bombarded with lots of information at the same time, they tend to focus on just one or two main points.

What this means is that when you are trying to persuade someone, you will increase your chances of success when you limit the number of points you make. Too many points will confuse them, and dilute the effectiveness of your overall message.

Think of it this way, your message is not really what you say, but what the other person remembers. And people will remember the most information when you limit yourself to 2-3 main points.

Communicate Effectively By Contrasting Information

One of the ways the brain deals with large amounts of information is to chunk it together into smaller parts. For example, if you were presented with sequence 29407864 it would be much easier to remember it by breaking it down into smaller chunks.

So 29407864 would become 29 | 40 | 78 | 64.

You can use this natural tendency of the brain to chunk information when delivering your message. One way to do this is by contrasting information.

A contrast is a noticeable and obvious difference between two things, for example black and white. By using a contrast you can chunk your message into 2 parts, making it a lot easier for the other person to understand and remember.

Here’s a good example of a contrast used by George Bush:

“You are either with us, or with the terrorists“

This contrast gives a simple and memorable message by chunking it into 2 possibilities. Those being, you either support George Bush, or you support the terrorists.

Although a 2 part contrast is extremely effective when communicating a message, when information is grouped into 3′s, it can also be very effective. For example:

• 3 Points
• 3 Arguments
• 3 Phrases

When making points and stating arguments, 3 is a number that people can easily follow, understand and remember. When it comes to phrases, 3 part sayings are also usually highly memorable. For example:

• I came, I saw, I conquered
• Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Reading, Writing, Arithmetic

Using the 2 part contrast or the rule of 3′s will increase the amount of information a person remembers from your message. This will increase the effectiveness of your message, and improve your overall communication skills.

Communicate Effectively By Keeping It Simple

Researchers have found that very rarely do people understand something 100% correctly. This means that for most of the time, most people will misunderstand most what you are trying to say.

The reason for this is very simple. We are all uniquely different, and therefore think and perceive things in different ways.

So whilst I may think I am communicating to you clearly and in a way that makes sense, you may in fact think I am talking complete incomprehensible nonsense!

This is why it is so important to improve your communication skills when trying to persuade other people. You need to make absolutely sure that the person you are trying to influence gets your message loud and clear.

If you communicate poorly, then you may think you have told somebody one thing, when in fact they thought you said something completely different. This leads to confusion and misunderstandings.

Communicate Effectively With Double Clarification

Sometimes saying something once just isn’t enough. A communication technique you can use to increase the likelihood your message is properly understood is double clarification.

This technique involves making a statement, and then repeating the core message of that statement in a slightly different way.

This is most effective when it is used as a summary to reinforce certain points you feel are important. If you read a few of the articles on this site, you will find double clarification is used quite often.

Regardless of the communication method you use, you can never be 100% certain that your message was understood exactly the way you intended for it to be understood.

However by using the communication techniques discussed in this article, your chances of successful and effective communication will increase dramatically.

Here are some key points for effective communication you should try to incorporate into your everyday life.

• Speak simply, clearly and to the point
• Avoid technical jargon (unless specifically using it to create rapport).
• Use simple commonly used words that everyone can understand.
• Use specific descriptive language, rather than vague generalities.
• Make your words count. Don’t waffle or talk about irrelevant issues.
• Draw conclusions. Don’t make the person guess what you want.
• Use metaphors, analogies and stories to make points easily understood.

As a general rule, just remember not to assume that people will know what you mean or are trying to say. So to communicate effectively, make your message as clear and easy to understand as possible.