Whatever your intentions, or however good your ideas are, it simply won’t matter unless you can communicate those ideas & intentions clearly & effectively to other people.

You could be very smart, creative and talented, or all three, but people will still only know what you successfully communicate to them.

That’s why communication is the number 1 most important skill in life.

The reality is, people don’t really know who you are, they only know what you communicate. They don’t know how kind or caring you are, how skilled or talented you are, unless you can communicate it to them.

Unfortunately, a lot of people make the assumption, that it’s all obvious, that others should figure out who we are, what we stand for and how we think without having to tell them.

And that’s the assumption that causes a breakdown in communication.

Whether it’s at work or at home, communicating well starts with understanding. The challenge is crafting your message so that different people can understand it. That means you’ve got to start by understand them.

So the first thing good communicators do is listen. They observe, they invest time and energy into seeing the world from the other person’s point of view. They don’t judge, because early judgement can cloud their understanding.

Then they craft their message, according to the receiver.

Good communicators take responsibility!

How many times have you heard someone say something like:

• “I tried to tell them, but they just don’t get it !”
• “She just won’t listen!”
• “I wish you would try to understand …”

The one thing all those phrases have in common, is they shift the responsibility of successful communication from the sender to the receiver. It’s just like getting a letter in the mail full of weird symbols and being expected to sit down and decipher it.

Good communicators don’t blame others for misunderstanding them. They take responsibility and they are determined to keep trying different ways till they get their message across.

So instead of complaining that people don’t get it, you’ll often find a good communicator saying something like: “Maybe I didn’t explain what I mean very well, let me explain in a different way.” And that’s exactly what they’ll go on to do.