All of us who are committed to becoming a sought-after professional in our field understands that we must persevere! First, we need to hone our expertise and make sure we know our stuff. Once we’ve built a good foundation there, we strive to develop our professional acumen by knowing their stuff.
Ready for a vacation? Nope. Now we’re going to visit the core competency of developing our Communication Expertise: Know the Audience.
When you’re a sought-after professional, people want to hear what you have to say, but you need to be communicating in a way that makes them eager to listen and absorb what you have to say. That’s not always easy.
Developing communication expertise is a lifelong endeavor. We can always become better listeners, learning to adapt our communication style to specific audiences, and perhaps most importantly, humbly recognizing there will always be room for improvement!
The key every solid relationship (at work and at home and everywhere else!) comes down to really understanding one another, examining the differences each person brings to the relationship, and then honoring those differences (and preferences) by adjusting our communications to be optimally (and respectfully) understood.
Now that doesn’t mean that we are disingenuous in our communications—not at all. What it does mean is that we focus our communication on the receiver. “Receiver-based” communications is all about the audience—about their needs, preferences, and communication styles. By customizing our communications, we are opening their ears to more fully hear what we are trying to say.
One of the best places to start understanding and developing Communication Expertise is through a communications assessment. You may have taken one years ago, but as we mature professionally, it’s good to occasionally revisit who we were and who we have become. (The DISC profile is likely a familiar assessment. Its styles are D: Domineering, I: Influencer, S: Steady Relator, C: Conscientious Thinker.) Completing an assessment can help you understand not only your communication style, but give you a more in-depth understanding of how your specific audiences best receive information.
As we grow professionally, we can never stop learning new and better ways to get our message across. Being sought-after means we are becoming the kind of experts who connects with and communicates with others in a way that leaves them seeking that connection with us, over and over again.
What is one small step you can take to enhance your communication expertise today? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know. Commenters will be entered in a drawing for a $10 gift card to Starbucks or Dunkin’—because we all know great communication happens over coffee!
Ready to learn more about the entire Sought-After Process? Check out my book or consider inspiring your workplace through an engaging presentation!