In order to influence behavior, it helps to know how to mechanically craft high-impact messages. Impact is caused by emotional resonance, and especially important since technology continues to reshape behaviors.
A message either resonates or bounces. Meetings that go south quickly are never an accident: Behavioral gongs signal the message is off the mark in either construction, content, or delivery.
High-impact messages blend insight and execution in four areas:
- The Sender
- Receiver
- Channel, and
- Message
The Sender is the person or group that crafts the communication. Senders have wildly different work styles, skill sets, and life experiences. Since we judge ourselves by our intention but others judge us by our actions, self-awareness creates better senders. With 55 percent of a message between two people conveyed non-verbally, the Sender must also be acutely aware of the invisible impact factors that maximize effectiveness.
The Receiver is the audience. Whether communicating to an audience of one, several, or many, a Sender must maximize his or her message relevance. Every audience processes messages while searching for a variety of interest triggers. Among these are importance, consequence, political gain and risk, trouble-avoidance, and Worry Circle® issues.
Messages that are relevant to the audience create positive emotional reactions and the audience will engage. Relevance is everything.
But when a message is irrelevant, the audience tunes out. Disinterest replaces engagement, and interactions become forced, awkward, or scarce.
Once an audience is lost, it is very difficult to get them back. Style clashes crush effective messaging, so the Sender must know or read how the Receiver acts during the normal pursuit of business. This is teachable, but almost never innate.
Senders must also recognize why the Receiver is the target. Is he or she seeking this information or is it being pushed upon them? Is the objective to teach, explain, or persuade? Do they want to be there or have to be? Receiver motivations play a large role in the next two elements, Channel selection and Message construction.
The Channel is the vehicle chosen to communicate the message. Examples include spoken words, written words, video images, flip charts, text, and email. Every channel has its strengths and limitations. “Death by PowerPoint” is an example of what happens when the channel is chosen for the convenience of the Sender but not the Receiver or situation.
The Message involves two things, what you say and how you say it. Messages designed to inform are constructed differently than those designed to persuade. Although there are over 455,000 words in the unabridged English dictionary, most people use 15,000 or less. High impact message construction is a workshop in itself, but better communicators influence behaviors more effectively than those who are generically mediocre.
Digital reading trends show increases in impatient page views and skimming. Because command of the language is diminishing, attention spans are shrinking, and patience burns an ever-shorter wick, succinct brevity is king.
Great communicators stockpile smarts and tools tied to all four insight areas—Sender, Receiver, Channel, and Message—and customize accordingly.
To customize a workshop and improve high-impact communication, contact: