Failure to Communicate

I communicate for a living. Story telling, blogging, marketing messaging and communication strategies. Of all the people I have worked with, the most challenging are those who think they are good communicators, but aren’t. They may be fine verbalizing an idea or thought, but ask them to write it down and disaster strikes. Some gremlin crawls in and blocks the words, scrambling them from their brain to their hands. There is no helping them understand their diagnosis. Their denial of the truth screeches like fingernails on a chalkboard.

It may be my simple mind, but I can take a complicated message and break it down into succinct statements, paragraphs or bullet points. The key is to not over-communicate. To explain how to fry an egg, there is no need to explain the reproductive system of the chicken first.

Clearly, there are far more complicated topics than frying an egg. It’s been my experience that with detailed complicated issues, the best way to communicate is to break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces of information.

So we have these non-communicators who think they are great communicators and driving us real communicators nuts. I’m not naming names, but let me encourage you to please for the love of connecting with others, slow down and really think about what you want to convey before attempting to do so. This may help. Or it may not and you may see me running away from you screaming.

Thanks for listening.
KK