June - National Effective Communication Month

When we think of June we think of things like sunshine, swimming pools, longer days, outdoor grilling, and S’mores. But June is also National Effective Communication Month. A whole month dedicated to getting you to enhance your skills in communicating with the people in your personal and business lives. Communication has been defined as “the exchange of information from one party to another in various forms including verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual.”

People have been communicating in some way for thousands of years beginning with drawings on cave walls, pottery, and wood. Today’s technical communications began with the Morse code. This led us to the digital era - the personal computer, and the cell phone. In fact, communication today revolves around people turning to apps and social media. But, has your personal communication suffered?

Perhaps it has. That’s where Effective Communication Month comes in. Positioned directly in the middle of the year, it means that you still have six months to make an investment in your conversation and written skills, and to continue to strengthen your relationships.

There are several elements of effective communication to focus on: clarity - being concise and consistent, being creative but factual, being practical, and being persuasive. In other words, don’t tell someone how to build a clock when all they’ve asked for is the correct time. And, if you are going to share your opinion, make sure that you can support it with facts to back it up.

Two other tips that are being offered are:

(1) Repetition, repetition. Repetition works at getting our ideas across. Sometimes try to say the same thing in different ways.

(2) Keep it short and simple. Remember that you are dealing with the other person’s attention span. When dealing with emails, essential facts should go at the beginning to increase the chances of being seen.

So, take a minute and focus on your communication style, and remember that you have six months left to make a difference.