Many, if not most, church staff leaders consider themselves good speakers. The basics are simple: leaders speak, their audience listens, and then they act on what was said.
Church leaders also know that rarely happens, and that there’s really much more to it than that. While it may be easy to speak to groups of all sizes and on many diverse topics, one critical question remains: “Are we connecting with our audience?”
To fully connect with an audience, leaders need to understand “empathy.” While you may not equate the word empathy with excellent communication skills, it actually is the secret to connecting with your audience.
When you are able to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and try to see things from their point of view, their world, and their perspective, you will have a greater chance at both reaching and connecting with them.
THE QUICK SUMMARY – Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond by Jay Sullivan
Simply Said is the essential handbook for business communication. Do you ever feel as though your message hasn’t gotten across? Do details get lost along the way? Have tense situations ever escalated unnecessarily? Do people buy into your ideas? It all comes down to communication. We all communicate, but few of us do it well.
From tough presentations to everyday transactions, there is no scenario that cannot be improved with better communication skills. This book presents an all-encompassing guide to improving your communication, based on the Exec|Comm philosophy: we are all better communicators when we focus less on ourselves and more on other people. More than just a list of tips, this book connects skills with scenarios and purpose to help you hear and be heard. You’ll learn the skills to deliver great presentations and clear and persuasive messages, handle difficult conversations, effectively manage, lead with authenticity and more, as you discover the secrets of true communication.
Communication affects every interaction every day. Why not learn to do it well? This book provides comprehensive guidance toward getting your message across, and getting the results you want.
A SIMPLE SOLUTION
All leaders aspire to be better communicators. And most times, leaders feel that better communication starts with them. While not wrong, it would be a mistake to think that the focus needs to be on ourselves.
If we put the focus on what the other person is trying to gain from our exchange, we will do a better job communicating, because we will select more pertinent information, drill down to the desire level of detail, and make the information we are sharing more accessible to our audience.
If we want to improve our ability to connect with others, to understand them and to be understood more clearly, the easiest and most effective way to do so is to focus less on ourselves and more on the other person.
This is the single most significant differentiator we can apply to our communication skills to improve our effectiveness.
Your message to the world is, of necessity, your message connecting you to the world.
Your Content: the substance of what you want to convey.
Your Oral Communication Skills: the way you convey your substance.
Your Written Communication Skills: the way you represent yourself when you’re not physically present.
Your Interactions: the settings in which you engage your audience, whether it’s an audience of one or one hundred or one thousand.
Your Leadership: the way you set the tone and relate to others.
Jay Sullivan, Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond
A NEXT STEP
Set aside some time for personal reflection on your ability to connect with others by focusing less on yourself and more on the other person.
Using the five statements above, rate yourself on a scale of one to five, where one equals “I really need help in this area” and five equals “I am consistent in this area.”
Use the following suggestions from author Jay Sullivan to improve in each of the areas above in which you scored yourself anything less than a three.
Your Content
- Convey a clear message
- Tell engaging stories
- Organize your content
Your Oral Communication Skills
- Make the most of your body language
- Listen to understand
- Deliver from notes and visuals
- Respond to questions
Your Written Communication Skills
- Edit for clarity
- Structure your documents
- Create reader-friendly documents
- Write emails that resonate
Your Interactions
- Conduct effective meetings
- Delegate successfully
- Share meaningful feedback
Your Leadership
- Lead others with inspiration and influence
- Show vulnerability
Excerpt taken from SUMS Remix 129, released October 2019.
Part of a weekly series on 27gen, entitled Wednesday Weekly Reader
Regular daily reading of books is an important part of my life. It even extends to my vocation, where as Vision Room Curator for Auxano I am responsible for publishing SUMS Remix, a biweekly book “excerpt” for church leaders. Each Wednesday on 27gen I will be taking a look back at previous issues of SUMS Remix and publishing an excerpt.
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