From the September 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
4. Rehearse
It seems so intuitive, but people often forget to rehearse their messages. Actors rehearse lines so the words sound natural and bring the desired emotional conviction. If they didn’t, they would lose the cooperation of the audience. Do the same thing. Find some friendly listeners among your intended audience and try your message out on them. They will know if you continue to speak “tech” or language they understand.
5. Restate and repeat
It would be wonderful if you could say something once and know it got across to an audience, but that isn’t how humans work. We need to receive information multiple times before we grasp it. Software giant Adobe recently changed its business model from selling boxes of software to renting access to its design applications through online subscriptions. According to company senior managers, it took more than a year to re-tool every part of their organization. Reports say that much of the time was taken in communicating to an often skeptical organization about the need for disruptive change. Plan on not just repeating what you have said, but restating it in new ways using a variety of tools including memos, training, webinars, videos, YouTube and social media.
6. Be humorous but don’t joke
Humor is a great communication tool that can help drive important points home while increasing audience acceptance, but it can be dangerous. Recently, an eminent British scientist, wishing to make a point in an important presentation to an international technical audience, made an ill-conceived joke. He saw it as innocent. But negative reaction was swift. Although he profusely apologized, the damage was done. He lost the audience, his message, and, ultimately, his job. Be sure that your humor can’t be misconstrued and that people hearing it will truly find it funny. My two rules are to use humor sparingly and to only joke about myself. So far, no one has complained.
7. Re-evaluate
In today’s fast moving environment, nothing lasts forever. A given form of communication is unlikely to remain effective over a long period. Enlist the support of your marketing team and advisors to evaluate your success and be prepared to change the message and the media.
About the author: Dr. Richard Oliver is the CEO and chief academic officer of American Sentinel University.Back to HCB News
