Good communication is more than –
- written and verbal skills
- effective listening skills
- honed mediation skills.
- excellent presentation skills – with or without digital extras.
Quality communication is communication that resonates with people. It:
- forms memories
- connects to emotions
- engenders curiosity
- ignites passion
- speaks to, and of, dreams
- soothes fears – whatever they maybe, and
- promotes courage, confidence, motivation, purpose.
Quality communication is an energy.
Written, verbal, listening skills – all contribute to the ontology of excellent communication practices. As do Innovative presentations, but these skills pale in comparison to the energy of communication.
The energy of communication speaks volumes about the presenter; more importantly it speaks volumes WITH its audience – regardless of who they are, where they are and what they are doing. This connection is energy in motion. And like Enstein’s E = mc 2 theory of relativity, the energy of communication transfers energy – it does not create it.(1) This transfer of communicative energy is the key to creating communications that are absorbed, remembered, acted upon – listened to.
How do you learn to create and develop this communicative energy? Start by understanding your own communicative energy –
- What ignites it?
- What dulls it?
- What role do our personal fears – real or imagined – play in creating it?
- What role does passion play when we communicate – do we know what we are passionate about? Do we know what our passion feels like, how we express it, nurture it, transfer it?
- Anxiety, self doubt, fear, failure – how do these emotions/experiences/ events impact upon our communicative energy? Most of us have experienced them – in one form or another, and if we have had the misfortune not to experience the depth of their riches – how does this fact effect our communicative energies?
Anger, joy, frustration, confidence, arrogance, humility, modesty – how do these emotions, and the experiences that forged them, infuse our communicative energy? How do we transfer them to others? Because transfer them we do.
Creating quality communication energetics starts with the presenter – the SELF. It starts with exploring, understanding and experiencing – our energy of communication. Our:
- self doubt
Quality Communication – between anything – is about creating energetic connections. - passion
- inspiration
- failure
- arrogance
- humility
- confidence
- anxiety
- dreams
- failures
- successes
- mistakes
- leadership ability
- heard mentality
The list is personal. After all, it is our communicative energy. An energy conceived in the maelstrom that is E = mc 2: the transformation of our life experiences into our energetic communication waves – whenever we communicate, whomever we communicate with, and however we communicate: verbal, written visual, non verbal, silent.
Our personal communicative energy sticks out like the proverbial dog anatomy and has more brand power than Prada, D & G, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, or Calvin Klein put together. You might think the awe struck expression on your audience’s faces are KPI’s of a presentation well received. They maybe, but they may also be signs of an audiences’ abhorrence to the energy, unknown to you, that you communicated with.
Being able to write the best speeches in the world, or deliver presentations that make Disney animations look amateurish – doesn’t mean you can communicate well. It does mean you can prepare and deliver information to particular audiences well. And that skill might be all that is required. There is nothing wrong with that – in fact, it highlights good technical skills. But it does not necessarily reflect highly evolved, well developed and intelligent communication skills.
Highly evolved, well developed and intelligent communication skills are rarely found in the domain of the technical expert. Why? because there is an energetic aspect to these skills that sets them apart from even the most advanced form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) system or multi-medium/digital genius.
Communicative energy is real, everyone has it. It might change through our life cycle – but it is always there. The task of Learning and Development resources that seek to create quality communication skills – in anyone, is to bring an individual’s implicit communicative energy to life. To make it explicit – so it becomes as tangible as the proverbial dog anatomy to each of us. That way, we don’t get any unexpected surprises, and outcomes, when we communicate – whether it’s on the world stage, university stage, kitchen stage, garage stage, Primary or High school stage, mine site, playing field, board room or lounge room.
Furthermore, energy is energy – and it’s always nice to have energy on our side. Understanding our communication energy – and how it speaks for us – is more energising than a good expresso and a lot healthier – mentally, emotionally, and physically.
1. Cox, B. & F. Forshaw (2010) Why Does E = mc 2 ?