Productive Communication

By Susan Goodsell - Feb 01 , 2010

By the time I finished my latest Productive Learning & Leisure class, “Productive Communication,” the floor was wet with all the bubbles burst by co-founder Rick Itzkowich.

I’m a writer and a public speaker – of course I’m a fantastic communicator! Aren’t I?

The definition of communication, according to dictionary.com, is “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.” Even if you communicate for a living, most likely there’s room for improvement. Believing I can always use a little work on my communication skills was what led me to this particular PL&L class.

I am neither a communications trainer nor a therapist (my disclaimer): in order to fully explore your inner workings as a communicator, you simply must take this two-day class. However, I want to share some insights I took away from PL&L that I believe can help make anyone a better writer:

1. What we think we’re communicating to readers may, sadly, be nothing near to their comprehension of it. Itzkowich shared that a mere 7% of comprehension from an audience is based on what was communicated and 93% is based on how we communicate it. Presentation matters a lot.

2. Before you even put the first word on paper or the computer screen, take a few minutes to think about three questions:

What do you want/need to say?
What do you intend to accomplish by saying it?
Who is your audience?

Your writing will change based on the answers to these questions.

3. If you don’t grab the readers’ attention in the first few seconds, the content simply doesn’t matter. Try writing two or three opening sentences in your articles and decide which would make you more excited to continue reading.

4. If you’re getting lackluster responses to your articles or stories, remember the truism: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” Focus on something different to get different results. A different slant or viewpoint, more colorful character, or unexpected action in your story will take you in a new direction.

5. If you’re looking to make your communications more interesting, learn more – more about your subject, more about your craft, and, equally important, more about you.

So what did I learn in my Productive Communications class? Apparently, I can be a wee bit controlling. Though my mom vehemently denies it with a loving, “I don’t think you’re controlling, dear,” the reaction from most everyone else in my life to this ground-breaking news was, “Ya think??!” or, as my daughter put it, “Well, duh!”

More specifically, my “unconscious default” in communicating is to exert external control to make me feel more at ease or get rid of my discomfort or fear. In simple terms, if we all lived in Susan’s World, life would be orderly, calm, and we’d all live happily ever after (according to Susan)!

Your default could be a myriad of things, such as: to gain sympathy, to be right, to be included, to get help, to impress, or to fulfill an obligation. Believe me, there’s a list of ‘em!

Itzkowich shared that we cannot totally get rid of our unconscious defaults, but we can lessen the frequency and severity of them. How? Simply by recognizing (why am I feeling this way?), acknowledging (there I go again!), and stopping yourself.

We always have intent in communicating and we barely know our own, much less others’ intent. To complicate communication even further, we run our perception of others’ messages through our own filter of what we think they meant to say. Yikes!

As writers, it is imperative to be the most efficient communicator possible. That means doing the work to get to know ourselves, our internal dialogue, our defaults, our intent, and being brave enough to address these issues.

See you at the next Productive Communications class!

I’ll be the one closing the door if it’s too chilly for me or rearranging the chairs to facilitate conversations.