Swearingen Communications Insights
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How a Covered Wagon Can Improve Your Communication Skills
Sometimes I think of Conestoga wagons and the brave pioneers who drove them when I encounter poorly written or conceived communications.
What do I mean?
Those intrepid travelers packed the bare essentials. They sacrificed. They left a lot behind. It was imperative they stay focused, or risk veering off course. Their wagons were designed to keep the load from shifting. Their possessions were tightly packed and expertly organized.
Today’s communicators would become far stronger if they heeded these lessons. Here are a few examples.
Pack the essentials. Leave the rest.
Select your key message points first. Limit them to three, if possible. Choose your words sparingly. If any word, phrase, or sentence doesn’t drive your message, toss it overboard. Be relentless.
Know your destination.
Define your goal for the communication. Is it to provide a professional update? Persuade or sell? Position you as an expert? Know where you are headed and what you want to accomplish.
Stay on course.
It may be tempting to stray onto a related but non-essential topic as you polish your message. Don’t. Your rambling may divert the attention of an otherwise engaged audience.
Be organized.
Pack your “load” well. Organize your thoughts and support comprehension. Don’t bury the lead. Address the questions that every recipient is thinking: “What’s this about?” “Why should I care?” “What’s in this for me?”
Timing is everything.
You wouldn’t set out on the open prairie as winter approaches. Use your intelligence, intuition, professional experience, and knowledge of your audience to best determine how and when to communicate.
Stay strong.
Endurance is key to every worthwhile journey. One of your most valuable tools for the long haul is becoming a powerful communicator. Each day, gain greater mastery of your communication skills. Then watch them transform your business, your life, and your place in the world.
It’s too bad that today’s communicators don’t face the limitations of the Conestoga wagon. With abundant and instantaneous digital platforms at our disposal, we all risk turning into hasty, disorganized, verbose, and non-strategic communicators.
The next time you have something significant to say, think like a pioneer heading west in a covered wagon. Ask yourself: “Where am I going?” “What should I pack?” Then stay on course.
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