Not Getting Your Message Through?

Communicating is everything. This is an absolutist statement, but it’s true.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior principal in a firm, a mid-level project manager, or a starting design engineer: your ability to communicate is vital to your success.  It’s also vital to the success of those depending on you.  If you’re not getting your message through, then you’re not accomplishing all that you can accomplish and in some cases, may even be causing failure.

When I was starting my career I quickly adopted the advice of senior project managers to always communicate, communicate, communicate.  This made sense to me:  the more information one had, the better decisions one could make and everyone would be in sync on all the issues. This was great theory, but did nothing to help me get my message across.  In my quest to push out information I didn’t think about whether the data I was transmitting had a message.  Most often there wasn’t a message, it was simply noise. 

With the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at anytime, you can’t afford to simply communicate, communicate, communicate passing along noise.  You need to convey a message.  That message is what you’re being paid to provide, what you’re being expected to convey, and what is needed by those listening to you.  So don’t be lulled into complacency by thinking that quantity or ease of communicating will carry the day.

If the message you’re conveying isn't getting through it’s likely tied to one of the following three situations: 

1. Wrong Audience.  You’re talking to the wrong people.  Therefore, no matter what your message is or how much academic rigor you’ve invested building it, what you say will fall on deaf ears.

2. No Connection.  Your charisma isn’t working and although your message is going to the right audience, you’re not able to make the person-to-person (or ideological harmonization) link and convey what is necessary.

3. Poor Delivery.  Your audience is right and you have a connection, but your ability to deliver the material is off.  Or you didn’t do your homework and your logic is flawed.

Each of these shortfalls can be overcome by adjusting who you’re talking with, how you connect with them, and crafting a message that’s relevant and interesting.  This takes work, but that’s what you’re being paid to do: figure out how to convey a message to the right people in the right way.  Regardless of position you hold.

“Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.”  Mark Twain

Christian Knutson, P.E., PMP is a leader, civil engineer, and author.  He’s an accomplished professional specializing in A/E/C work internationally and author of The Engineer Leader, a recognized blog on leadership and life success for engineers and professionals.