Communicate to Influence

Here are some great tips to communicate in a way which will engage and inspire your audience or colleagues.

Inspire

Demonstrate passion for your message or idea to bring a sense of action and dedication to the task.  Enthusiasm is not enough; the audience has to see a genuine sense of commitment to the points you are communicating.  By showing that you are putting your own personal energy and passion into the topic or project your audience can be inspired to take a journey with you.  If the story you tell makes a connection with the audience they are more likely to buy in.  Once they have made a choice to listen and be stirred to action by your words you have the opportunity to carry them with you along to your destination.

Understand

To understand your audience you need to get to know them, what motivates them and what inspires them.  You then need to use your knowledge to build a genuine relationship with them.  If the audience trusts you and is sympathetic to the message you are delivering, there is a far stronger likelihood of influencing them.  It can be hard to understand the people you wish to influence before you have met them, but research on the company or group of people you are talking to can give you some clues.  However you should keep an open mind and not be tempted to stereotype the people you need to understand before you have spent time with them.  One of the best ways to build a clear picture of what the audience’s views, points of motivation and priorities are is simply to listen to them.

Listen

Influential communication is a two way process; without a dialogue you can not build the trust which is essential for a meaningful relationship to develop.  By listening to those you wish to influence, you can demonstrate you are committed to building a responsive relationship.  By finding out what their priorities are you can find the common ground with which to motivate them towards your way of thinking and to achieve your goal.  Good listening involves an active response too.  It is not simply a passive process of nodding and smiling at key points in the conversation.  To really build trust it is necessary to respond and take action to address any issues that are raised and then show your commitment to reaching the target together.

Build Momentum

Once you have a group of people on board the momentum will build.  This can be a very exciting experience but it takes careful management.  It is essential to keep focused on the main goal and keep reminding everyone exactly what it is you wish to achieve with their support.  Regular communication will help to prevent any obstacles or problems knocking you off course or diverting the group’s energy off in a different direction.  Keep your eyes on the prize, maintain the focus, keep communicating, listen to those around you, do not let your commitment falter and your goal will become reality.