The Communication Cycle Step 1 – Aim

Jack Welch, when he retired from GE, was immediately able to launch a new career as an author and speaker. Certainly people wanted to hear what such a successful businessman had to say, but he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes if he had not had the skill to express himself well.

Sadly, not everyone is a natural communicator. In fact research suggests that most people are somewhat poor when it comes to communicating.

It was to help clients with communications problems that I developed The Communication Cycle.

As soon as I started to use it in my transformational leadership programme noticeable improvements occurred in the relationships and effectiveness of the leaders I was coaching.

The leaders themselves were delighted with the effect that they were having on their colleagues and clients.

This is excellent proof that people can learn to improve their communication skills.

It’s Essential To Start Well

As with baking a cake or running a sprint race a good start will ensure that you communicate well.

That is why the first module of The Communication Cycle is “Aim”.

A really good communicator works his way through all 6 parts of the “Aim” module:

1. What thought, feeling or action do I want to result from my communication?
2. What is my charismatic vision of the outcome? Do I BELIEVE in my vision and care passionately about it?
3. Who will receive my message? Will it be just one person or a group of people?
4. What motivates the recipient? What do they want, need or desire?
5. What will be the big benefit for them of doing what I want them to do?
6. What is the best medium by which to send this message? Should I phone, e-mail, meet or send a memo?

Each point on this list needs to be carefully considered.

The trick to improving your communications is to develop the habit and the discipline of using The Communication Cycle rigorously every time you communicate with a colleague of client.

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