Iain McClumpha © 1996
Or do you sometimes find that your feelings about situations get in the way of the results you want?
That was exactly Claire’s problem. She was very good at sizing up situations, deciding what needed to be done and working out the best ways to achieve those results.
However, when it came to telling people what to do she always managed to “chicken out” of expressing herself forcefully. So much so that the result she got fell way short of her capabilities.
How transmissions lose power
The problem was that she didn’t want to appear “pushy” or “bossy”. This hesitancy infected the way she delivered her instructions and it transmitted a lack of willpower to the people who needed to take action. All they heard was that she wanted something done, but they also got the impression that it didn’t matter a great deal.
The net result was that the main message that Claire wanted to transmit was not the message that the workers heard.
Understanding the problem
One day Claire’s boss took her to one side and said to her: “I am a great fan of your work. You see problems clearly and work out good solutions, but, despite all your good work and ideas, nobody really respects what you say. Why do you think that is?”
She thought for a moment before replying: “I think it’s because people don’t take me seriously, because I somehow lack authority.”
Her boss looked at her thoughtfully before asking: “Why do you think you lack authority?”
She smiled: “Because I don’t raise my voice and shout at people?”
“Do you ever hear me raise my voice and shout at people?” Her boss asked mildly.
“Well no, I don’t, but it’s different for you.”
“Oh really, why’s that?”
“Because you’re the head of the department and everyone looks up to you.”
“I wasn’t always a head of department, but I still had to get people to do what needed to be done.” He paused thoughtfully. “How do you think other people get things done?”
Claire gave up, “I honestly don’t know.” She paused, feeling helpless, “I wish I did.”
The boss smiled encouragingly, “When I was a young man I learned a lot by studying sports people, particularly the top players of individual sports like tennis and golf. Do you know that Roger Federer, the world’s top tennis player loses nearly twenty percent of the matches he plays?”
“That’s an interesting statistic to me because it shows that even the best don’t win all the time. Even Tiger Woods, the most successful golfer of all time has only won 22% of the tournaments he’s played. In other words he’s lost more tournaments than he has won.”
He paused to allow time for Claire to digest this information. “What I am saying here is that no-one can win all the time in any sphere of activity. And this is what I think is making you uncertain. You are a competitive person, you try to win all the time, and when you don’t win it sets you back.”
The Source of Motivation
“Do you think that not winning demoralises Federer or Woods? I don’t think it does. In fact I think they use defeats as motivation to re-double their efforts. What I think they do is study what happened in defeat, learn the lessons, re-energise themselves and shift up a gear.”
Claire could feel new encouragement flowing through her.
“Do you think you can use your defeats to re-energise yourself?”
She smiled, “I don’t see why not.”
“The secret is enthusiasm. You have to go at everything with lots of energy and determination. Accept defeats as part of the game and keep re-doubling your efforts. People will respect you for your efforts and they will be infected by your energy.”
“O.K.” Said Claire enthusiastically, “I will do that. You’re saying I should go at things more energetically and not let myself be too discouraged by setbacks, so that is what I will do from now on.”
Study the communication cycle
Her boss smiled, “That’s my girl. I have every confidence in you. I recommend that you study The Communication Cycle. What we have been talking about here today is part 3 “Transmission.” This is the part of the communication cycle that deals with the way you send your message. It is where you energise and inspire your audience to act in the way you want them to act.”
“To get the most out of the communication Cycle you need to really study all the elements; AIM, in which you decide what you want to say; COMPOSITION, where you decide how best to communicate your message. These are both essential foundations that you should lay before you come to actually TRANSMIT your message to the people you want to do the work.”
Nicola studied the communication cycle and started to implement it. She put a lot more enthusiasm and energy into her communications. She was amazed how much her results improved. People started to smile at her more and she felt a lot better about herself.
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